27 de October de 2020
At EAE Business School, we strive every day to be enthusiastic, sociable and conversational. As a result, we can now say that employability, multiculturalism and internationalization are three of our key hallmarks. As you would expect, our students represent these qualities and Tim Declerck is a prime example. This Belgian student with French and Dutch heritage has worked in several companies including Massimo Dutti and Vertigo Media.
We talked to Declerck to find out his thoughts in the Master in Digital Marketing & E-Commerce , and find out about his professional career. This is what he had to say:
Tim Declerk Van Maarschalkerweerd
Graduate of EAE’s Master in Digital Marketing & E-Commerce
Director of Digital Accounts at Vertigo Media
Tim, how are you? Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? What are your hobbies and passions?
Hello, I am Tim Declerck Van Maarschalkerweerd. I was born in Belgium and am half French and half Dutch. I have been living in Spain since the start of 2000. My hobbies are music, dance and e-sports. I don’t know if you could call it a passion, but I love travelling.
You took EAE’s Master in Digital Marketing and Electronic Commerce. What was the experience like?
I had the chance to meet lots of people from other cultures, particularly from Latin America, with whom I have built a lifelong friendship, which you cannot put a price on.
You work at the company Vertigo Media. Tell us about your position and main duties.
I am currently in my third position at the company Vertigo Media, working as the Director of Digital Accounts in the French market. Primarily, my role is to act as the link between the agency and our clients. I am responsible for our whole relationship with my clients, ensuring that the monthly budgets they give us are well invested and enabling them to reach the KPI they are aiming for, as well as proposing different strategies to them, particularly focusing on e-mail marketing.
How did you get your job at the company? Tell us a bit about the selection process.
I started at Vertigo Media on an internship contract at the end of 2017. My job was to monetize email databases for the French market. They soon offered me the role of running the Belgian and Dutch departments, in charge of a team of two people. I did this job while I was doing my Master. As I joined as an intern, the selection process was short. I got a call from Human Resources. They had found my CV on Infojobs. I had an interview with them and my future manager.
How has the knowledge you acquired at EAE helped you, both in terms of the selection process and in your job at Vertigo Media?
As I had joined the company before starting the Master, it did not help me get into the company but, in terms of my current duties, it has given me a better understanding of my clients’ needs, so I can give them a better service.
Leadership is essential for any professional. How do you lead at Vertigo Media?
Leadership is extremely important in a position in which you manage many clients and lots of projects in which various departments are involved. Timescales are often crucial for ensuring clients get a good service, so I need to ensure I have a full overview of each’s department work and needs, so that they do not lack any element that could prevent them for completing their tasks effectively. I apply my leadership skills every day to monitor these projects, because I have to motivate the people involved in the projects to do their work effectively and enthusiastically.
How did EAE help you to strengthen your leadership skills?
Our lecturers, who are all great professionals in their respective fields, did not talk to us directly about leadership as such, but they explained real projects that they have had to oversee, which showed me that every person involved is vital to the running of a project and that it is important to be focused on achieving the same goal. In addition, they taught me that everybody is different, so understanding what motivates a person and how to help them reach their full potential is really important, because it lets us ensure that nobody feels frustrated at any time.
Your family is Dutch and you speak 5 languages. Does this mean you are good at operating in multicultural settings? Why do you think that this is important nowadays?
Multiculturalism is increasingly important, as it is more and more common to meet people whose parents have a different nationality or who live abroad, just like me. My father is French and my mother is Dutch and we live in Barcelona. Therefore, it is increasingly rare to find companies in which 100% of the workforce share the same nationality. It is vital to understand what is important for each country, their origins and respective cultures to avoid offending anybody, especially clients. At a personal level, it has a really significant impact and, in my opinion, discovering new cultures can only have a positive effect.
In your opinion, does EAE Business School prepare its students to operate in multicultural settings? How?
At EAE, there are so many different cultures. In my opinion, having classmates from lots of different countries teaches you to interact with unfamiliar cultures. In the case of my Master, we did a lot of practical assignments, projects and presentations in groups, so you are made to work with people with a completely different background to yours. As a personal example, I did my Master’s Theses with three classmates from Portugal, Mexico and Brazil, three countries that I don’t know (yet!) but that I want to visit very soon.
What other skills do you consider essential to succeed in today’s professional world?
You have to be analytical, very open and, most importantly, not afraid to make mistakes.
Does EAE foster these skills? How?
During my Master at EAE, I met lots of lecturers who always appreciated our participation and questions in class. They encouraged us to take our reflections further.
Would you recommend EAE Business School to anybody striving to move their professional career forward?
Absolutely, EAE gave me a great opportunity at a professional level, as they put me into direct contact with lots of companies through the employment exchange, such as Massimo Dutti, a multinational at which I had the chance to work for 6 months.
Click here to find out more about EAE Business School’s Master in Digital Marketing & E-Commerce.