Consultancy programme explained
Our consultancy programme is built upon three pillars: personal leadership, consultancy skills, and sector knowledge. Within our three-year programme, you’ll be guided by a performance manager in your professional and personal development. All the assignments are client-based and last six to nine months on average. You’ll start working at large multinationals where you’ll have the chance to network and unlock new opportunities for your career.
Consultancy roles
As a consultant at Solid Professionals you’ll embark on diverse and impactful roles in the finance and risk domain. You’ll engage in assignments like risk assessment at de Volksbank, developing financial models for ING, or leading software development projects at ABN AMRO.
Project management roles may involve coordinating large-scale initiatives at pension firms or overseeing process optimisations at leading banks. As a consultant you can grow from a analytical starter role to a leadership position. You can make a big impact in firms through projects that streamline operations, enhance data quality, and drive business efficiency.
As a consultant, you’ll solve complex financial data issues, optimize reports, or make improvement proposals. The themes that you are concerned with are new legislation and regulations, process optimisation, data quality, and reporting. You’ll develop professionally, train your consultancy skills, and receive coaching within your practical assignments and personal leadership. This ensures you develop quickly and allows you to challenge yourself continuously.
What you can expect from us
Our consultancy team is a close-knit group of professionals who are always keen to exchange knowledge and experiences. To ensure you meet and bond with fellow consultants and other colleagues at Solid Professionals, we organize the following:
- Regular lunch with the team where we discuss our experiences at our assignments
- Socials where we go out for an activity and a drink
- Cultural events where we share something from our culture like a well-known dish
- Knowledge-sharing events
- The possibility of working from our office in Utrecht
- Use of our gym in the backyard of our office and in-house sports classes
Year 1: Foundation and exploration
Personal leadership:
Your consultancy journey starts with a deep dive into personal leadership and mental resilience. You’ll explore being challenged in a safe environment, vulnerability, and enhancing your interpersonal dynamics. The focus on MBTI profiling (a model that helps you discover your personality type) prepares you for the challenges and dynamics of the consulting profession.
Consultancy skills:
Develop your consultancy knowledge, from aligning with our core values to mastering storytelling in presentations. You’ll progress through consultative selling, requirements setting, problem-solving, stakeholder management, project management, and Agile methodologies.
Sector knowledge:
Gain a robust understanding of banking operations, financial reporting, and risk management. Sharpen your skills in financial markets, change management, and technical areas like Excel, SQL, data governance, Power BI, and Tableau by following courses from our own learning and development platform ‘Solid Academy’.
Year 2: Deepening skills and specialisation
Personal Leadership:
Elevate your leadership abilities with transition-based leadership. We delve into the next level of MBTI training, positive thinking, intervision with our peers, and transactional analysis, crucial for developing as an effective leader.
Consultancy skills:
This year is about optimising your communication, navigating complex policy frameworks, and sharpening your problem-solving skills. Embrace the agile product owner role and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, while learning landscape analysis and integrating sustainability and climate risk knowledge.
Sector Knowledge:
Specialise in data warehouse concepts and data quality management, essential for high-level decision-making and financial data analysis.
Year 3: Customisation and personalisation
The third year breaks the mould, offering a tailor-made training experience aligned with your personal development needs and career aspirations. This year is about applying the learned concepts in real-world scenarios and further specialising in areas that fuel your passion and career objectives. It’s a unique opportunity to shape your learning path, ensuring you emerge from the traineeship as a highly-skilled, adaptable, and insightful consultant, ready to make a significant impact in the industry.
Future roles as a consultant
The 3-year consultancy programme and the wide range of client assignments give you a solid all-round foundation to become a fully-fledged consultant. In the first two years, we form the foundation and in year 3 you’ll specialise in your niche. After three years, you can switch to one of the consultancy labels within our parent company The Hup or become a managing consultant within Solid Professionals.
- RiskSphere: senior business consultancy with a focus on environmental and sustainability reporting.
- Firm C: senior business consultancy focusing on data-driven Finance & Risk, legislation and regulations, project management and process optimisation.
- Managing consultant: leading, coaching, and guiding juniors within the consultancy programme.
We offer a large educational budget, giving you the freedom to pursue relevant learning opportunities like the CFA or specialised training, when proven valuable to your development. This enhances your skills and contributes to our collective expertise and success in the financial sector.
Questions about our programme?
Get in touch! We are here to help.
