Meet Maëlle Verheyden: Project Management Officer

Maëlle is a half-time Project Management Officer at Elia. She has a Bachelor’s in Idea & Innovation Management and a post-graduate degree in Trend Analysis Implementation. Find out more about her experience in our latest insight.

FIRST EXPERIENCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Maëlle fulfils different roles at her client, one being Project Management focused and the other being rather operationally focused.

As PMO, she supports the Project Manager in different areas: she plans meetings, brings different people together and writes reports for instance.  She still gets to learn a lot from the PM himself which she finds really enriching.

Maëlle’s work is divided into small tasks which all play a part in the project’s success.

SKILLSET TO WORK AS A PMO

“To be a PMO, you need some sort of structure and planning skills”, Maëlle says. The first thing Maëlle did when she ended up in an industry she didn't know at all was to put together an organisational chart with all the stakeholders and look for pictures of them to put faces on their names.

“It is often said that Project Managers are not sector-bound but you still need to have a good understanding of what your project is about to bring the right people together. Knowing well who does what is crucial.”

JOINING PROSOURCE AS A FRESH GRADUATE

Maëlle came across Prosource through an acquaintance who worked at Strand, Sisu’s branch dedicated to Life Sciences. They told her that Sisu also had a branch active in the Project Management sector. She decided to give consultancy a try because when you are freshly graduated, you don’t always know which route to take. She wanted to experience different things and see where it would lead her.

“Prosource is an attractive and pleasant company”, she says, and she tries to attend as many Prosource or Sisu events as possible to share her experience with others and get familiar with her fellow Prosource colleagues.

“Even when you are 100% focused on your mission and your client, it’s nice to know that Prosource is always there to answer my questions.”