Female Excellence

What makes working at zeb special for you?

"Reasoning is key—it’s not about where you come from, what position you are in or what background you have!"

What makes working at zeb special for you?

"Content over hierarchy—every idea is listened to regardless of your hierarchy level. " 

What makes working at zeb special for you?

“The working atmosphere at zeb is warm and pleasant.“

How would you describe the atmosphere at zeb?

"Relaxed, family-like, open and friendly."

What makes working at zeb special for you?

„The overall mindset is to support you, whatever your aspirations.“

The power of networking: that was the theme of the women@zeb initiative’s networking event, which took place in Frankfurt. The event started with a joint dinner and continued the next day with exciting presentations on the topic of networking. The event was rounded off by an interactive workshop with Burcu Arslan from the women’s business network nushu. Interesting input, numerous conversations and a record-breaking number of participants – the women@zeb meeting was once again hugely successful!

#Iamremarkable: For the first time this year, we organized a meeting of our internal network women@zeb in Münster. Our female colleagues traveled from our various European locations to network and share experiences and ideas. The event was all about female empowerment: over the course of the afternoon, our colleagues addressed topics such as leadership behavior, hacks for their careers, and their own visibility. Leadership expert Anke Walossek gave an exciting talk entitled “Think manager – think (fe)male – Are women the better managers?”, and in the workshop “#I am remarkable” our colleagues reflected on their personal strengths.

Teambuilding & challenges in Münster: The last networking event of the women@zeb initiative in 2022 took place in Münster. The PULS location, which was chosen for the event, is characterized by its industrial charm. In this atmosphere, Annegret Saxe, deputy member of the board of Sparkasse Münsterland Ost, started off by giving a guest lecture in which she addressed the question: “How can we make ESG come true?”. Besides a pitch duel and some team challenges organized by Strong Partners, the focus was on networking. The evening was rounded off with delicious catering by Al Hayatt and refreshing drinks – and whoever wanted to could stay and continue partying at PULS even after the event ended. 

“For a woman, you’re already doing a pretty good job” – in order to quickly find a fitting response to inappropriate comments, we worked on our power of speech as part of the last women@zeb network meeting. On June 29, about 50 female consultants convened for this purpose. First, Mariesa, Melanie and Yola gave them theoretical input on rhetorical strategies, and then they tried out these tips in an interactive exercise. The day ended with a delicious bowl-meal and many exciting conversations on the roof terrace of POHA House Münster.

How the right question can be a game changer: At our women@zeb fall event, our female colleagues met in Hamburg for a hybrid reunion. During an exciting workshop, Stefanie, Lisa, Lena and Susanne demonstrated how the right and targeted question can steer conversations in new directions. The event was followed by a lunch where there was plenty of time to talk to each other in person, which we sorely missed last year – therefore, we are already very much looking forward to next time!

Women@zeb – multifaceted diversity: this summer, our women@zeb initiative met with Dr. Emilia Roig to learn more about the many facets of diversity. To conclude the meeting, the participants took part in a sundowner yoga session to remind themselves of the importance of carving out personal time. 
We thank Ms. Roig and look forward to the next event!

Role models and networking: at the most recent digital Leadership@Lunch, Isabel Tufet Bayona, CEO of Santander Consumer Operations Services, gave us exciting and honest insights into her career path, inspiring many of our colleagues. 
We thank Ms. Tufet Bayona and look forward to the next event!

Learning from and with female role models: Our new digital format Leadership@Lunch is aimed at all colleagues who want to learn from female role models and broaden their horizons. We meet in a relaxed atmosphere, as if for a lunch date, and on each occasion a different female expert reports on her career path. At the end of each meeting, there is plenty of time to share personal experiences and answer questions. 

Natural Wine Tasting in Berlin: in August, we hosted the first event of our networking series, an easily accessible networking format, intended to appeal in particular to women who had never heard of zeb before. Berlin was chosen as the event location, since we also wanted to try something new. In Berlin-Neukölln we met with female students and graduates in a wine bar for a natural wine tasting. In a relaxed atmosphere, they gained insights into the everyday consulting work at zeb and could ask our colleagues Juliane and Svea any questions they had about the professional field. The next event will be held in Munich in October – we already look forward to it!

Five months of mentoring, events and job shadowing: At the kick-off event for our new mentoring program “Inside zeb: Women in Consulting”, our mentors gave ten female students an exciting insight into the world of consulting over the course of a weekend. The first day started with lunch in the zeb.tower to give all participants the opportunity to get to know each other. Afterwards, they were officially welcomed by our Partner Dr. Katrin Lumma. Then, the students had the opportunity to get in touch with our mentors. An enjoyable evening at the harbor concluded the first day. The next day began with breakfast and a tour of Münster’s old town, followed by a cooking workshop at POHA House.
It was a wonderful kick-off with many great participants and many inspiring conversations! We are excited to see what awaits us in the rest of the program!

Power Breakfast in Frankfurt: in June, we held our annual Power Breakfast – female students, graduates and young professionals had the chance to exchange ideas with our consultants over breakfast. As the meeting took place at the zeb office, the participants were also able to gain a first impression of our premises in Frankfurt. The three colleagues Tabea, Elvira and Lena talked about their individual career paths and answered all the participants’ questions. We’re already looking forward to the next event! 

Magdeburg, June 2022: at this year’s JCNetwork Days, we once again enjoyed a great program to which our colleagues Katharina, Mariesa and Emiliya contributed a mini case. In small groups, different solutions were presented and “challenged” by our three consultants to provide insights into their daily consulting and project work. Later on, at the opening session, Katharina talked about her personal experience and about new ways of working at zeb. In the evening, we met with many other students from Germany, Austria and Switzerland at our zeb exhibition stand and had the opportunity to engage in exciting discussions. 
At the end, we all agreed: the whole event was an immediate success!
 

Afterhours | women’s edition: the Afterhours event series offers students, graduates and young professionals, who are interested in the consulting industry, the opportunity to talk to consultants and hear about their work experience. In the women’s edition, Quynh, Sandra and Alina tell us more about three key topics in management consulting: traveling as a consultant, reconciling work and family life and diversity in the industry. During an online dinner, the participants learned a lot about the main features of the profession and had the opportunity to ask questions.
 

A day in the life of a zeb consultant: our aim is to introduce the consulting and IT industry to young people – that’s why we were very happy to welcome so many girls from schools in the Münster area at our Girls’ Day in front of the zeb Tower in Münster. Of the approx. 120,000 schoolboys and schoolgirls who signed up for the nationwide Girls’ Day and Boys’ Day 2022, 17 pupils gained insights into working in the consulting and IT world – and were given the opportunity to spend a day acting as a consultant or IT developer themselves. 

Virtual event “Ready, set, go!” as a kickoff to the pre-Christmas season: on December 2, we hosted a virtual event for women interested in consulting. Christina and Quynh talked about their experience in the industry and the varied tasks of their daily work routine. They provided authentic insights and dispelled clichés about the industry. Afterwards, the participants had time to ask professional and personal questions in order to find out for themselves whether a career as a consultant is the right choice for them.