Three years in, what is it like to work at Hammer?

At the end of 2018 Jasper Reintjens started as a junior market analyst at Hammer, in September 2019 he got promoted to full-time market analyst. What is it like to work at Hammer Market Intelligence? Jasper reflects on his time at Hammer.‍‍

Can you quickly introduce yourself?

My name is Jasper Reintjens, I am 26 years old. I grew up in the beautiful city of Maastricht, when I finished school I moved to Nijmegen to study Business Administration at the Radboud University. After my bachelor I did a Master in Marketing with half a year of additional courses in Organizational Design & Development. During the final months of my Master I first got in touch with Hammer, starting a part-time student job next to my studies. Currently I still live in Nijmegen while working at Hammer in Arnhem.  

Why did you choose to work at Hammer?

During the final months of my Master, I knew the job opportunities would be very broad and I was open to trying out different types of jobs related to business administration. One of the people I met during my time as a student in Nijmegen was my current colleague Mark. We always had a good relationship throughout this period and he was already working at Hammer at the time. He told me about Market Intelligence and the type of work and projects he did, which really sparked my interest. Not much later he introduced me to Hammer and we decided to try out whether I would fit as an employee at Hammer. I think it is safe to say that both parties recognized a mutual fit, as I am still working at Hammer over three years later!

‍How do you think you developed as a professional?

One of the main things I like about the Hammer way of working is the room to develop and the steep learning curve. From the very start I gained responsibilities in all aspects of market intelligence projects. I was immediately involved in thinking along about research design, data collection, analysis, delivery and contact with suppliers and clients.

Next to executing projects, I was also encouraged to bring up ideas and help the company forward in other aspects like sales, marketing and product development. These large responsibilities were definitely challenging at times, especially as a young professional just starting my career. However, I feel overall it really helped me develop a broad skillset. I believe analytical thinking was always one of my strengths, but a solid analysis isn’t worth much if you are unable to deliver the insights gained from it in a clear and useful way. This is something I really learned by doing and I believe this is the aspect I improved in most when I compare myself right now to when
I just started at Hammer.

What do you like most about working at Hammer?

In terms of the work itself, I really like the fact that I get the opportunity to work for a large variety of companies. Our clients vary from small to large, from nationally oriented to globally oriented, from active in the agri- and food sector to active in the software sector etc. One thing they have in common is their B2B approach. By doing market research for all these different B2B companies I have learned a lot about a multitude of industries that contribute to society and the economy. These industries consist of very interesting companies that are not that well known to the public.

Secondly, and probably most importantly, I genuinely like the team I work with everyday. I think we have an exceptional group of people with a great mix of professionality and good work ethic on one side, and room for informal conversations and fun on the other side. We challenge each other to improve and do our job well, while ensuring everyone enjoys coming to work and feels comfortable as a part of the team.

I'm curious what the future will bring!