ProjectiveGroup welcomes 15 graduates to inaugural NXTGen traineeship
After months of preparation, financial services consultancy ProjectiveGroup has kicked off the first edition of its NXTGen Traineeship. The inaugural programme will see 15 graduates join simultaneously in three different countries, for an intensive 10-week engagement.
ProjectiveGroup is a consulting firm which focuses on helping financial services institutions with some strategic programmes and change initiatives. Specialising in project management, much of the firm’s work is in the area of digital transformation, payments, risk and compliance.
With offices in six European countries, ProjectiveGroup is a pan-European transformation consultancy for the financial services sector. The firm works for banks, asset managers, insurers, pension funds, regulators FinTechs, and more. As it looks to encourage young professionals to get involved in this kind of work, it has launched the NXTGen Traineeship programme – which offers mentorship to graduates looking to start a successful career as a consultant.
Speaking on the initiative, ProjectiveGroup’s Talent Development Manager, Leslie Hemmerechts, said, “The NXTGen Traineeship at ProjectiveGroup is an international traineeship, targeting young graduates who are interested in building their consultancy career in the financial industry.”
In particular, the traineeships aim to develop a cohesive group of independent, skilled and result-oriented consultants, which can embody the culture of the Projective Group. To that end, the NXTGen Traineeship candidates has welcomed its first cohort of 15 new graduates: Sjoerd van 't Zet, Jolien van der Geest, Mikhail Kokorin, Jeike Juk, Gertjan Van Biesen, Hiba Awada, Louise Foulon, Koen van Ravenhorst, Michèlle Maduro, Sjors Verhoogt, Ben Harland, Prem Munday, Christopher Murchison, Benjamin Lambiase, and Adam Simmonds.
Learning on the job
Working across ProjectiveGroup’s offices in Belgium – where the firm is headquartered – as well as the Netherlands, and the UK, the following 10 weeks will see the trainees gain expertise over a range of topics. This includes transformation, payments, risk and compliance and data science. Meanwhile, they will be given the chance to put their new knowledge to work, supporting challenging projects for ProjectiveGroup’s clients.
Considering what she hopes to take away from the experience, NXTGen Consultant Jolien van der Geest added, “I think we will also get to meet a lot of people who are already working at ProjectiveGroup. We can see what experiences they have, what projects they are doing, so we get a vision of maybe what we are doing in half a year.”
The consulting industry is one of the most popular destinations for graduates as they exit higher education. The industry’s diverse workload, and the willingness of firms like ProjectiveGroup to let young staff learn on the job to obtain important experience means that many see it as a way of continuing learning after their formal education ends. Meanwhile, the variety of roles means that others, unsure of which direction their career should take, are able to weigh up an array of options, before choosing a specialism.
Fellow NXTGen Consultant, Louise Foulon, added, “I think ProjectiveGroup gives a bigger package towards me because for me it wasn’t clear which exact direction I wanted to go in, and it’s nice to have this programme to discover all the different positions and roles. And then after these 10 weeks, see where I want to specialise in, and what position I want to become better in.”
