Why did you choose LSE, and why did you choose your programme of study?

School's reputation and focus on qualitative and theoretical research; one of the only places with a MSc in this particular field.

Overall, how do you look back on your LSE experience?

I liked the sociology department and felt that we were given a truly academic education - by the end we knew the important author's in our field, specialized in sub-fields, could have grounded academic discussion about a plethora of issues. The people in my programme made it great as well, since we made a lot of the work a group effort (preparing seminars together and revising for exams in larger groups).

Please describe your career path to date:

I started as an intern at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Africa department. It was fairly easy to get in, in part because of having LSE on my resume. I was offered a half-year contract before my internship was over, so stayed 10 months in total. It was interesting to see how a Ministry works, the connections with the EU and bilateral ties with other countries. There were some opportunities to develop a bit further, which I took part in. But in the end I'm not interested enough in international relations and I did not like the type of work, so I said I didn't want an extension of my contract.

I took quite some time to think of what I wanted to do next. I spoke with a lot of people from different field and applied to a couple of jobs. In the end I found SparkOptimus and it was immediately a good fit. I started there in November 2015 and have worked on about 10 projects since. We do digital strategy consulting, which means that we help companies adjust their business strategy to a world where consumers (and other companies in the case of B2B) are increasingly digital beings. I earned a promotion this summer, so things a going really well

Why did you choose your current job?

Mainly because of the very steep learning curve, team-work and projects, and being surrounded by ambitious colleagues that help each other grow. I also enjoy the entrepreneurial spirit, as everyone at the office helps the company grow and can leave their own mark on the company.

Tell us about your current job:

Day-to-day responsibilities are varied and differs per project, but consist of three main things: gathering data (very often client interviews at different levels in the company, reading their earlier reports, getting data from controllers, best practice examples in the market), conducting analyses (excel or more qualitative analyses), and writing this down for the client (usually powerpoint slides). Sometimes we also hold workshops for the client, coach them in new processes, or provide trainings. My work also increasingly entails managing (parts of) the projects.

To do this work you need to be excellent at applying structure in new situations, think abstractly and have some feel for numbers (you don't need to be great at excel before you start). You need to be ambitious and curious to learn new things, be good at personal interactions because we have a lot of client contact, and be a bit entrepreneurial.

The work environment is also varied. Depending on the project you're on it can be a bit more formal (but in our case almost never extremely formal) or more start-up like. We have more and more project abroad, so that also depends on the culture of the destination-country.

At our own office in Amsterdam it's very informal with no social hierarchy between people. The hierarchy is only in terms of content, and the people in higher positions are indeed extremely good at their jobs. We have a lot of social activities, drinks in the office every Friday, sports activities, and with some colleagues I've become such good friends that we've gone on holidays together.

What advice do you have for LSE students who are looking to enter a similar profession to you?

You need to be able to prove that your ambitious, not just in the academic sense. So extracurricular activities are a must - preferably where you've shown some leadership or entrepreneurial skills. Some affinity with IT and digital is also important.

Next to that, you should have some business sense. This is something that you can practice (I didn't know much about business before I started practicing for my interviews), e.g., reading the business section of the newspaper, thinking about what the business models of different companies could be like, etc.

And then of course it's important to practice for your interviews - practice a lot of business cases, but don't get too much stuck in frameworks.