Home>Arthur Duthoit, Class of 2016
03.10.2022
Arthur Duthoit, Class of 2016
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND?
I entered Sciences Po after the baccalauréat on the Paris campus. After the first three years of undergraduate college, including one year in Singapore, the question of my professional orientation emerged. I wanted a career that had three major dimensions:
- A good balance between teamwork and autonomous work
- The opportunity to increase my skills and responsibilities
- The possibility of being confronted with intellectually stimulating problems
Having a particular attraction for public policy issues, I naturally turned to the Master in Public Affairs. I had several experiences linked to this programme, at the Prefecture of the Vendée, at the National Assembly or at the Institut Montaigne and I prepared for the administrative competitive examinations.
Since I did not get the one I wanted, I wondered about the meaning I should give to my career. When I thought about the three dimensions I had given myself, it seemed to me that the world of consultancy corresponded quite well to my aspirations, and being interested in fashion and design I chose to do another master's degree in International Management at the Bocconi, which is well positioned in these subjects.
During and at the end of this master, I had three experiences:
- A consultant experience within the Capgemini Invent team in New York
- A business analyst experience within the teams of SAPIAN, a company in LBO with the Weinberg fund
- My current experience as a data consultant with Artefact
WHAT WERE THE MAJOR STEPS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL PROJECT?
The professional project seems to me to be more of an introspective process in perpetual development than a list of objectives to be achieved. As such, it is really a personal construction:
- The definition of what you want to do or not to do - the discovery of your desires, your personality, your ambitions...
- Becoming aware of what you can or cannot do - the offers that exist on the market, the skills that are valued...
- Confrontation with one's first experiences in order to determine what one is good at - teamwork or autonomy, short projects or long-term responsibilities...
- Long-term reflection on what is really valuable and meaningful for you, which should obviously confirm or challenge your initial skills.
As far as I'm concerned, this took place in two stages: firstly, a somewhat difficult but necessary questioning following the administrative competitions, and then the slow maturation of a coherent career path.
When I realised that some of the administrative competitions were not for me, I realised that I had to give a positive dimension to my career path and not just define my project by default, because I did not want to do it or simply 'because it is the logical continuation' or 'because it is the royal road'. As I have already said, the three basic dimensions could help me to find my way but not to orientate myself precisely.
I asked myself what made the most sense to me:
- In terms of the sector, the luxury and design industries appeal to me for their relationship with craftsmanship and the balance between the history of the houses and the will to innovate.
- The job that attracts me the most is marketing. I am fascinated by the thoughts that guide the design of a product, its presentation and its offer in order to meet the expectations and needs of customers.
- I also knew that it was necessary for me to learn about the challenges of technology, data and digital technology, which are increasingly present for companies.
And I had the opportunity to test these different aspects during my different experiences at Capgemini Invent, SAPIAN and Artefact.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUR JOB TODAY AT ARTEFACT?
The role of data consultant at Artefact is marked by three essential dimensions: versatility on the various missions, the ability to act as a relay between the business and technology teams and the strong values of the company.
Versatility is a constant in the consulting business. As data consultants at Artefact, we are involved in all of a company's business processes (marketing, sales, operations, purchasing, etc.), whatever the industry (distribution, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, etc.), whatever the technology used (generic or specific, on-premise or cloud, etc.) and whatever the type of problem (data strategy, data governance, acceleration of an artificial intelligence programme, definition of data-marketing use cases, etc.).
The interface between business and technology is unique to data-driven transformation consulting, with a constant need to integrate changes in the technological landscape. The missions we work on lead us to clarify and even define the business need before translating it into data or tech issues. In the context of artificial intelligence projects, for example, a "discovery" phase is necessary in order to define the "features" that we wish to develop and the associated benefits. For data-driven marketing projects, the mission generally begins with an audit of the client on various aspects (tools, operational model, use of data, etc.) and the definition of relevant recommendations based on the established vision. We then participate in the design of the solution. On an algorithm or data product project, the consultants may be called upon to play the role of product owner. In the case of a data marketing mission, they adopt a position that complements the marketing teams, media agencies and clients' creations.
The company's culture is unique to Artefact, but it is shared with the other technical, digital and creative professions. This is also what makes the company so rich, being able to exchange with profiles as distant as a software engineer or a strategic planner. Gravitating around tech / data subjects, Artefact is inspired by the principles of companies in this sector, notably:
- Transparency on the objectives, results and benefits associated with the positions, which allows everyone to position themselves in the company and to adapt their expectations and objectives in relation to a skills plan for each position, expertise badges and a salary scale.
- Confidence and autonomy with the possibility of getting involved in internal projects depending on the subjects that make sense or the skills that you wish to develop: environmental action, research on data subjects, partnerships with tech companies, etc.
WHAT CONTRIBUTIONS DID YOUR TRAINING AT THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS MAKE TO THE POSITION YOU HOLD TODAY?
In my opinion, the School of Public Affairs at Sciences Po is the school that is most in line with the university campus. Beyond the skills common to business and engineering schools, it gives its students simple but essential skills that are difficult to acquire. I am thinking of three in particular:
- The sense of synthesis, which is a fundamental skill. It allows us to distinguish between what is important - in consulting, it is often the business value - and what is not. Following these projects, it enables the essential to be summarised in a few key messages to facilitate the restitution/transmission of the lessons learned.
- Rigour in written expression and confidence in oral expression. These key skills are systematically worked on at Sciences Po through the essay and presentation exercises. This is especially true in public affairs, where clear and precise expression of sometimes complex and difficult concepts is valued.
- Curiosity, which is not really a skill, but rather a quality. The training at Sciences Po is multidisciplinary and teaches students to be open to different or new ideas. In a word, the School of Public Affairs teaches you to learn and this is essential to progress in any career.
WOULD YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR A STUDENT OR FUTURE GRADUATE?
It is probably more interesting to make a mistake than not to do it. By trying, you learn whatever the result and I think that's the most important thing. Also, after graduating from a school like Sciences Po, you can generally have the luxury of making mistakes or experiencing failures without paying a high price.
