Boudewijn Bisschop

Business & project manager at ABN AMRO

Boudewijn Bisschop works for ABN AMRO as a business & project manager. It might sound surprising that a former political science student is now working at a bank, but his political science skills are very helpful in his professional life.

That Boudewijn ended up studying a political science bachelor would not have been surprising to his high school classmates. “In high school, I participated in debating contests. At a certain point, this hobby got a little out of hand and I started participating in the European Youth Parliament with whom I eventually travelled Europe.” The European Youth Parliament is an NGO that tries to include young people in European politics. “I had always been interested in national and international politics, that’s why I was also active in the political youth movement for a Dutch political party.” Even though Boudewijn was widely interested in politics, studying political science was not an obvious decision for him. He followed a natural sciences track in high school. Thus, the beta study programmes were also calling him. "When I started studying, I had to choose between science and something that I enjoyed in my free time: political science. Eventually, I chose political science.”

Skills

In the political science programme, Boudewijn learned to analyze issues and produce data from different critical perspectives. “Political science teaches you how to analyze efficiently, ask good questions, put things in a bigger perspective, and not be scared to voice a critical opinion. You are being prepared to become a scientist. In this way, you learn how to structure, collect, and work toward something. Ultimately, you learn how to tell a story. Political scientists are conversation makers that can tell their stories in front of a large audience. These are all important skills that you learn when studying political science.

The close contact between students and teachers in the political science programme also created a positive experience for Boudewijn. “What I really liked at VU was that you ultimately got to know everyone from the programme. It was a small study programme, so there was a lot of attention for the students. A few teachers really impressed me. They are good in their field but also support their students. That’s why I still hold fond memories of my time at the programme.”

Further Career

During his bachelor’s exchange in Hong Kong, Boudewijn discovered that he wanted to learn more about political economy. “In class, we discussed military power a lot. During my exchange, I learned that economic power plays the biggest role in world politics. What do financial markets do and what kind of role do they play? How do context, social factors, and political factors influence the market, movements, prices, and that sort of thing? This triggered me to learn more about the economic part, follow more courses about this, eventually follow a master's in this subject and look for a finance career.”

Eventually, this is how he ended up in the financial industry. In his job, he currently uses his political science skills to bring a social perspective to financial issues. “Understanding social factors really taught me to get people instead of just focusing on numbers. Numbers are important, but eventually, decisions are made by people. People are not merely rational, they are also emotional. Within company politics, there are also people with power, people with less power, and people that want power. This is a basic principle within political science: what is power and who has the power?

Currently, Boudewijn works as a business & project manager for ABN AMRO. “I do not have a typical workday. As a business & project manager, I am the right hand of the head of a department within ABN AMRO that takes care of assets. These are investments, asset management, and advisory products. My boss manages 600 employees and is responsible for 4 different countries in which we supply these products to customers. I am currently working on a project in Paris in which I am trying to find out how to better organize our daughter company. Eventually, I will write a recommendation about this for my boss. There is a lot of variation in my job which is why I am enjoying it so much. My political science skillset is not typical for this industry, but it helps me better understand how this world works. Ultimately, all companies are regulated by laws and rules which are created by politicians. This framework is always created by people to protect either people or companies."

Understanding social factors really taught me to get people instead of just focussing on numbers. Numbers are important, but eventually, decisions are made by people.

Boudewijn Bisschop

Skills

Further Career

Quick links

Study

Featured

About VU