Jolien Sap is an Analyst in the Corporate Finance team at Van Oers. She will take you through her (study) career and the developments she has gone through so far within Van Oers. Study After obtaining my vwo-gymnasium diploma, I started as a student of the bachelor in Business Economics. After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree, I successfully obtained the Master Accountancy and the Master Finance. In 2023, I received my degree for these. I look back on an instructive period in which I was ready to put my experience into practice! The right match During my study, I worked at the audit department of Van Oers in 2021, I discovered that audit was not quite the right place for me. Still, I looked back positively on the period I had worked at Van Oers. This was partly because of the fun culture and committed colleagues. I was therefore wondering if I could do better in another department. So I started talking to other departments. Van Oers was also actively involved in this process. They really look at where your talents are used in the best way. That is great. While I was taking the master’s in Finance, I had regular contact with Joost Akkermans from the Corporate Finance department. While completing this master, we started talking again for a position within their team. There I have been working full-time as an Analyst since September 2023. Lots of variety There are three disciplines under the Corporate Finance department: M&A, Due Diligence and Debt & Restructuring. As a starter, I entered the department as a general analyst. This means that I help with projects in all departments to find out which discipline suits me best. Because of this, my work is very diverse. Here are some of the projects: Helped D&R with financing models. Writing financing Memorandum Attending client meetings Setting up data books for financial analysis and reporting Valuation of organizations Writing an information memorandum for M&A Coordinating a book examination By working in all disciplines, I really discover what I am good at and where my preferences lie. I really feel that I get all the space I need to keep developing myself! Room for growth and development Van Oers is a training company, something that really appealed to me as a starter. Within Van Oers you get the opportunity to learn and develop quickly. From day one, you are actively involved in projects and are given your own responsibilities and go along to customer meetings right away. This way you quickly develop the hard and soft skills needed for the job. Because Van Oers consists of many different departments, there is a lot of knowledge available. For example, if you have a tax or legal question, there is always someone within the company who can help you quickly. These are factors that help us achieve the best result for our customer. Of course, Van Oers is also a very pleasant company, where we love parties and celebrating successes. Both large and small. From student life to work life The step from student life to work life took some getting used to. During college, you are used to arranging your own time more, such as sports and studying when you want. When you start working full-time you automatically start adjusting your rhythm more. Now that I’m used to it, I like having more stability, and not having any obligations after working hours. Then I make time for my hobbies, sports and friends. The nice thing about working at Van Oers is that hybrid working is possible. Depending on team and client agreements, of course! Tips for students I can recommend everyone to work during their studies. I found out that working in an audit department did not suit me at all and that I had to look for something else. Gaining relevant work experience during your studies helps you to find out what does or does not suit you. It also helped me to participate in events organized by the study association. This enables you to come into contact with companies and to get an idea of what you like and what kind of employer suits you. Would you also like to realize your ambitions at Van Oers? Feel free to contact one of our recruiters Wendy and Daniëla, or send an email to werken@vanoers.nl. Also take a look at our updated website: https://bit.ly/3vFVMWV]
Working at Zanders – Daan
Who are you and what do you do at Zanders? My name is Daan de Vries, I am 29 years old and live in Utrecht. I did a bachelor in Business Economics and a master in Finance, both at Tilburg University. During my master, I started working as an analyst at Zanders. This went so well that I started as a consultant in December 2019. Since then, I have advanced to a role as manager within the Treasury Advisory Group department. This department advises (listed) companies worldwide in the area of treasury. What is treasury? Treasury involves managing money and controlling financial risks in a company. Treasury’s priority is to ensure that the company can meet its daily business obligations. At the same time, your role as treasurer is to help develop long-term financial strategy and policies. Why did you choose Zanders? Zanders is an internationally oriented organization that focuses on complex treasury issues. These are often issues concerning both finance and technology. Therefore you’ll need to be interested in both areas and in my case it was exactly what I was looking for after completing my studies. I wanted to get an inside look at (international) companies in different industries and that is possible in this role. Although treasury is a niche area within finance, many study aspects are reflected in my work – such as financial risk management and debt financing. Zanders also has a flat organization structure where lines of communication are short and where you get a lot of freedom to develop yourself. In your first year as a consultant you participate in the Talent Program, which consists of three training weeks that take place throughout the year. During these weeks you will receive both professional and soft skill training from experienced colleagues and external trainers. The final week is at a location outside the Netherlands with other starting consultants from different departments and offices. Finally, at Zanders there is a good work-life balance, which is very important to me. Zanders also has a young team and fun activities are organized with and by colleagues. For example, once a year the Zanders Trip is organized; we then go with the whole company for an entire weekend to a destination in Europe that is secret until the last moment. There we then have all kinds of fun activities together. What do you deal with on a daily basis? This is a question that is often asked and is obviously very important. The answer depends on the projects I work on. I usually work on two projects at the same time. For each project, we have client meetings, provide reports and conduct workshops. In addition to the projects for clients, I also work on internal projects, which helps me develop myself in other areas of work. One of my internal projects is business development, where I have contact with existing and potential clients. For example, a day while conducting a strategic consulting project looks like this: 09:00-10:00 – Meeting with the client about actions regarding the Treasury Policy to be taken up today 10:00-12:00 – Edit the Treasury Policy and actions resulting from the meeting 12:00-13:00 – Lunch with colleagues, walk around 13:00-15:00 – Preparing a Treasury Policy workshop for next week 15:00-17:00 – Business development 17:00-20:00 – Friday drinks What advice would you give students? Most important is to know what interests you. Take your time to find out which companies match that. Go to recruitment days/events, in-house days and approach companies that seem interesting to you. You can visit us for an informal talk to see if Zanders and treasury suit you. Would you like to know more about Zanders and/or my experiences? Then send me a message via LinkedIn! https://zandersgroup.com/nl/ https://career.zanders.eu/
Working at Rembrandt | Mergers & Acquisitions
For the Dutch version, click here. Who are you? My name is Tim Foesenek. I grew up in Rijsbergen and have lived in Tilburg since the beginning of my student days, where I have continued to live ever since. After completing the masters in Finance and Supply Chain Management, I started working at Rembrandt M&A (after traveling for a month). How did you come into contact with M&A? Initially, I had never looked into M&A specifically. Towards the end of my studies it started to become somewhat clear which aspects I found interesting. Figures is an important one of these, but in doing so I wanted to be in contact with the business world. After many introductory meetings with different types of companies (including corporates, the big 4 and smaller business service providers), it turned out that M&A suited my preferences very well , because of the dynamic work and the combination of business and personal aspects. I started to look into this further and it turned out that M&A in the midmarket appealed to me the most, as it involves a lot of contact with clients. Rembrandt is a big player in this market. With 45 employees it is a small company, but within this specialized market you are one of the largest with such a group. The culture, working methods and training appealed to me the most. To what extent are the aspects of your studies reflected in your work? Although it is often said that you only really start learning in practice, I still use a lot of knowledge I gained during my Master’s in Finance. General knowledge about balance sheets, results and cash flow comes back daily. Subjects like Corporate Governance & Restructuring and Corporate Valuation even show directly what some of our work involves. The more quantitative subjects come back less, but have shown me how the market views risk thinking. That helps when there is a financial buyer candidate, for example. In addition, it is also common to work with negotiated options, so knowledge about these types of aspects comes in handy. The M&A profession Rembrandt’s role can best be summarized as process support for mergers and acquisitions. In the majority of our assignments we are on the sales side, where we can guide and advise our clients from preparation to closing. The preparation phase consists of valuing the company. This helps us get a good feel for the business and also gives the sellers an indication of the value. Based on this, if the client decides to pursue the process, we prepare an information memorandum and start identifying potential candidates. Once we start approaching candidates, the sales phase has begun. In it, we maintain contact with candidates, coordinate contracts and often conduct negotiations. This phase is very challenging both in terms of content and planning. What is your role in the process? As a consultant, I work with a manager and possibly a second consultant on a potential transaction. In the preparation phase, I take on most of the work and often spar with the manager about my progress and questions I have. In the sales phase, we work more closely together. In this, my role varies per project, but I am involved in every phase and also get a lot of space to make an active contribution. Typically, I have about 5 active projects as well as several projects that are in the preparation phase or temporarily paused. What is the most challenging part of your work at Rembrandt? The most positive thing is the variety and dynamics my job brings me every week. I talk to a lot of people and almost every project has one or (many) more surprising twists and turns. Very challenging, but this makes me go home feeling fulfilled. Besides the content, there is also a lot of challenge on a personal level. I communicate with many different people with diverse backgrounds. And although we often share positive news, of course it sometimes happens that the client had different expectations. It can be tough to deal with this, but these are the moments when I develop myself and learn a lot. What parts of your work are different from what you expected beforehand? The steps of the process largely match my initial assessment. During my first year, I found out a few things that are a little different in practice. For example, the negotiations are often less hands-off than I thought and are usually based on good substantiation. This makes it interesting, because in that case I can have a big impact with my preparations. By the way, this does not exclude the occasional heated negotiations. Working in the office is also much more fun than I had envisioned. We are all in an open space, so you get a good sense of what everyone is doing. We make a lot of phone calls, so you often hear challenging conversations from colleagues, which I learn a lot from. In addition, it is very nice to be able to ask a quick question and it is fun to help others. What do you like about Rembrandt? Rembrandt has both the advantages of a large and a small company. With 45 colleagues there is an incredible amount of knowledge and experience in house and you get to know many interesting people internally. In addition, we are part of Rabobank and have the advantages of a large, professional organization. At the same time, Rembrandt is small enough for you to know everyone and be able to keep up with what is happening within the organization. The culture is accordingly. Everyone is very ambitious and professional and this goes very well together with fun, interest and humor. We do fun activities together, but it is also paramount at Rembrandt that everyone has enough time for their own friends, hobbies and interests.
Working at Van Oers
For the Dutch version, click here. Veerle Vanlaerhoven started working at Van Oers Accountancy & Advies in 2020 as a work student tax. After she completed her Master Fiscal Economics in 2022, she decided to continue working full-time at Van Oers as a Junior Tax Advisor. What made her choose Van Oers and how does she experience working at Van Oers? We talked to her. Difficult choices Choosing the right education doesn’t happen overnight, as Veerle found out. In high school she already had a strong preference for subjects such as Economics and Management & Organization. On the other hand, she was also interested in Law. In her fifth year of high school, she went to the open day at Tilburg University to look for an education in which she could combine these interests. Veerle: “I found the Business Economics program a bit too economic and the Law program a bit too static. Fiscal Economics was a nice balance of both and that’s actually how I ended up with the Fiscal Economics program.’ Fortunately, she found the choice for a work-study at Van Oers somewhat easier. On this she says, ‘I myself was born and raised in the region where Van Oers is located. Therefore, I was familiar with the company from childhood. During my studies, I also participated several times in the formal and informal activities of study association De Smeetskring, where Van Oers was also often present. When Van Oers employees then talked about the atmosphere within Van Oers, this immediately appealed to me. In addition, Van Oers has a nice and diverse client portfolio where the work is diverse and there is a lot to learn. That made me apply.’ A good balance ‘Brabant sociability is a term we often use at the office to describe the atmosphere. We work hard, but at the same time there is also plenty of room for a nice chat, a Friday afternoon drink, a good party or a sporting activity.’ She also names the close involvement with the customer and among each other as a big plus: ‘Even as a Junior, you are quickly given responsibility and are immediately a full member of the team. You get many opportunities and there is always someone ready to help. At Van Oers you are not a number and that makes Van Oers as an employer special to me.’ Sticking around After her Master’s, Veerle didn’t feel the need to look elsewhere. She feels right at home at Van Oers and gets plenty of opportunities. She is currently taking her NOB training and will soon start the Personal Development program. This allows her to continue to grow both professionally and personally. Is she planning to look elsewhere any time soon? Absolutely not. Veerle sees herself working at Van Oers for some time to come and hopes to make great strides: ‘I hope to be able to trade in the Junior position for the next step. I also hope to be able to develop myself even more in the tax world in order to help clients even better.’ Peaks and troughs Growth and development naturally comes with peaks and valleys. On this she says: ‘Fortunately, at Van Oers there is also room to make mistakes, as long as you are alert to them and come up with solutions. Besides, the highs win out over the low days.’ She finds it difficult to choose her favourite moment at Van Oers, but she does list a few: ‘the tax outings, the big Van Oers party, my first day as a tax graduate and receiving my first salary. Advice for students As her final advice to students, Veerle has, ‘Especially the atmosphere and the click you feel with a company is very important. The work or the customers at different companies are not going to make the difference. If the atmosphere is not good, you will also go to work with less pleasure. I also recommend that students do a work-study or internship in addition to studying to get a feel for the business world. But above all … still enjoy your student time!
Working at PwC
Trang Tran Assurance Financial Services – Digital Accelerator For the Dutch version, click here. What exactly do you do at PwC? Besides being an accountant in the Financial Services Business Unit, I am also a Digital Accelerator where I help innovate and digitize the Assurance practice. What does your working day look like? In the morning I start up with the Digital Associates where we discuss the status of the projects and brainstorm where necessary on how we are going to build the digital solutions. We do this by drawing everything out on a jam board and constantly adjusting where necessary. Then the Associates get to work and I have meetings with audit teams to see where I can support them in terms of automating work. I then write out a digital approach per digital solution and guide the Digital Associates with building the digital solutions. When the Digital Associates are done building, I review the digital solutions to ensure we are meeting quality standards and audit guidelines where necessary. Then I schedule meetings with the audit team to hand over the digital solution. There are also major projects in between that I am also involved in. In addition to coming up with new tools that can help the practice, I also help roll out existing tools throughout the practice. And, of course, I also do regular audit work. Depending on the period we are in, I also spend several hours a day on audit work. During busy season then I do work on audits the whole period. Trang Tran | Senior Associate | Digital Accelerator What do you like about your work? That I can let my creative juices flow and that the possibilities are endless. And all within a field where everything seems so rigid. As a Digital Accelerator you are completely let loose within your own audit practice to rethink everything and see how we as accountants can do things differently and thus save time and at the same time increase quality and deliver more added value to the client and society. Tell us something about the Digital Accelerator program. What opportunities do you get here? And how do you apply these in your daily work? After an intensive but fun training where you learn technical skills such as basic coding and data analysis and visualization, you will help the audit teams to digitize. During your training you will also receive soft skills training where you will learn how to ”sell” change and the importance of being agile. These soft skills are very important if you want to bring about change within an audit firm. At my own clients, I try to automate all manual and repetitive work by deploying software that enables automation or by building robots, for example. This leaves more time for the really interesting topics such as fraud, continuity, estimating items and other topics that you as an accountant also want to spend your time on. What role do you think innovation/new technology plays within accountancy? Accountancy is changing and it is only a matter of time before much of our work is fully automated. This does not mean that we as accountants are no longer needed but this means that we as accountants are going to need a different skill-set and add value in a different way. Because of the amount of data that our clients have available today, we as accountants will have to learn how to analyze the data and how we can thereby replace our traditional auditing work by, for example, performing integral data analysis and zooming in on the outliers. This also means that we as accountants will only add more value in the future because by building smart algorithms into our data analyses, for example, we can detect fraud faster and through predictive analytics we can serve clients better. In addition, I also believe that we will move more towards continuous auditing which will allow accountants to actually add value at any time of the day and not just after the financial year. And perhaps soon we will all work on the blockchain and we as accountants will no longer validate the transactions but the blockchain itself. What role do you think innovation/new technology plays within PwC? Innovation is very high on the agenda at PwC and PwC invests a lot in upskilling its people. PwC also invests an awful lot in developing new tooling and making existing tools available. Often people think that innovation is not possible at a Big 4, but precisely because PwC is not a startup and there are sufficient resources available, we can innovate and make the impossible, possible.- Tell us something about your development/coaching/mentoring The way I develop myself is by making mistakes. The skills I need to build digital solutions, I teach myself by just doing it and gradually learning from my mistakes. And the moment I don’t know where to start or if I get stuck then google is my best friend. Google, Youtube tutorials, forums and asking others to think with me. These are the ways to learn the fastest. However, PwC does have enough training courses so that you have at least the basic skills. These are online courses through Udacity and internal courses where you are adequately guided in developing these new skills. “I can let my creative juices flow and the possibilities are endless.” What would you like to say to your future colleagues? We are the future and we are ultimately going to make a difference for generations to come. The world is changing, our clients are changing, and therefore we as a profession need to change as well. The technological revolution is happening right now at this very moment and that’s why it’s just incredibly cool to become part of this change right now.
Working at Wesselman
For the Dutch version, click here. “You get every opportunity to pursue your dreams.” Mithat Yucel combines his role as Assistant Accountant at Wesselman Accountants | Advisors with a Master’s degree in Accountancy & Controlling at Maastricht University. “A tough study, but Wesselman takes this into account – even during busy periods,” he says. Lotte Elsenaar sits down at ‘De Berk,’ one of the stately meeting rooms of the monumental building on the Aarle-Rixtelseweg in Helmond. She decided, after studying Tax Law & Economics, she also wanted to obtain her RA title. “That decision didn’t happen overnight,” she explains candidly. “A study requires a lot of time and energy, and I wanted to combine it with my job as an Assistant Accountant.” Essentially different According to the duo, this is what sets Wesselman apart from other firms. “At Wesselman, you are listened to as a person. You get every opportunity to pursue your dreams,” Mithat answers. Lotte and Mithat also appreciate the small gestures from Wesselman. “Just a little present, a gift with your birthday or a bunch of flowers when you buy a new house. Happiness is in small things,” adds Lotte. “We have lunch together with our colleagues every Thursday. Very nice to be able to catch up,” says Mithat. “Definitely! These lunches are always super well taken care of,” Lotte adds to him. “Every week it’s a treat! We have – apart from this weekly lunch – a control lunch with the team once every two months; all personal and business highlights and successes are discussed and celebrated then!” Making big steps Lotte and Mithat talk about GROW conversations, which focus on personal development. Together with your manager, you look back on the past period and determine your learning goals for the coming period. “You get to determine your own path,” says Mithat. Goals and expectations are also mapped out during the pre-audit meetings. Everyone gets to indicate his or her development points. “I have learned a lot with regard to mentoring juniors,” adds Lotte. “My supervisor gives me regular feedback. That feedback allows you to develop further.” Never the same Every client is different; there are different risks involved everywhere. “That’s what makes it so much fun,” Mithat explains enthusiastically. “I pick up certain posts, chart developments and work through to-do’s.” The basics are good. “We start the day with the team,” Lotte explains. “Very nice, because that way everyone knows what’s going on. Sometimes you work in the office, other times on location. A nice variety and the perfect opportunity to discuss important matters with the client. The role of Assistant Accountant is very diverse!” Wise counsel Still, there is one thing the pair would like to give students. “Make careful considerations,” Lotte replies. “Look carefully at which firm suits you and don’t underestimate the pressure – of working as well as studying.” Mithat nods in agreement. “In addition, it is also important to look into the educational possibilities. I study in Maastricht because for me that was a finer and especially more practical choice than Nyenrode. There is no right or wrong and you should mainly do what feels right for you.” Would you also like to work at Wesselman? Then contact Milou Kutscha at hrm@wesselman-info.nl or 0492-54 85 55. Who knows, maybe we’ll have a cup of coffee together soon.