Employee Testimonial
Julika Mayer
What has brought you to zeb?
After various internships in consulting, it was clear to me that I wanted to start my career in this field of expertise. Only one question was still open: Which consulting firm should it be?
I had three criteria: I wanted to work in first, a personal and open-minded environment; second, a place where people have fun together at (and after) work; and third, an environment with many opportunities to grow.
To find a fitting consulting firm, I participated in a scholarship program during my Master studies which aimed at introducing new companies to the students every two weeks. I got to know zeb during a seminar at the Starnberg monastery. We conducted a SCRUM workshop, which left me very impressed by the open and friendly company culture. With this first impression, I approached friends who had completed internships at zeb and all of them confirmed my positive experience with zeb. Afterwards, it was clear to me that zeb would be the consulting firm of my choice. After submitting my application, my interviews were in the following two weeks and I went on to sign the contract three weeks after the application.
What makes zeb the ultimate jump start in your career?
In my opinion, zebs corporate- and working-culture provides the perfect environment to jumpstart your career. zeb is the largest consultancy covering exclusively financial services. Every year, new markets and clients are onboarded. The fast pace of growth allows zeb to assign responsibility to juniors very quickly. Furthermore, zeb has a flat hierarchy, which is very palpable on projects or when working on pitches. Even as a Junior Consultant Senior Managers and Partners will listen to your suggestions and ideas.
What are your current responsibilities?
Since joining zeb, I have mainly focused on the topics of credit portfolio management (which most of my projects have been about) and ESG (my study focus). Currently, I support a project where we reorganize the setup of the “best-in-class” CPM unit of an European wholesale bank. In this context, we advise the client in setting up a sustainable target operating model for the CPM function with agile elements. In previous projects, I also supported the design and implementation of a fund platform including the setup of a debt fund as well as market analyses on ESG stress testing and CO2 compensation trading.
First experiences…
Even before my first day at zeb, I attended several events to get to know my Practice Group (PG = home base within zeb) and other newcomers (participation in PG meeting “Risk and Advanced Methodology”, christmas drinks with other newcomers, get-to-know-you calls and Q&A with my PG buddy).
On my first day, I was staffed for a project in credit portfolio management, and I could go to work immediately. Unfortunately, I started at zeb during the coronavirus pandemic, so that on-site meetings were not possible. Instead, I had several calls with teammates, my PG buddy and other PG members during my first week to have lunch together and to get to know each other.
The week ended with an internal presentation on “Ramping up Risk: Risk Management Framework Overview”. In this training concept, experienced PG colleagues provide insights on the different risk types and thus enable further training alongside the project. The PG offers you a great network with highly specialized experts from all over Europe.
At zeb fun matters, so I shouldn’t forget to mention our PG meetings which are held all over Europe and involve both topic discussions as well as parties. Another example is the annual zeb.uni where all employees are invited to Münster to discuss the hottest topics in- and outside of consulting during the day and enjoy Münster’s vibrant city center at night.