Melanie Hoffmann

NAME Melanie Hoffmann
EMPLOYER Corporate Value Associates (CVA)
UNIVERSITY Banking, Berufsakademie (2002); MSc International management and diplôme Grande Ecole, ESCP-EAP (2005)

Why consulting?

While studying for my masters I undertook two internships with the fixed income and finance groups at Goldman Sachs, London. This was followed by a third internship in the mergers and acquisitions group with BNP Paribas in Paris. These experiences highlighted where my strengths and interests lay, namely in strategic planning on long-term projects, and led me to consulting.

At work

I work on a broad range of projects across numerous sectors including branding, pricing and sourcing. Each project is unique as it has its own challenges to face, problems to solve and interesting people to work alongside. I’m currently based in London working on the organisational restructuring of a financial institution in Germany. With the guidance of my manager I’m conducting interviews with the departmental heads. This is a great way of developing core competences at an early stage in my career, as well as demonstrating that I can handle responsibility. There’s a lot of interaction between the international offices and there are plenty of opportunities to travel and build cross-border knowledge. It’s also really very exciting to be involved with innovative new areas, such as emotional decision-making.

Personal goals

One of my biggest learning curves involved working on a research and development project where a creative and innovative mindset was key. The project had operational and strategic elements and was extremely time-restricted. I learned to stay focused and successfully contribute valuable ideas by setting goals. Luckily, I realised that pressure makes me work more efficiently, which is handy for a career in consulting!