You have made interesting career moves, working in 5 different industries so far. What are the most distinctive lessons you have learned?
I started as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company and since then I have been in telecom, insurance, travel and most recently in e-commerce.
My most distinctive lesson is undoubtedly that every industry has challenges and opportunities that are specific to that particular industry, but above all that many things are similar. A lot of things can definitely be applied across industries. It is important to understand early on what is complex in the particular industry you are in but also to draw parallels from previous lessons.
In my experience, it is definitely powerful to mix up the teams. Not only have I changed industries, but I have also actively sought mixed backgrounds in recruitment. In all teams, of course, a sufficiently robust industry knowledge is required at the core, but not everyone needs to possess it, but here different perspectives trump in my opinion.

We meet people every day who want to do something new in their career - a career change. What advice do you have for them?
The first career change is the hardest. Here my most important advice is to be active! I have been the driving force in many of my changes, I have actively sought out recruiters or the recruiting company and pitched why I am relevant despite not having experience in that specific industry.
Another piece of advice is to look beyond the industry knowledge in describing you and your own journey. What is it that you bring to a new role? Is it leadership? Sales? Process development? Customer relations? Pricing? What in your profile is universal?
After the first switch, it gets easier. Since my second change, I've been getting requests from different industries on a regular basis.
If the career change becomes a fact, what is important to consider?
Be humble and spend a lot of time understanding by listening. Focus on what is new to you from the industry. When I entered e-commerce, physical products were almost completely new to me so I have spent a lot of time with purchasing and logistics to understand that flow.