Annika became aware of Batten & Company through a guest lecture during her Master's degree. After graduating, she was looking for a professional challenge where she could combine her two passions for brand strategy and holistic corporate development. She remembered the guest lecture and only a short time after applying to Batten & Company, she started as a consultant at the Düsseldorf office.
‘Working on and with brands is something special, as it is often about the history of companies that have put their heart and soul into building their brands over a long period of time.’
– Annika Helbing
‘How are value-creating, authentic brands created? How do brands have to work together to inspire? What requirements and problems do our customers face in B2C vs. B2B marketing? And how do we ensure that strategies, cultures or measures leave the paper and find their way into everyday corporate life?’ These and other questions characterise my day-to-day work at Batten & Company. It's not just the content-related work that is particularly enjoyable, but also the interaction with our clients. For us, consulting means working together as equals.
The entry into management consulting
During my studies, I developed a passion for management and marketing topics. To deepen this passion and gain practical experience, I took a gap year between my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Even though I enjoyed the classic consumer goods marketing activities, I missed the more conceptual tasks and the pursuit of strategic issues in my day-to-day operational work. I therefore ventured into new waters and tested out the consulting industry as a working student alongside my Master's degree. I quickly took a liking to adapting to changing situations, looking for creative solutions and working with a very diverse set of people. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
A real community
There are many renowned counselling services that you come across during your studies. But one in particular has stuck in my mind, not only because of its content, but also because of the appearance of the consultants who were at our university. Batten & Company was therefore one of my first ports of call when applying for a job after completing my Master's degree. And this impression has been confirmed to this day. At Batten & Company, I not only discovered my passion for brand strategy and change management, but also found a real community where I feel valued and supported. We emphasise a respectful and humorous working environment that regularly leads to new friendships. I really appreciate being able to exchange ideas with my colleagues and learn from their different experiences and expertise, as well as finding a personal balance
Counselling as a vocation: my experiences and insights
In my early days as a consultant, I was given the freedom early on to take on responsibility and try out new things. We have six internal practices in which we discuss relevant and current issues relating to our core competences and develop concepts further. As a member of the Culture & Change Practice, I really enjoy working on shaping and developing environments and corporate cultures in which people feel valued and supported. At the beginning, you get the opportunity to take a look at all the practices and then join the one that interests you the most in terms of content.
In my time as a consultant, I have so far focussed on brand architecture and change projects. Working on and with brands is something special, as it is often about the history of companies that have put their heart and soul into building their brands over a long period of time. Brands are personal and have the ability to move people, inspire them and make waves. Working with clients to develop their brands, create real added value and act in a customer-centred way presents me with new challenges every day and makes for a varied field of work. Working as a consultant also gives me the opportunity to build up industry expertise in areas that I would probably never have come into contact with. One of my most exciting and challenging projects was designing a new brand architecture in the construction industry.
If you are interested in starting a career in consulting, I can only recommend that you take advantage of the opportunities offered at the university to establish contact before you apply and find out whether the working atmosphere and the spirit of the company suit you. After all, the feeling of working in an environment in which colleagues support each other and perform at their best, and at the same time the personal interaction is right, is priceless for me.
