Germany

Career fairs and events 2012

International Strategy Workshop, November 2012

Join us for a four-day international strategy workshop in one of Europe’s cities in November, to find out for yourself just how we put “Strategy consulting” concepts into practice. Together with 24 outstanding international students from different academic backgrounds, you will help us address a challenging strategic question for our client, be introduced to some key consulting tools, and get to know OC&C and our people.

In addition to working on the case, you will have the chance to enjoy the city staying in a great hotel.

Talented, motivated and ambitious students or graduates, who want to take a first step into strategy consulting and get to know the spirit of our organisation, are invited to apply to the local offices. Apply by sending your motivation, CV and academic results in both high school and University to Mirjam.fuest@occstrategy.de 

Gregor
Partner

After earning my master’s degree in Economics from Cologne University, I had a university career in mind, and so became a research fellow. But after my Ph.D., I decided academic life was a bit light on excitement, so I headed for strategy consulting.

When I was looking for a firm to join, I visited the usual roadshow presentations of all the major players, but became increasingly concerned about the total focus on intellectual superiority – and nothing else. OC&C was the first and only company that seemed to combine brilliant minds, nice and relaxed people, and a good sense of humour.

Consulting is a people business. While other companies also offer interesting jobs, I don’t know of any that offer OC&C’s unique blend of bright, friendly and sometimes a bit crazy people, who work hard to deliver highly professional results but still know how to party. OC&C is also a very dynamic place that offers a lot of freedom: there are few formal procedures, no limiting ‘yes, buts’ when you come up with ideas, and virtually no limits to what you can achieve. What else could you ask for?

Benjamin
Manager

I studied industrial engineering and management at the universities of Karlsruhe and Linköping. After an internship with a major consulting firm, I opted for strategy consulting and joined OC&C’s Hamburg office right after graduation.

Why OC&C? It’s the interdisciplinarity that makes consulting most exciting – working in several different business sectors, you learn through different assignments and problems and most important: you get to know very different people with much diversified backgrounds! In particular the latter is the decisive factor at OC&C as I experienced it.

My first major project dealt with the development of an online-strategy for a large international publishing company. I was responsible for the analysis of user patterns and the development of a business plan for the newly offered contents and services. An exciting challenge for me!

Rolf
Manager

I love challenges and for me strategy consulting represents exciting projects, interesting and demanding clients as well as constantly new and complex questions. Your learning curve is extremely high, from the beginning you can discuss with important decision makers and present your results to them - A quality which only strategy consulting offers to job entrants.

I choose OC&C because of the environment and the people. From the first interview on I had the impression that people in OC&C are different, and after 2.5 years I definitely can say that this impression was right. Meanwhile, a huge part of people are not only colleagues but also now friends.

I think that you only can perform the best when you feel good and comfortable in a company. Feeling good and comfortable should be an important decision criterion while choosing a company.

Lara-Christina
Associate Consultant

Having graduated from the European Business School with the Bachelor of Science, I had two basic options: did I want to continue my studies and get a Master’s degree right away or did I prefer a few years of practical experience before going back to university?

After an internship at OC&C during my studies at ebs, my decision was taken: I wanted to start working. Consulting seemed to be the ideal entry for me as I could get insight into various markets, clients and management topics which would finally help me in defining my focus for further studies at university.

OC&C was the perfect choice: as it combines the performance orientation and professionalism of a large consultancy with a personal atmosphere and commitment of small firms I do not only face new challenges every day, but I get support whenever I need it.

Sebastian
Manager

What made you join OC&C?
In the course of my application process OC&C seemed highly appealing to me: high-end strategy consulting, an international network, and highly attractive professional development opportunities sounded to me like a winning combination. However, after having met numerous consultants during OC&C’s International Strategy Workshop in Barcelona my focus shifted towards the company’s unique culture: no matter at which level, OC&C consultants showed an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit, driving corporate development as much as personal progress. Taking on responsibility early seemed not only to be asked for but to be actively fostered. And after all, OC&C consultants obviously enjoyed working with each other. Until then I had often heard all this as marketing promises from other companies, but had never seen them actually happen. Now, being part of OC&C, I still consider this combination as absolutely unique.

Is there any advice you would give to prospective candidates?
Keep cool and just be yourself. Interviews and case studies are definitely essential. However, at last ‘personal fit’ matters at least as much, for OC&C as well as for yourself!

Jörg
Manager
“High efficiency and professionalism combined with a laid-back working atmosphere”

After the completion of my legal studies in Germany and Chile and some practical experience as corporate counsel in China and Germany I asked myself: Is this it? Of course not, so I started looking for a job that gave me the variety and intellectual challenges of my previous job but also the chance to move things ahead. Consulting seemed to be the right choice so I joined OC&C about 3 years ago.

Since then I have worked for more the 10 totally different customers in 7 different branches. My work has indeed been very varied, challenging and fun. I have met many interesting people and above all I have enjoyed the unique atmosphere at OC&C. People here are very focused on achieving the best results for their client but at the same time very relaxed, natural, and friendly.

Whenever I needed support, someone found the time to help me out. This has definitely made my start at OC&C much easier then I had expected due to my academic background.

Wolfgang
Manager
“OC&C offers vast opportunities for management consulting experience and personal development to young professionals”

I had joined OC&C Germany in 2004 and after several national and international projects I started to pursue a PhD in 2007. OC&C Germany has a very attractive program for doing so. After some years of work experience with OC&C you can take a leave of absence for pursuing an advanced degree, e.g. an MBA or PhD.

Hence, I have taken two years off to pursue my PhD endeavours while receiving considerable financial, material and mental support from OC&C. I significantly benefit from work experience when doing research - from practice, systematic problem solving and project management methods, I learned at OC&C.

Nonetheless I am looking forward to coming back to OC&C! Job variety, client interaction, a fast paced team environment and organisational impact are main attributes of consulting and very important aspects for my long-term career choice.

Christian
Partner
"You spend your time with a team of very bright and highly motivated colleagues”

In addition to the variety and constantly changing challenges, the great thing about OC&C is the steep learning curve.

At Partner level you have to learn to negotiate a highly political environment, to juggle many topics at the same time, identify and develop starting point for new projects, take total responsibility for clients and to act as a true entrepreneur.

As a consultant, you probably spend 60-70% of your time on the computer, solving analytical problems, and perhaps 30-40% at client and team meetings. As a partner, you’re dealing with not one but two, three or four clients at the same time, and spend the vast majority of your time on direct client interaction.