On Thursday 9th March, we hosted the second event in our A Journey in Personal Leadership series, in partnership with Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

This session, How to Boost your Energy Levels and Apply this to your Daily Life, took place at TradeXBank in Zurich on Thursday 9th March between 16:00-17:00, which was followed by an opportunity to network with fellow attendees over drinks and food.

Jonathan Cave, Founder and CEO of MyPhy, explored how to better understand the interaction between your emotional, mental and physical state at any time, and how to proactively influence your energy levels to deliver high performance on a consistent basis.

The first event in the series, How to Find your High-Performing Self and Leverage this in your Career, was held in Geneva in December and generated significant positive feedback.

Mark Robinson, who manages our Finance & Accountancy recruitment team in Switzerland, was joined in Zurich by Meriel Graham - Director, Mike Baldwin - Associate Director, Annie Gosnell - Senior Consultant, and Lauren Eagar - Senior Consultant, who were available to answer any questions guests may have had about recruiting or career planning.

The third event in the series, How to Create your Personal Inspiring Vision & Roadmap to Success, will be held later in the year. 

If you have any questions or would like to find out more, please get in touch with Mark: [email protected]

On Tuesday 22nd June 2021, we joined our career development partner, Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), for its virtual Management Accounting Conference 2.0 in Switzerland.

IMA’s Switzerland Chapter invited us to host a talk on the skills required to evolve Finance for the future, including the delivery of robotic process automation (RPA) and wider uses of technology in Finance & Accountancy.

One of our specialist Associate Directors, Mike Baldwin, hosted the discussion, exploring the skills needed to drive change and innovation.

He was joined by a fantastic line-up of speakers to discuss the wider topic of automation and the future of work in Finance.

IMA’s incoming Global Chair, Steve McNally, kicked off the conference with a talk on Business Transformations – No Pain, No Gain?

He was followed by one of our previous collaborators, Dr. Chantelle Brandt-Larsen, of the University of St. Gallen’s Executive School, who spoke about the Importance of Human and Process Mining for Augmentation.

After a break and discussion, Loreal Jiles, IMA Director of Research, Digital Technology & Finance Transformation, explored Transforming the Finance Function with RPA.

The virtual conference was held on Tuesday 22nd June 2021 from 13:00-17:00 CET via Zoom.

Mike has over six years’ experience in recruitment and now specialises in the Finance market in Switzerland. He has worked with senior leaders across a range of disciplines, which enables him to discuss long-term, strategic plans with clients.

Mike has a keen interest in business transformation and utilises his knowledge to advise organisations on the resources required to effectively deliver change and efficiencies.

If you'd like to share your insights or questions on the topic of RPA and technology in Finance, please reach out to Mike: [email protected]

We were pleased to invite HR leaders to an exclusive Diversity & Inclusion Roundtable on Thursday 10th June 2021, featuring leaders from ABB, Philips and Symmetra.

The topic of the roundtable focussed on Where Should D&I sit in a Company?, and was hosted by EMEA Recruitment’s Human Resources leaders within Switzerland and the Netherlands respectively, Keeley Cunningham and Katie Insley.

Keeley and Katie hosted a virtual, open discussion between the guests, which was led by audience questions.

The D&I conversation is more essential than ever before. EMEA Recruitment has placed it at the heart of our business and recruitment process, and our clients are taking similar steps to create and develop diverse teams in an inclusive environment.

Sharing their personal insights and experiences of integrating D&I into companies, our panel of leaders tailored the session to delegates’ thoughts and questions on this important topic.

On Thursday 10th June, at 12:00-13:00 CET, we were joined by Selenah Njoloma, Heather Price and Astrid Balsink for an insightful discussion. 

Our Diversity & Inclusion Leaders

Selenah Njoloma: Global Diversity & Inclusion - Talent & Learning Partner at ABB

Selenah communicates D&I initiatives with key company executives to garner support at the highest levels of the organisation. She has presented and organised Diversity workshops, forums and topics pertaining to relevant social and systemic D&I initiatives. 

Heather Price: Owner and CEO at Symmetra

Heather regularly works with C suite clients to leverage Diversity in organisations (including extensive work with Unilever), optimising business performance and innovation along the way. She looks forward to engaging with attendees, to challenge your D&I practices.

Astrid Balsink: Global Director Inclusion & Diversity at Philips

Astrid is a passionate I&D leader on a mission. She doesn’t think that Diversity is an HR thing; it’s about how we, as unique individuals, can be our best selves and inspire others to do the same. This requires us all to foster an inclusive environment.

Thank you to all those who attended this event. If you would like to attend similar events, please contact Keely Straw if you're based in Switzerland or Katie Insley if you're in the Netherlands.

Please note: Heidi Robertson from ABB was scheduled to join us, but was unfortunately unavailable due to a last-minute diary change. However, we were delighted to be joined by Selenah Njoloma to represent ABB. 

On Thursday 27th May 2021, our Founder, Paul Toms, joined futura21 for its latest live futura21 event.

This webinar, Be Proactive in your Job Search – Learn how to be Targeted by using “The 1 Pager”, was hosted by futura21’s Diana Ritchie from 11:00 to 12:00 CET.

Paul explained how to ensure your job application stands out, with a focus on “the 1 pager”. Paul discussed what “the 1 pager” is, how to use it and how businesses are reacting to a proactive approach to recruitment.

He also gave an overview of the current job market in Switzerland and the challenges that job seekers - and hiring managers - are facing. 

Paul ended the session by answering some audience questions live.

futura21 supports executives in career management and professional transition in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Diana Ritchie provides coaching and training in French and English. She supports the creation, adaptation and delivery of training material.

This event was held in English.

Paul set up EMEA Recruitment in 2007 with a focus on recruitment in Switzerland and the Netherlands. He is now expanding the business into Singapore and the wider APAC region.

Paul is a proactive recruitment leader and career mentor, with over 20 years’ experience. He has a unique and proven approach to helping jobseekers and employers alike. He is also the host of the EMEA Recruitment podcast, regularly interviewing business leaders about their career stories and life successes.

If you'd like to connect with Paul, you can visit his LinkedIn profile here: linkedin.com/in/paultoms/

To stay up to date with all future events, please visit our website: https://www.emearecruitment.com/events

We were delighted to host a webinar on Growth Mindset, in collaboration with Netflix, Heineken and Danone.

Due to popular demand from our network, we explored the culture of Growth Mindset within top multi-national businesses across the Netherlands.

Covering their Growth Mindset journeys across Finance, Human Resources and Procurement, these leaders shared their unique knowledge on this hot topic.

On Thursday 20th May, from 12:00 to 13:00 CET, we hosted talks via Zoom from each of the three speakers, followed by a Q&A session. 

Meet our Growth Mindset Leaders

Robertjan Dekker: Vice-President, Controller EMEA, APAC, LATAM at Netflix

Robertjan shared his thoughts on the challenges in hiring, growing, automating and evolving a Finance team from 1 person in 2014 to a big team in Amsterdam, Singapore, Brazil, London and India in 2021.

What type of Growth Mindset is required and how does a company's culture play a role?

Melissa Muirhead: Global HR Director - Finance at Heineken

Melissa discussed how her passion for people, and interest in how we build and drive capability and performance has driven her career as an HR leader.

Our mindset either enables or disables us to fulfil our potential and what we think is possible (or not) for us. Dr Carol Dweck’s work on Growth Mindset has repeatedly been proven to build resilience, increase performance in times of challenge and open our minds to trying new things.

With the world feeling so out of control so much of the time, we have control over our mindset and understanding how to view the world through a Growth Mindset is life-changing (and proven to be so).

Armijn Verweij: VP Procurement Excellence at Danone

Armijn looked at what future skills are needed, assessing the importance of change management in moving organisations and people to work in a different way. What is the role of the ecosystem, partners and integrations in new organisations?

In the digital space, how much will jobs, processes and value creation change, and – importantly - how fast? We must prepare for evolution in data, analytics, AI, RPA and more.

In this journey, we should question the role of the leader, the role of the company and the role of the individual. As we prepare for the 4th industrial revolution, we must understand what it means.

Thank you to all who attended the webinar and to our speakers for a truly engaging session.

John Bower, our Director – Finance in Switzerland, was honoured to be invited back to the American University in Switzerland (AUS), to deliver another presentation as part of its AUS Speaker Series.

Last year, John delivered the first virtual lecture for AUS’s Speaker Series on Career Control. On Tuesday 18th May 2021, he conducted another virtual session about Career Consultancy for AUS students.

John’s presentation mirrored a live session that EMEA Recruitment goes through with every candidate we have at the final interview stage during the recruitment process. Some recruitment agencies believe that a 40 to 45-minute session with candidates is unnecessary, but we’re proud to focus on the candidate’s journey into a new role.

There is also a personal reason that John finds it important to highlight career planning; no one gave him this level of insight when he was at school or university, so he believes it’s best for people to receive this information at the earliest point possible in their careers.

John used his expertise in Finance & Accountancy to talk through the three stages of a career, explaining that the same model can be used for all other business disciplines. He explained the skills needed to move from the technical stage, to the managerial stage, to the strategic stage in a career, culminating in the reasons that those in strategic positions can earn such high salaries.

He spoke through the differences between being a Specialist and a Generalist, and why Generalisation can make someone more employable.

John will return to AUS in October to deliver a complementary seminar on building your own career plan. He left the students with a simple exercise to complete ahead of the second session, which we perform with candidates before their job interviews.

During the Q&A at the end of John’s presentations, some common concerns were revealed amongst the students. John will seek to advise on some of these issues in October’s interactive session.

If you have any questions about Career Consultancy, please contact John at: [email protected]