The First Year at INVENSITY
By Christian Schubert (Consultant)
As early as during my diploma thesis, I was contacted by INVENSITY via the XING Internet platform. As a budding engineering graduate in electrotechnology with specialization in IT and communication technology, I fitted well into the company profile. This resulted in my first telephone interview with Mr. Christopher Seinecke, a manager at INVENSITY. It was an informal chat about my CV, my course at the University of Applied Sciences Giessen-Friedberg, my practical experience during internships and my bachelor thesis. The conversation gave me plenty of valuable information about the company. I learned for instance, that INVENSITY is a young and aspiring consultancy whose clients include large automotive suppliers and OEMs. Naturally, I was suitably impressed by this first chat and was very much looking forward to being invited to a meeting in person at the offices in Wiesbaden.
The first of a total of three meetings on that day was with the CEO of INVENSITY, Mr. Frank Lichtenberg. We talked about my course, my thesis, my technical interests and my knowledge of various current technologies. I also learned more about the company and was particularly impressed by the special 3-pillar concept. In addition to pure consulting, INVENSITY also boasts its own academy and an innovation center.
Training courses and workshops in the area of soft skills, technology, management and leadership are developed in the academy, and all internal employees take part in these courses which are also offered to any clients who may be interested. The special aspect is that each member of staff is involved in developing new training courses with experienced colleagues virtually right from the start and thus gains new competences and is quickly integrated into the INVENSITY team.
The innovation centre, by contrast, generates and develops practical new ideas. Here, each member of staff has the opportunity to let his or her creativity run wild, enabling completely new applications for technologies and solutions for problems to be found. The innovation center also includes the three centers of excellence, CoE for short, in which staff work in-house on projects, develop methodologies, discuss client project issues and always provide new input for the innovation center. Currently existing CoEs include project management, safety management and systems engineering, all of which have different areas of focus as their names suggest.
The meeting with the CEO was followed by looking at a case study together with Mr. Matthias Welge, an experienced consultant at INVENSITY. It dealt with a concrete technical challenge which Mr. Welge encountered in his client project and which did not fall within my area of expertise at that time. It was interesting to delve into unfamiliar territory and I was able to prove my ability to learn new things quickly and show off my technical expertise.
The final meeting was then, just like the first phone call, with Mr. Seinecke again. After having consulted with his colleagues, he gave me detailed feedback of my meetings. How I had come across, how I had presented myself, what impression I had left as regards to my technical knowledge, areas for potential improvement - all of this was discussed and I was also given the chance to give my own feedback and ask questions.
The impression that I formed about INVENSITY during the three meetings was positive throughout. So when I received another call from Mr. Seinecke, who told me that INVENSITY was very interested in me as an employee and would like to offer me a position, I was absolutely delighted. At the time, I already had an offer from a well-known German automotive supplier and had to make a decision.
One of the attractions of INVENSITY was the consulting work – i.e. working on many different projects for renowned companies from a wide range of industries, thereby being able to gain professional experience across the broadest range of industries.
A further plus for me was the company’s own academy - knowing I would have regular training courses and could gain additional knowledge and qualifications. The CoEs and the innovation center serve to ensure the internal network – as everyone is constantly in contact with other colleagues, has opportunities for discussions and can develop new ideas, while benefitting from each other’s experience.
I also considered the flat company hierarchy and the structured career model in my decision. Every six month, an appraisal takes place, where employees are evaluated and given comprehensive feedback on their performance and themselves. Decisions about pay, promotions and bonuses are made based on these appraisals - making it a very attractive model which enables one to take control of one’s own career status.
Joining the company is also made easier thanks to an experienced consultant, who is assigned as a mentor to the new employee. The aim is to have a long-term contact person who can provide valuable tips on working on projects, how to handle clients and on the basic processes at INVENSITY - and all this in a trusting and cordial environment.
Based on these unique aspects, which clearly set INVENSITY apart from other competitors, the decision was not difficult to make - I chose the position of Associate Consultant at INVENSITY GmbH.
I met my mentor, Mr. Boris Peters, who is a highly experienced consultant, during my final meeting to sign the contract. We hit it off right from the start and I felt really relaxed about my upcoming entry into working life.
On my first day at work, I was welcomed by a couple of colleagues, Tina Wemer and Verena Schmidt, responsible for HR and marketing. They showed me around the offices and explained some first internal procedures. I received my new company cell phone and a laptop, and straight away I was taking part in an internal meeting of the systems engineering CoE, that was now my department. I got to meet many of my new colleagues personally in this meeting right at the start and gained a swift first impression of the internal workings of INVENSITY - an exciting start.
After two weeks, I was already benefitting from the company’s in-house academy and took part in my first soft skills training course, Time Management I. Just two weeks later, after having been introduced to various current topics, such as requirements management and safety management, I began working on my first small client project for an automotive supplier in Frankfurt. There, I was able to directly apply the foundations that I had previously learned and could deepen them in a relatively small project, which nonetheless provided me with my first practical experience in consultancy.
It’s now been a year and can only draw a very positive conclusion.
In total I have taken part in 5 training courses: Time Management I, Communication Skills I, Presentation Skills I, Negotiation Theories I and Non-Violent Communication.
I have also worked on different projects for 3 companies. I tackled the subject of safety management for a large automotive supplier, then I worked on test management for a drive train development for another supplier. I took on responsibility for requirements and configuration management in a long-term project for a large supplier in the automobile industry. My technical understanding from my studies in electrotechnology always played an important role in all of the projects and these different projects allowed me to learn a lot more within a short space of time.
I have also really enjoyed the work I did internally for my systems engineering CoE. During regular telephone conferences and meetings, new challenges arise all the time which are then worked on - the CoE has also recently become an active member of the Gesellschaft für Systems Engineering (Society for Systems Engineering), GfSE. In the meantime I have been appointed the CoE’s contact person for requirements and configuration management, have already put together a training course myself and will soon become a course lecturer for a further training course, and I’m sure there are more exciting things to follow suit.
Working as a consultant at INVENSITY brings new tasks and challenges with it every day. We are always in touch with our colleagues, discuss projects, offer support by way of reviews and by exchanging experiences, which is naturally of mutual benefit.
I look forward to many more years in a young, dynamic and great team at INVENSITY and am really happy to have made the right decision.
