Which skills do you expect from young professionals interested in joining Roland Berger?

There is a diverse skill set required for consultants in general, but if you ask for restructuring in particular, my top ones would be: Financial savvy - You would need to know how a balance sheet, cash flow, etc. works. Resilience - Especially in restructuring projects you are sometimes confronted with tough clients or tasks. And last but not least: Excel There is no need that you know everything perfectly when you join, these are also skills you develop over time on the projects.

Nice to have would be in-depth knowledge of restructuring or accounting laws and standards in Germany or being able to develop models for complex business plans.

Not sure how I ended up in this German Channel, but I am from Zurich and working for a Family Office

Interesting to see that the skills you listed are completely different than what I was asked to do when I led a restructuring for my current employer, an international Family Office

When you are living in Zurich, then it would of course be about the standards and laws in Switzerland or the respective country that you are working in.

Coming originally from Finance I do not exactly understand what you mean with "knowing how cashflow and balance sheets work". One would assume that each person with background in economics and finance would understand how balance sheets and cashflows work, but there are still major differences between accountants and i.e. economists, whereas from the perspective of someone without this background, both would know how balance sheets and cashflows work :)

Regarding the skills: I listed really restructuring-specific skills that are only relevant in this area and not general consulting skills. The required skill sets are different in every project, even every restructuring project, and if it is a financially/bank-driven restructuring project, finance and numbers are important.

At Roland Berger, we hire people from diverse backgrounds, so no economics/business study is required. Some of my colleagues, even in restructuring, studied music or biology and are amazing at what they do. But for them it means, catching up with some hard skills. Additionally, even some of the colleagues that studied business know how a balance sheet works, but applying it in practice and writing a business plan model is something different.

Of course! Formulated differently: would you consider a Business & Finance alumni (not working in accounting) as balance sheet and cash flow savvy or are you really looking for the specialists who know all the ins&outs?

All clear! So one should be able to perform financial modelling

There is always at least one specialist on a restructuring project. The others are not required to build the financial business plan, but at least they should be able to calculate the effects of the measures they are developing.

All clear! Sounds interesting! Ill have to contact your colleagues in Zurich :) Have a nice day and enjoy the weekend!