Mateusz Zielinski on his first six months at BlinkLane Consulting

Mateusz Zielinski joined BlinkLane Consulting in early 2023, bringing with him many years of invaluable experience in management consulting and project management. We asked him four questions about his first six months at the advisory firm.

Consulting has long been one of your career interests. When did your fascination with the sector begin?

It actually goes all the way back to my childhood. My father has an own business and having overserved how he runs the company, I became interested in the entrepreneurial side of work and management.

After completing my master’s at Bristol University in the United Kingdom, I started working for Imperial Brands. While I was not in the consulting industry, the job actually resembled consulting work in many ways, as I was an internal advisor.

I started in a PMO role, supporting a large HR transformation. At some point, we started worked with an external consulting firm and that is actually when my interest really began to grow. I learned that consultants work on different topics and projects, across different sectors. Also being able to gain such as breadth of experience seemed like a great experience.

But I didn’t actually start working as a consultant until three years ago when I became an independent contractor. That was the point where I jumped into consultancy.

So how did you then end up at Blinklane Consulting?

During my time as a contractor, I was working remotely a lot. After two or so years in the role, I started to reflect on my next move. I spoke with relatives, friends and experts from all kinds of domains. This led me to the conclusion that I wanted to join a large consulting firm, for three reasons.

First, I wanted an environment where I could apply the skills I had gained as an internal and independent consultant. I was curious how I leverage these skills in order to contribute to a large transformation project.

Secondly, I wanted to also learn new consulting skills. This was and still is something that is very high on my priority list. Having now been at BlinkLane Consulting for six months, I can safely say that the firm is a great place to learn.

Finally, life as an independent consultant can be quite lonely. I had the desire to be part of a team and work together towards shared goals and deliverables.

When I first applied to Blinklane Consulting, the firm was still new to me. I was drawn to its services and expertise and the culture really appealed to me. During my conversations with the recruiters and consultants – and even one of the partners – my initial thoughts were only reinforced.

The last round however played a key role in my decision. I got the chance to meet the whole team in the office – that helped me understand Blinklane Consulting’s values and culture first-hand. The session fully convinced me that Blinklane Consulting was the right place for me.

How do you look back at your first months?

In the first few months, you get a clear picture of the culture – both of the firm and the people. I think the other people working here are amazing. People are really kind, supportive, and smart – that really makes a big difference for any new joiner.

At Blinklane Consulting, consultants are given much independence and freedom – obviously backed by responsibility. This enables young talent to make an impact at early stages in their career, something which surely isn’t a given at peers.

In terms of my work, I started helping out with the development of a proposal for a client case and with the development of a new training for staff. Having been able to pick up these two tasks early on really helped me understand the Blinklane Consulting way of doing things.

Not much later I was staffed on my first project. I’m part of a team that is helping a pharma company with creating a measurement framework to support their commercial delivery. For me it’s an interesting project since I’ve never worked in this industry and additionally, I’m keen to put into practice what I’ve learned so far.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Yes, I think that Blinklane Consulting’s membership of Highberg is really exciting. By working together with other leading consultancies in the Netherlands such as House of Performance, Analtiqs, and Verdonck, Klooster & Associates, we can broaden and enrich our expertise.