HiddenChamp: Santiago Advisors – Making a difference
Open positions
Approach
Santiago is a consultancy with a long and successful project history in corporations and small and medium-sized companies (SME). They work across all industries and are established partners in the fields of life science and high-tech.
Competencies
Strategy and business models
Process optimization and reorganization
People and leadership
Transformation
Agility and digitalization
Management consulting is a service provided by consulting firms to help their clients improve the effectiveness of an organization’s strategy, operational processes and structure. Consultants give advice and solve complex issues. They identify areas where the company could add value, improve business performance and help develop skills within the organization.
There are not only the big, well-known companies, but also small boutique consulting firms, such as Santiago Advisors with their focus on strategy and organization. They are experts in both the design of concepts and their practical implementation. Santiago operates all over the world and they support their customers with international teams on site.
The business magazine brand eins and the statistics portal Statista have once again named Santiago Advisors “Best consultant” in 2021.
Company culture
Sonia Vilaclara, Senior Principal at Santiago Advisors, holds a PhD in International Management. In our interview she gave us insights into the projects, company culture, and working style of a consultant.
She explains that consultants at Santiago take a hypothesis-driven, conceptual and analytical approach.
»From my point of view, consulting and scientific work are not so different.«
Corporate responsibility
Corporate responsibility (CR) or business sustainability is about the ethics, which drive an organisation’s activities and how it operates so that it is viable over the long term. It starts with recognising that organisations’ activities impact on society, the environment and the economy, as well as on their own workforce.
Santiago Advisors embed CR into their core practices, as they see their responsibility towards society in exactly the same way as they see their commitment in daily work with their clients.
For this reason, they support initiatives either financially or through projects in the following categories:
- Employee initiatives
- Science
- Start ups
- Creative talent
Sustainability is an increasingly important issue for Santiago Advisors, as they aim to achieve CO2 neutrality by 2028 through economies in CO2 and investments in appropriate CO2-compensating programmes (solar, wind, forestry or biomass). As part of their climate protection program Project Zero, Santiago Advisors started BEEkeeping and the majority of the business trips are being done by public transport or other solutions. Thus, Santiago almost arrived in car-free consulting.
Consultant work life
Consultancy with a focus on strategy and organization does not immediately come to mind as a job opportunity for a scientist like Mauricio, holding a PhD in Microbiology. Mauricio explains why being a consultant at Santiago Advisors was the right choice for him.
He underlines how important it is to communicate your potential by demonstrating how the skills that you have developed in academia are valuable in other sectors. Remember that the wording might be different.
Mauricio illustrates in the interview what skills have proven helpful for him.
Tips for your application
What’s important to know when applying for a job in consulting?
Sonia’s advice:
»Be open to new topics and methods. Appreciate a high working pace and constant exchange with colleagues and clients. Show us that you are able and willing to do that in the application process.«
Mauricio first checked if he was the right fit by sending his CV asking for feedback. After a casual conversation with the Managing Director, he felt that this was the case.
So make sure to be yourself and know why you want to work at this particular company.
Job application
Are you interested in working with us? Send us a brief profile of yourself. After first viewing your documentation, we will quickly invite you to a first interview. If that is successful it will be followed by a round of interviews with several managers.
Do you have any questions about Santiago or regarding your career opportunities? I am happy to answer your questions.
We look forward to your application!
Nina Daum, Human Resources at Santiago Advisors
