Thomas De Clerq’s story is one of finding the right fit. With his “engineering goggles” on at Zego, a mentor showed him the importance of using a business lens as well. Knowing he learns best by doing, an MBA at Michigan Ross, where action-based learning reigns, was a natural next step in his career growth. Growing up in Belgium and studying at the University of Leuven (the city where Stella Artois was founded) perhaps naturally leant itself to an internship at Anheuser-Busch during his MBA. But, it wasn’t quite the right fit. He re-recruited his second year–going through the oft-reported stressful process again–to land in the right place, JPMorgan Chase. Now, he’s combining skills in strategy, analytics, management and more to have the large impact he always wanted. Read on for his story in this edition of Real Humans: Alumni.
Thomas De Clercq, Michigan Ross MBA ’23, Analytics Solutions Associate at JPMorgan Chase
Age: 31
Hometown: Melsele, Belgium
Undergraduate Institution and Major: University-College Leuven-Limburg (Belgium) – Applied Computer Science
Graduate Business School, Graduation Year and Concentration: University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business, Class of 2023, Data and Business Analytics Concentration
Pre-MBA Work Experience: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Knowledge Manager (2016-2020) – Public Sector; Zego (acquired by Global Payments), Product Manager (2020-2021) – Technology
Post-MBA Work Experience: JPMorganChase, Analytics Solutions Associate, 2023-now – Financial Services
Why did you choose to attend business school?
Coming from a computer science background, and with my public sector experience, I learned a lot during my time at Zego. At that time majority owned by Vista Equities, my decisions as a product manager were heavily influenced by business decisions. Coming into this role, I very much had my engineering goggles on, and was looking to build the best technical product. During this role, I had a fantastic manager and mentor (shoutout to Dan Snyder) who showed me all the other incentives that are important in product management. I decided to complement my strong technical background with a business education, so a full-time MBA at a top business school was an incredibly logical decision.
Why Ross? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
As someone who learns a lot by applying skills, I find Ross’s Action-Based Learning model, which permeates every course in the MBA, to be a fantastic fit for my brain. Culturally, I loved the school spirit and the collaborative mindset that Ross students tend to have. I believe business school culture is mostly a self-selection process that is fostered by the school administration, and I think the reasons why I was attracted to the school was the fact that I found so many like-minded, growth-oriented individuals in this school.
What about your MBA experience prepared you for your current career?
I really got the strategy bug while in business school, which I’m applying on a daily basis by looking at the big picture, understanding incentives, and managing direct and indirect stakeholders. That’s one big thing, but I would say the bigger thing I learned is the skillset to make decisions with a limited amount of information. Committing to a goal and making snap decisions on which path brings me or the project I’m working on brings me closer to that goal has been instrumental in my post-MBA career. Finally, trying new things even if success isn’t guaranteed, having confidence in my skills to manage curveballs has been very crucial in recent months. For example, a small side project that I was doing on the weekend for my own benefit, I figured I would have potential use for other people, and now I’m taking steps to launch it into a real tool (https://curv.careers) – a step I would have never taken without the lessons learned from my MBA.
What was your internship during business school? How did that inform your post-MBA career choice?
I did a product management internship at Anheuser-Busch, which was a great place to practice what I knew with the added business knowledge of my MBA. It was a great experience, but a great realization that this was not the industry I wanted to be in. I re-recruited for full-time roles in my second year of the MBA, and found a role I never even knew existed but was a perfect fit for my pre-MBA knowledge and the skills I picked up during my time at Ross.
Why did you choose your current company? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to work?
I consistently work on high-impact projects with a lot of visibility while leveraging data and technology to inform business decisions, which is exactly the type of role I was looking for. The breadth of JPMorgan’s lines of business and the ways I get to contribute to large decision-making processes with national and global impact, and I certainly feel like my skills are being fully used while learning a ton of new skills.
Advice to current MBA students:
—One thing you would absolutely do again as part of the job search?
Keep a broad scope in where you may find a great fit. I would have never thought to end up at a financial institution, let alone JPMorgan Chase, but there are so many roles out there where one can leverage skills and knowledge without necessarily looking at specific job titles. I now think of careers as very non-linear, and every role should be a step closer to filling the gap between your current skills and the skills you want to develop to achieve your goals.
—One thing you would change or do differently as part of the job search?
Probably, referring to the previous question, opening my eyes sooner to the type of work I’d be doing in a job, rather than purely focusing on titles and narrowing my search to titles. I want to focus on what I want to do, not what I want to be called or what title I want to put on my resume next.
—Were there any surprises regarding your current employer’s recruiting process?
Not particularly. I entered JPMorgan through a campus program, which certainly has many specific requirements, but interacting with the people who interviewed me truly convinced me this job was the right fit. So, the surprise, I think, was the fact that the role I applied to had everything I was looking for.
—What piece of advice do you wish you had been given during your MBA?
The advice that I consistently give to anyone who reaches out to chat about my job or my time at Ross is the following: think of an MBA as a visit to the grocery store. You have a specific meal in mind and already have some ingredients at home, but your reason for being in that place at that time is to find the other ingredients for the meal that you are cooking. Everyone around you has similar goals, but different ones, so focus on the ingredients that you’re looking for and don’t pay too much attention to the things other people are loading into their carts. Your paths are crossing, but eventually, you need to walk home with the things you need to achieve your goals.
