Saskia Janssen - Analytical Consultant for NielsenIQ

What did you study? And why (did you choose for Wageningen)?

"My name is Saskia Janssen and I live in Zevenaar. When I started to search for a study, I thought it was a good idea to do a ‘meeloopdag’, also called a Student Shadowing Day, at the Wageningen University. After this day, where I visited the university together with a current student at that time, I was immediately convinced the study Business and Consumer studies was the perfect fit for me. The FMCG world seemed very interesting to me, and I really liked to put myself in the shoes of a consumer and think of different ways how to do groceries. Therefore, I started the Bachelor Business and Consumer Studies at Wageningen (Bedrijfs-en Consumentenwetenschappen in Dutch) in 2015."

Since you graduated, what kind of jobs did you have?

"After I graduated for the Master Management, Economics and Consumer Studies in 2020, which was in the middle of the corona crisis, I thought it was going to be very difficult for me to find a job. I knew I was interested in working in the FMCG industry, but I could not choose for a specific company I was desperately willing to work for. Therefore, I started reading about different companies, talked to alumni and just started applying to different manufacturers and retailers that sound interesting to me. Surprisingly, someone from the company named Nielsen contacted Gineke Boven (our student advisor) asking if she knew anyone searching for a job that was graduated from my specific Master study. He did this study as well and thought it was the perfect fit for this job. For the ones that are not familiar yet with the company Nielsen, which is currently changed its name into NielsenIQ, it is the market leader in global measurement and data analytics in the Netherlands. To be honest, when I firstly heard this, I was not very enthusiastic and did not know what to do with this email forwarded to me by Gineke. After some days, I decided to have a phone call with the analytical consultant of NielsenIQ who explained me all details of the job and described how a day as an analytical consultant at NielsenIQ looks like. He described all the links with our study, like how he tried to think as a real consumer making choices in the supermarket when setting up an analysis but also how he tried to understand the perspective of a manufacturer about selling products to the consumer in the best way possible. In these analyses you really had to think about all the 4P’s (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) in order to help clients with their current business issue and give the best advice you could. When I heard all of this, I was surprised and became very enthusiastic about this job. I applied and got the job, all within 1 month after my graduation. "

And what is your current job? And how relates that to your study at Wageningen?

"Being an analytical consultant at NielsenIQ is very challenging and diverse. I am able to work with different manufacturer clients who all work in different product segments and/or market channels. My biggest client is Coca Cola, for who I spend a lot of my hours working on analyses and reports to provide them relevant insights about new product innovations, category insights or consumer trends. On Thursdays I work on site at their office in Rotterdam, where I get the opportunity to hear their day-to-day business and give an answer to their questions immediately face to face. This is a very exciting experience every week again. Next to Coca Cola, I have clients in candy, snacks and fresh categories which makes my work very diverse, but it is also challenging to gain knowledge about all these different segments. Besides this, we work on different internal projects like the Wheel of Retail (the election for the best new product innovation in the Dutch supermarket world) or our Annual Review that we use to present the general trends we recognize in the supermarket channel. I am very happy with my current job and like to learn from all these different clients, but also from my colleagues that work for different clients and channels as well. For example, we also have clients in the Drug or Petrol channel which is also very interesting to learn more about. Every day I try to look at a situation from a consumer and business perspective, what makes this job very suitable for graduates of the Business and Consumer study at Wageningen. Besides that, this role is accompanied with a lot of trainings and sessions in which you can learn a lot about doing analyses, presenting to clients, and includes intensive collaboration with colleagues. This is an extra driver for me to keep learning and be challenged to make an even better analysis, or present in a more powerful way, every time again."

What are your future goals?

"I am already working as an analytical consultant for NielsenIQ for 1,5 years now but feel like I am still learning so much every day. Around 2 years of working in this role you can become a medior, which means you will be able to set up an analysis by yourself and present it to the client. This will be my goal for 2022, for which I need to strategically think about how to make an analysis as relevant as possible for the client (asking the right questions when discussing the client’s briefing), creating visually attractive slides (using the NielsenIQ style and theories about how to put emphasis on the most important information, but more importantly, keep it short and simple), learn how to set up an analysis in an efficient way (not getting lost in all the data we have available) and getting training and experience in presenting to the client. When I feel comfortable about all these steps, I would like to get to know more of other clients and channels. At NielsenIQ we have two analytical teams, one is the Manufacturer team, in which I am working now, but we also have a Retailer team. If I feel satisfied about working for manufacturer clients, I can always make a switch to the Retailer team and experience how it is to work for our retailer clients. They are in need of completely different types of analyses and have another look at the market which could make this also an interesting step in my future career at NielsenIQ."

What experiences did you really like during your study?

"There are multiple experiences I really liked about my study, but I will highlight my two most memorable ones. First of all, the course ACT (Academic Consultancy Training) during my Master where I had to work together with a group of students on a real-life business issue. Our consultancy project was about lunch meetings at the Wageningen University, at which the lunches that were offered were not perceived as healthy and sustainable. This was not matching the image of the university, and therefore we had to investigate several alternatives researched from a consumer perspective. We also had a coach which really helped us working together and taught us to make efficiently use of all our strengths and weaknesses in the group. This was extremely helpful and a very interesting part of this course. Besides that, we also had to check in with the business several times to deeply investigate their needs and issues to be able to come up with an effective solution in the end. Next to this course, I really appreciated the opportunity to do an internship during my Master study. For six months I was working at the Shopper Marketing department of PepsiCo in Maarssen, Utrecht. This really helped me in getting an idea about how working in the FMCG sector could look like. Besides that, there was also a focus on my personal growth which was really helpful as well. During the first two months of this internship I was able to join several business events, like a fair and a 2-day event to celebrate the end of a business year and look forward to the new business plans and goals of upcoming year. Unfortunately, after these amazing 2 months, covid started and I had to do the rest of the internship at home. This was a major difference but I still got the opportunity to learn new things and make this internship a valuable experience."

How was studying/living in Wageningen for you?

"At the start of my bachelor study I was considering to not only study, but also live in Wageningen. However, I finally decided to stay at home and travel to the university. For me, this was 30 minutes by train and then about 10/15 minutes by bus. What I really liked about my time in Wageningen, is that you feel part of the bigger whole and even the university is still growing a lot, you do not feel like a number. I had a lot of friends, some living in Wageningen, which made it easy to be part of events and activities in Wageningen as well, and some traveling to the campus as well, who made the time in public transport much nicer."

How did you experience the quality of the education at WUR? What are the reasons that you experienced it like this?

"What I appreciated most about my education at the WUR is the freedom you get in choosing courses and being able to really form your own unique study. Besides being able to get the flexibility in choosing your own courses, you are also very well supported in making these choices. For me, my student advisor Gineke Boven was really helping me to make the right decisions and challenge myself to get most out of it. This was very valuable and made me feel I was really thinking about what I did like and what I did not like, why that was being the case, and how I could make my study most interesting and relevant for my future career."

How did you experience your contact with the teachers at WUR? And how did you experience the tutorage you received during your study?

"At the WUR, you get into contact with a lot of different teachers, who are all specialized in their own business areas. Sometimes this makes it feel like you are somewhat distanced from them, but I never felt like I was not able to ask the questions I had. Nex to big lecture halls, you also have classes in smaller groups and rooms which make the 1 on 1 contact easier and sometimes also more helpful. I think this combination was good, since more difficult courses were in smaller groups and the more theoretical courses were in lecture halls, which I experienced as the perfect combination.

One thing I missed during my studies in terms of tutoring is the support in SPSS. This is a software program that you had to use during your thesis but you did not work with it a lot before/during classes. I had a lot of questions about this and struggled to find out how this program works and could help me in doing my thesis. However, you also have a tutor during your thesis who could help you with questions but this was the first time you really had to find out the most of it by yourself. After all, YouTube and study books helped me a lot and made it possible for me to write two very interesting theses."

What is your opinion on the renewal of MME?

"It sounds very reasonable to me to see that the WUR is innovating and constantly thinking about how they could optimize the studies they offer. It is interesting to meet, now, in my future career, so many people who did the same Master as me. That is so cool to hear!

I can remember that a lot of students found it difficult to get so much freedom in creating your own study that giving a bit more direction sounds as a valuable improvement."

If you want to play a part in the transition towards a more sustainable world, what does your part look like? How do you express this in your career?

"In the FMCG sector sustainability is a very important topic and I see this in my work every day. Innovations from retailers or improvements made in packaging by manufacturers are interesting topics I like to share online and talk about with my colleagues. Last week I helped in research where I had to try a new meat replacer of a specific brand, make a video of how I cooked and eat it and give feedback of the product. This was very nice and I appreciate my job gives me the opportunity to try out new products before it is on the market and help in such researches as well at the same time. All in all, if I feel there is something I can do better which is in my range of control, I will definitely do this to make the world a better place to live. "

If so…How did your study bring you closer to playing your part in the transition towards a sustainable world?

"The WUR is a very sustainable environment in which you can already learn a lot about how to change your behaviour in a more environmentally friendly way. For example, at the university you had multiple garbage bins to separate waste to make you think about this all the time. This created a new ‘normal’ and an environment in which students were stimulated to separate their waste. This resulted in unconscious behaviour of students to separate their waste at the university, in order to make it unconscious behaviour outside the university as well. This really helped me, since I still find it very important and support people around me to do the same thing. I really appreciated this and think it is a good way to help students make more sustainable choices and become environmentally conscious. Besides that, sustainable consumption patterns were a topic of discussion a lot during my time studying at the WUR. Many students were very conscious about this and tried to eat less meat by trying out new products in the area of meat replacers. This helped me to become more conscious about my consumption pattern as well and still try to make the right choices in this every day."

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