From the Film Industry to Business Consulting
It all depends on the right communication!
He studied Computer Science, did his Masters in Marketing Management and another two Masters in Digital Marketing and Audio-visual Production Management. Originally from Italy, he lived in Spain, Russia and Brazil.
Today Michele Chiascione works for imc as a Business Consultant in London. In the latest job slot interview, we talked about this special career path, pizza and what he taught himself during the lockdown.
Michele Chiascione
Job | Business Consultant
Works in | London, UK
At imc since | 2018
Superpower | Communication and design skills
Favourite food | Pizza
Hi Michele, thanks for your time! So first of all: How would you describe your job to a child?
Good question! Originally, I also found it difficult to describe what a Business Consultant does; but basically, he/she is like a friend, that helps you to solve problems. In my case, I help our customers, which are mostly big companies, to increase their knowledge.
With my support, the companies can help their employees to work better. In summary, I help companies create and build up good things.
What did you originally learn or study?
I did a lot of different things, first I studied Computer Science, applied for e-Learning and New Media in Italy. After working for two years in the film industry, travelling around countries like Spain, Russia and Brazil, I realised that I was so interested in branding and marketing.
So, I did a Masters of Science in Marketing Management and two Masters in Digital Marketing and Audio-visual Production Management. Before I came to Business Consulting, I worked in the Marketing Department of imc.
So how did you come from Marketing to Business Consulting?
Although it sounds like a quite big step to move from Marketing to Business Consulting, it wasn’t in my case. In my previous role I already worked very closely with our customers and had a good relationship with them.
Furthermore, I already knew a lot about our Learning Management System, using it to find smart solutions for the support and my knowledge in new media helped as well. That’s why I can translate the customers' needs quite well, I would say.
Additionally, we got more customer opportunities from Italy, and the fact that I’m a native speaker helped as well. So, I moved to Business Consulting and I am so happy with the decision!
What does your typical working day look like?
During the day I join scheduled meetings with fellow consultants, to share activities in which we are working on, or meetings with colleagues from other departments, to define tasks or check the progress of projects. The rest of the time, I work on my tasks, configuring the imc solutions, defining customisations and requests to present to the development team, or planning workshops to do with our customers.
In imc, it is also very important to update our skills, e-learning knowledge and the new product features regularly. In short, I never get bored.
Which skills are particularly important in your job?
Firstly, it is the ability to communicate very well. I need to listen very carefully, understand quickly what the customer needs and then I design the processes and translate these needs to the system. In this context, languages skills are also very useful, in addition to a good knowledge of information technology.
Which tool is indispensable to you?
Hard to choose one! Also, if it's not considered an advanced tool, I think PowerPoint is the tool that helps me most in my work to represent my ideas quickly. I should write a PowerPoint bible book (laughing)!
So this is very important for me, but also the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Business Intelligence tools and Office 365 in general, especially Excel and SharePoint. Also, I love design tools for sketching things like prototypes or customising our LMS. For internal communication with different teams like Product Management I like MS Teams.
What makes working at imc special compared to other companies?
People at imc, including the Board, are open minded. We think globally and you have a lot of possibilities to increase your knowledge and experience. You always have the opportunity to try out new things and to go forward.
How important is further education for you and what do you do for it?
It’s the most important for me. Understanding and learning new things are essential to my life. I always try to extend my knowledge in my branch, but also to expand to different disciplines and get ideas outside the box. Everything can add value for your knowledge.
Learning turns every moment into something positive. For example, during the quarantine I started taking online piano lessons again. I did it when I was young, but then I did not practise for many years. I believe that music helps to develop divergent thinking.
When it comes to moving forward in learning, I try to organise milestones in a more professional way, for example I work steadily to improve my language skills, in a combined study with other disciplines, such as programming languages.
What is the best way for you to relax after a stressful day at work?
Well, actually you should think that I turn off the computer, but that’s not always the case, because I spend a lot of my free time online, following media trends, watching movies (Cult movies, preferably), and reading e-books.
But I also like doing some activities like running or swimming. I love spending a lot of time with friends and I enjoy inviting them at home for a dinner, although I’m not a very good cook…
Are you more sympathetic or unsympathetic to people who have a similar character to yours?
I hope sympathetic. I am very direct, and I prefer other people to be like that also. You can only fix an issue if you know there is one!
Thank you very much and all the best for your further career path!
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