Interview Tim Bleeker, junior Market Researcher
Tell me, who are you?
I am Tim, I am 28 years old, and I live in Amsterdam. In February, my girlfriend and I moved to the Staatsliedenbuurt, in a slightly larger apartment. Ten minutes away from the office, so that’s nice. I have been living in Amsterdam for 5 years now, before that I lived in Utrecht because I studied Human Resource Management at the HU. After that I moved to Amsterdam, where I did my master’s degree in Public Governance and Management at the VU.
This was corona though, so it was a bad time to start. Eventually I ended up working at a very nice company, BridgeFund. I spent a little over a year there as a Customer Success Manager, guiding customers through the entire process. But it was a bit too sales-oriented for me. I started working at a trading office in Amersfoort. I set up a CRM system there and digitized a lot of work. I wanted to see if we could do more with data and then I noticed that I really liked that data part.
I wanted to do something with my academic background in HR, but ‘pure’ HR was too soft for me. I wanted to find work that was a combination of HR and data and that’s how I ended up with AnalitiQs. So far, I really like what I’ve seen from colleagues in terms of the projects they’re working on.
When I ask colleagues what the work entails, they say: ‘Every day is different, because one day you are working on the questionnaire, the next day with a customer and the next you analyze data’. It’s very varied, I think.
Nice, then you’re in the right place! And what exactly will your role be?
I first start as a Market Researcher. I don’t really have a marketing background, but I think market research is a very good way to get to know the company and the way of research. In this way I can think about the question ‘What do companies want exactly’ and how can we best ask that in a survey? This is also a good basis for learning to work with data.
My ambition is to grow into an HR Translator role. More into the field of consultancy, because my master focuses on that as well. That was initially the plan after my graduation, but that turned out to be difficult in corona time. That’s why I got into sales.
And do you already have projects that you are assigned to?
I am now working on a project at a large retailer, this is nice since we do a lot of different work for them. It can sometimes be a bit hectic, but that makes it very educational. We are currently conducting an eNPS study.
In addition, I also followed training to become a scrum master. Now I am the scrum master of our Analitiqs team at this client. I also follow the People Analytics training from Irma, a very nice training that helps a lot with analyzing and visualizing data.
Another project I’m working on is Highberg’s marketing and branding, so we can continue as one Highberg at the end of the year. (Since November 1, AnalitiQs has been part of Highberg, a group of entrepreneurial consulting firms in the field of organizational and digital transformation).
What kind of skills or abilities do you bring to AnalitiQs?
I think I did learned in sales how to shift gears quickly, a lot of projects run past each other and you have to keep an overview and focus. Another thing I took away from my experience was feeling and empathizing with people. Customers say a lot, but what do they really mean? You must translate everything the customer gives you. I also have a background in HR, so I think that fits in very nicely with a lot of projects that we do.
And furthermore, what do you like to do outside of work?
I like to be busy; I play hockey and I love to cook. Just making something tasty at home for friends.
And do you have a special dish?
Yes, I can make pizzas very well.
But do you make that dough yourself?
Yes, otherwise it’s cheating 😉
Furthermore, I travel a lot. In the past year I was able to make a few beautiful trips, to Cuba, Costa Rica and Panama, which was very cool. I also did some road trips in Europe.
Finally, do you have a travel tip for us?
Well, I really want to go to Kyrgyzstan. I was listening to a podcast, and it was sponsored by a company that organizes trips to Kyrgyzstan. It sounds rough, being driven through Kyrgyzstan in an old Russian bus. But I have made my girlfriend and her friends so enthusiastic about it that they are already going there this year. Then I’ll be able to talk about it firsthand.
