"It’s truly satisfying to see the concepts you’ve designed deliver measurable impact"
Philipp Zölzer – Consultant – RWTH Aachen (2024)
Why have you decided to become an Avencore consultant?
I decided to join Avencore as a consultant for two main reasons.
The first was the team. As a consultant, you spend a lot of time on the road, so it was very important to me to feel comfortable with the people I’d be working with. At Avencore, I found exactly that. During our professional work, one of our guiding principles, “serious but fun“, isn’t just a slogan; it’s something we we live every day. Alongside our tasks, we always manage to have a great time on projects and during team events.
The second key reason was Avencore’s industrial focus. With my engineering background, it was important for me to keep a strong link to technical topics while also working on strategic challenges. Avencore offers the perfect combination: By focusing on industrial clients across various sectors, we tackle questions related to products, technologies, and production processes – always at a strategic level, in close collaboration with top management.
What role does innovation play in your daily work at Avencore?
Being innovative is a key aspect of my daily work as a consultant at Avencore. Each project challenges me to think outside the box, whether the task involves developing new methods to structure project content, designing engaging workshops, or visualizing data in a more insightful way.
Innovation at Avencore doesn’t stop at client projects. We’re also encouraged to introduce new internal processes or tools. What I really appreciate is that every good idea is heard, discussed, and, whenever possible, put into practice.
What has been the most rewarding part of working on a project with Avencore?
The most rewarding part of a project at Avencore is that we don’t just create concepts and leave the client to implement them alone. In all our projects, we actively support the implementation together with the client, making sure the ideas we develop also come to life without us becoming routine implementers.
It’s truly satisfying to see the concepts you’ve designed deliver measurable impact. And of course, great client feedback and the well-deserved project dinners at the end are always highlights too.
What was useful in your studies to work at Avencore?
Of course, not every subject from university is directly relevant to daily consulting work. However, my technical background is something I benefit from every day. It allows me to engage with clients on equal footing and truly understand their challenges.
The most valuable skill I took from my studies is resilience. Consulting means constantly learning something new and staying composed, even in demanding situations. That ability to remain calm and structured under pressure is essential in our work at Avencore.
What do you think makes a good consultant?
For me, a good consultant should genuinely enjoy talking and interacting with people. Not to overwhelm the client with words, but because consulting is, at its core, a people business. You have to feel comfortable working closely with clients and building trust through collaboration.
Of course, our work also involves analyzing data and developing content within the team. But when you build a friendly, open relationship with the client, projects become easier to realize and a lot more enjoyable. That’s very much in line with our mindset at Avencore: serious but fun.