Interview with Maximilian vom Eyser
Our alumnus Maximilian vom Eyser (class of 2019, CEMS – MIM) has been working as a Digital Growth Strategist for Google since 2019. His office is in Dublin. In this interview, he tells us what he does there, how his job in an international environment shapes him personally and professionally, and what role models he looks up to.
While it is always pleasant to be surrounded by like-minded people, it is usually new perspectives, different opinions, and experiences that make expat life so exciting and diverse.
Dear Maximilian, you work as Digital Growth Strategist at Google. Can you briefly describe what that is and what you do exactly?
As Digital Growth Strategist at Google, my job is to help companies from the German SME sector increase their economic success with Google's products. Google Ads and YouTube are the two biggest priorities and the goal of my job is to position Google as a strategic partner to help our customers find new growth opportunities.
What is your typical workday like?
A typical workday comprises approximately 60-70% of client meetings and interactions. In most cases, I speak with marketing decision-makers or C-levels to plan long-term strategies. But I also help marketing and performance managers with the appropriate implementation of various advertising measures.
Most of the time the exchange takes place via video chat or telephone. But for more important meetings we also visit our clients or invite them to one of our offices in Germany or Dublin and meet in person.
In addition to strategic consultations, there are of course other operational tasks that I also have to handle as the primary point of contact of my clients. These range from campaign optimization and market analysis to organizing and running various workshops or webinars.
Besides the direct work with my clients, the exchange with colleagues also plays a big role in my everyday work. Whether it's at a team meeting, during internal training sessions, or in one of our numerous cafés – you can always count on support or a nice chat.
In a city like Dublin and a company like Google, I am every day surrounded by so many different people from all regions and cultures of the world. And everybody has different backgrounds and views – learning from this and getting to know new things will help me in many situations in the future.
You've been working at Google since 2019 and have your office in Dublin. What were the biggest challenges abroad, especially in the beginning? And what do you see as the greatest opportunities for you privately and also for your further professional career?
After my CEMS studies in Cologne with a semester and an internship abroad, this step was nothing special at first glance. However, it always makes a difference whether it is a temporary stay or an indefinite period abroad.
As an expat, you can often have the feeling of living in a bubble, consisting of many (usually also expat) friends and colleagues with similar interests, jobs, and lifestyles. This can have both advantages and disadvantages. While it is always pleasant to be surrounded by like-minded people, it is usually new perspectives, different opinions, and experiences that make expat life so exciting and diverse.
And that's exactly what I see as the biggest opportunity for my future career. In a city like Dublin and a company like Google, I am every day surrounded by so many different people from all regions and cultures of the world. And everybody has different backgrounds and views – learning from this and getting to know new things will help me in many situations in the future.
What helped you the most when you first started your career abroad?
It has helped me personally to quickly build a large network, consisting of friends and contacts who supported me – with personal issues, but also professional matters.
In my case, it was a mixture of people who were also completely new to Dublin, but also many who already knew the city very well: colleagues from Google as well as from other companies. After more than three and a half years, many of these contacts are still among my closest friends – even though some have left Dublin some time ago already.
It has helped me personally to quickly build a large network, consisting of friends and contacts who supported me – with personal issues, but also professional matters.
Do you have role models in your professional life that you look up to?
I don't have a professional role model in particular. However, I try to learn from a lot of different people. These can be experienced managers as well as colleagues or former fellow students. In my opinion, it doesn't necessarily depend on professional experience or success to be a good role model.
How do you keep up to date? What blogs, podcasts, social media channels, etc. do you follow?
I listen to the OMR podcast with Philipp Westermeyer every week. The podcast discusses many different topics and there is also always a certain connection to the marketing and advertising industry – which is of course also very relevant to my job.
In addition to the usual news channels, I've been getting most of my marketing & business news from LinkedIn lately. Manager Magazin, The Marketing Week, Journal of Marketing, and Philipp Kloeckner are just a few sites and people I can recommend following.
For Google-specific info, I can of course also recommend the Think with Google LinkedIn page and the associated newsletter.
Try to be content with yourself and others will be content with you as well!
What would you like our students to take away at the end of this interview?
Be proud of what you have achieved so far and don’t worry too much about what others think of it. Try to be content with yourself and others will be content with you as well!
Thank you very much for your time and the interview.