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What’s it like to work at M3 Consultancy? Noa Buijs, who joined our team about seven months ago, lifts a corner of the veil.
Until I started writing this blog post, I didn’t realize I’ve been with M3 for seven months. Time flies! Let me briefly introduce myself: I’m Noa, a 25-year-old who completed a master’s degree in Strategic Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam not too long ago. As a grad student, I got in touch with M3. It instantly sparked my interest. A small team with a pragmatic attitude, a data-driven approach, and an impressive client base? Count me in!
Of course, I wanted to learn more about the company. After three interviews (an intake and two business cases), I was confident that we’d be a great fit. Luckily, M3 felt the same way. I signed my contract and was invited to go on an annual company trip to Gothenburg. There, I got to know all my future co-workers. Two months later, on September 1st, the time had finally arrived: I was officially part of M3’s team.
Diving into project 1: a leap of faith
I spent the first two days organizing IT stuff and learning about every co-worker’s role on the team. Then, it was time to dive into my job. At M3, there’s no set training period before you’re allowed to work on a ‘real’ project. You get started right away and receive training on the job. And I can tell you this: you’ll learn a lot!
My very first task was to draft a proposal for a public transportation project along with several co-workers. Our goal: to demonstrate that we understood the issue, have relevant experience, and explain our approach. I learned how to quickly get to the bottom of the client’s demand. Plus, we won the proposal!
After that, it was time to take on my first ‘full-fledged’ project. My manager and I supported a software company’s restructuring process. To me, it was a great learning opportunity. I had one-on-one contact with the client and took on more responsibilities than anticipated — my tasks included owning the business case, supporting the HR team in identifying and implementing people impact, and preparing weekly briefings for the Executive Team. I’m not going to lie: it was a bit frightening at first. But after taking the leap, it actually got very exciting.
Project 2: a successful team effort
I’m currently working on my second project, for which we work together with a public executive organization. Our team consists of two associates (including me) and two managers. In phase 1, I conducted lots of interviews to gain a better understanding of process obstacles and resolutions for those in the field. As a team, we then processed our findings and developed potential solutions that could be implemented in phase 2. We worked closely with the client and helped surface initiatives that already existed in the organization. At the time of this writing, phase 2 has almost come to an end. Our team has helped the client get to work in the most important solution areas.
So far, these projects have helped me develop my planning, interviewing, and general communication skills. In the meantime, I’ve already come up with a tentative goal for the next project: hopefully, I’ll get the chance to further develop my (quantitative) analytical skills!
Building M3 together
Since M3 is a small company, each team member has a few non-project-related responsibilities. For example, I’m involved in marketing and help host internal events. One of my main marketing tasks is managing our biweekly blog posts, while my marketing co-worker is in charge of our website. Additionally, I will soon boost our social media activities. As for organizing events, that’s also a shared task which I take on with two other associates.
The great thing about these activities is that there’s always room for improvement: everyone on the team gets the chance to make suggestions. Of course, our projects will always be our main focus. But it’s fun to work on something completely different every once in a while. And by joining forces this way, we continue to build M3 together!