Who is Debbie?

How talent management came about

When I started, the Talent Manager role did not exist as it does today. Together with a few colleagues, I helped shape it from scratch. In the past, account managers took this on alongside their own work, but an account manager wears two hats, and the commercial side logically comes first. As a result, signals from consultants were not always picked up in time.

We wanted to do that differently. The account manager focuses on the client, the Talent Manager on the consultant. That way we stand much closer to our people, we hold regular check-ins and we spot early when something is going on. "We are a strong family" is not a slogan here. It is precisely why this role exists.

What talent management means to me

If someone at a party asks what I do all day, I keep it short. I make sure our consultants can grow, that they are happy, and that they can build their careers at Pauwels Consulting. That runs from A to Z: personal follow-up, training and development.

It is not only the pleasant conversations and the coffee moments. If a client gives us feedback that something is not running the way it should, then as Talent Manager I join the table. What is the feedback, and how do we grow from it? The art is to stand very close to your consultant and at the same time deliver the right message, without damaging the relationship.

From healthcare and sales to talent

My path to this role was anything but a straight line. I started in healthcare and the medical field, moved into sales within life sciences, and then ended up in recruitment. Sometimes I deliberately eased off to keep work and family in balance. What connected every step was that in the end it always came down to people: the relationship, the trust, helping someone move forward.

That combination of sales, life sciences and recruitment turned out to be the perfect preparation for talent management. When I joined Pauwels Consulting, everything fell into place. It had been a long time since I had felt so at home somewhere straight away. For me it was coming home, and more than five years on, that choice still feels right.

Growing before it is too late: career guidance and prevention

At Pauwels I got the chance to develop as a coach. In 2023 I obtained my coaching diploma, in 2024 my certificate as a career counsellor, and I am now following a course on stress and burnout.

I made those choices very deliberately. Official career guidance can only be requested after a number of years on the labour market, but it is precisely our young consultants who sometimes struggle with questions about their direction. In the past we saw them job-hop because of it, simply because they could not get that help yet. So we offer it ourselves: looking together at career development, at someone's standards and values. And with that course on stress and burnout, we mainly want to work preventively, guiding people in time, before they drop out.

The fact that Pauwels funds those courses for me feels like a perfect match. The company invests in me, so that I in turn can invest in our consultants. For me, that is a double thank you.

Follow-up and guidance run into each other, by the way. Following up a consultant is about growing professionally, coaching is about growing as a person, and often there is already a piece of coaching in every conversation. If deeper themes come up, another Talent Manager from the team takes on the coaching, so that neutrality stays guaranteed.

My signature: a safe harbour

Every Talent Manager has their own style. Mine is one I often hear reflected back at me.

"Debbie is our mum, our mother hen, a safe harbour. Warm, but businesslike and fair where it needs to be."

I schedule an informal conversation with every consultant every two to three months. Anything can go on the table, in confidence and in both directions. I always say: do not walk around with something for two days, just put a moment in my diary, I will make time for you. In between, I am reachable via WhatsApp, email or Teams. Nobody has to wait.

On my LinkedIn there is a quote from Gandhi: in a gentle way, you can shake the world. That sums up my approach well. Every contact you have has impact, so be gentle. And when it is needed, you are strong too.

At home in the Kempen and in life sciences

I mainly work with consultants in the Kempen pharma cluster, and that is no coincidence. You can hear straight away that I am from here, and that creates a bond. Half of the managers simply speak the local Kempen dialect. That regional connection, that conviviality and warmth, comes back everywhere.

I know the sector from the inside as well. Life sciences means procedures and rules, staying within the lines. Because I worked in that world for years myself, I know many of those companies and I understand why certain things are or are not possible. For a consultant moving from engineering to life sciences, for example, it is a different world at first. In the first few weeks you mostly read procedures and work instructions, and with every new client you start that all over again. I can give that context and that reassurance, because I have experienced it myself, right down to an internship at a pharma client.

Connection beyond the project

Connection does not stop at the one-to-one conversations. I am also active in our Welcome Events, the Pauwels Acceleration Program and the Ambassador programme, and that cultural work matters just as much to me.

Our ambassadors are our extra eyes and ears on the work floor. They are colleagues who know Pauwels and the client well and are often on site. When someone new starts, I let them know they can reach out to that new colleague, go for a coffee together and show them the ropes. Because I cannot always be on site myself, they pick up small signals I would otherwise miss. And they think along with us about lunches and afterworks.

We also bring people together at events: an annual breakfast at clients that we link to a charity campaign, lunches at the client, afterworks, summer bars, bowling, a Family Day and a New Year's party. An afterwork is not an obligation for me, by the way. It is simply fun. It is how you build a real bond with your consultants outside work too.

What I believe in: balance and letting go

I am convinced that a person needs to be in balance on every level to be their best version. If things are not going well privately, they usually are not going well professionally either. That is why my role is never only about invoicing, performing and filling in timesheets. The human side and the private side are inseparably part of it. For me, that is the only way to really let people grow.

And sometimes growing means having to let someone go. In the beginning I took that personally, because it is never nice. But every so often that is exactly the step someone needs. Then I am glad we are the company that keeps supporting them and never burns bridges. You simply wish your consultant, your former consultant too, all the very best.

What it means to start at Pauwels

To a candidate hesitating between Pauwels Consulting and another employer, I say: this is a nest. A place where you can be yourself and where we trigger you to get more out of yourself than you thought possible, both as a person and as a professional. Not every consultancy has Talent Managers. At some, it stops at an invoice. We have been doing this for more than five years and we keep improving.

Clients feel that difference too. Managers say themselves that we stand closer to our consultants than others do. One manager once came to me saying we needed to protect a consultant for a while, because she was having a hard time. We went into dialogue together. There are even managers who call us to move a consultant from another agency over to us. They know me, they see me on the floor, and they know there is someone standing behind their people.

If there is one thing I hope every consultant with us experiences, it is this: you are not on your own. And if that is the environment you are looking for, then Pauwels Consulting might just be the right place to write the next chapter of your story.

Debbie is one of several Talent Managers at Pauwels Consulting. Els Roesems describes what the role looks like day to day, and Annick Stevens explains how a background in change management shapes her approach.