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May I address this question directly to ECON consultants please: How would you evaluate the work-life-balance at your company (e.g. working hours, team or company events etc.)?
Many thanks for your question. Part of my motivation for joining E.ON Inhouse Consulting was, that I wanted to work in the challenging and fast-paced environment of top management strategy consulting but without the extreme hours commonly associated with external top consultancies. Being at E.ON Inhouse Consulting for almost seven years, my expectation regarding better and more flexible working hours have been fulfilled: I do find the time on evenings during the week to go to the gym (there is also one inhouse), read a gripping novel or meet friends in Düsseldorf or Essen.
Generally speaking, we help our colleagues to successfully unite the demands placed on them by their professional and private lives. Many of our projects concentrate on the Rhine-Ruhr area (about 60%), so we can guarantee a project based at home location. Furthermore, we also offer the opportunity to take time out between projects e.g. for family or travelling (the former is more common among more senior colleagues, the latter is more common among more junior colleagues). Assuming there are no objections from a project perspective, our flexible working hours models and part-time schemes allow our colleagues to reduce their working hours to between 60% and 80%.
Interview with Denisa Valsova, Senior Consultant at E.ON Inhouse Consulting
How did your application process work?
I got to know ECON during an “skill seminar” event at my university where I had a chance to meet several consultants from the team and also did a group case. After the event I was invited for an interview. I had a super smooth process where I felt really well supported by the HR team – I had a briefing call where the process and all the requirements were explained very clearly to me and I got helpful tips on how to prepare for my interviews. I also got immediate answers to all my questions and help in sorting out the logistics of coming to Essen for my interview. This really helped me feel more at ease during the whole process and enabled me to truly focus on my preparation for the interviews.
How did you prepare for your case interview?
I went through several case interview prep books and articles (like the famous Case In Point or Victor Cheng’s guides) to understand how the case interview works, what to expect and what frameworks might be helpful. I drew out the most relevant frameworks for myself to think about how they can be helpful to me. And most importantly, I practiced a lot. I did about 30 written cases by myself and about 20 live cases with my friends – especially those who had gone through consulting interviews themselves were the greatest help. Practice really helps you get your nerves in check, familiarize with the routines and also just improve your problem solving skills with every new scenario you encounter – I saw improvements with every singe practice case I did.
What was your best moment at ECON?
On the personal side of things it was definitely our Summer Strategy Days – a summer offsite where all ECONs gather for a lot of workshops, activities and fun (this has of course not been possible during covid times but hopefully we will all be able to gather soon again). On the professional side of things I really enjoyed an agile transformation project we worked on earlier this year in our Czech business – we were working with the local leadership on the overall strategy and understanding how we can best help the business move forward, but at the same time were coaching operational teams for working in a Scrum logic. I loved brining together the operational view of colleagues being very close to our end customers together with the view of the local Board to find the best approach to suit the business.
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