EMEA Recruitment recently joined our career development partner, Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), for its Inside Talk webinar series.

We presented at the Securing a Job in the Digital Age: Don’t Just Hit Apply event on Monday 22nc March 2021, and went into further detail on some of the topics covered in a previous talk at the IMA’s Management Accounting conference.  

Even if you’re not actively searching for a new role, we explained the importance of actively putting in the groundwork now to be in a better position when you do want or need a new job.

Sharing our thoughts with delegates, we stated that: “Sometimes we’re lucky and jobs fall into our laps, but usually there’s been some hard work that’s gone on in the background. If you want to have a competitive edge over candidates in the market, you need to take control of your career.”

We began the presentation by discussing career planning and gave attendees five questions that they could ask themselves after the event, in order to start plotting out their career goals.

We also gave advice on updating your CV/resume and getting the first impression of yourself right to a potential employer.

Looking at applying for jobs digitally, we explained the importance of using LinkedIn as an online CV/resume, and how this can help recruiters find you on the platform or assist you when applying for roles.

However, we warned against solely relying on LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature, insisting that it’s always worth putting time into a full application.

The presentation finished with a focus on preparing for interviews, especially how to succeed at video calls in the current market. We equipped attendees with a checklist and key takeaway points to help them kickstart their career plans.

A question-and-answer session was hosted by Terry Mormile, the Director of Educational Initiatives & Career Services at IMA.

Members of the audience asked about the following:

• What to do about gaps in your resume
• If you need to write a cover letter
• Where to make the cut-off on your CV if you’ve had a long career
• Advice for people who’ve moved to another country
• Whether recruiters look at frequently changing jobs poorly

If you wish to discuss career planning in more detail, please contact either:

John Byrne, CH Country Director, if you are in Switzerland: [email protected]

Richard Bailey, Managing Director, if you are located in the Netherlands: [email protected] 

Paul Toms, Founder of EMEA Recruitment, if you are in the Nordics: [email protected]

On Tuesday 16th March 2021, we hosted an online webinar on The Art of the Possible with People Analytics, in collaboration with Crunchr.

This session was hosted for an exclusive group of leading Human Resources professionals across the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The webinar was designed to provide concrete analytical examples of talent development, succession planning, flight risk and sourcing strategies, to help leaders evolve HR into a stronger strategic function tomorrow.

Katie Insley, our Associate Director who leads our HR division in the Netherlands, was joined by Dirk Jonker, the Founder & CEO of Crunchr Workforce Analytics. The webinar began with an inspiring introduction from Dirk on the three focus areas of HR analytics.

After looking at the power of analytics in HR, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dirk went on to highlight several use cases, including how to identify opportunities to reduce costs, mitigating business risk and assessing the wellbeing of employees.

We looked at how much potential data HR leaders are sitting on, as well as how to use this information for strategic planning purposes.

Katie and Dirk looked at whether companies should build, buy or borrow their talent, as well as how to analyse failed hires and identify flight risks.

In order to tailor the session to the audience’s needs, we conducted a quick poll on where attendees feel they’re currently at in their data analytics journey. We then left delegates with some powerful insights that will help them make a greater impact within their organisations.

Dirk Jonker is a thought leader in people analytics, is passionate about business transformation and is an expert in adoption. He is currently researching strategic (workforce) planning and the data science of adoption.

Crunchr is the most intuitive solution for workforce reporting, people analytics and strategic planning. It consolidates your data into one clean version of the truth and provides you with actionable insights across HR domains. How can we reduce turnover? Do we offer equal pay? Crunchr empowers you to answer big talent questions in seconds, and is trusted by Nouryon, Rabobank and GrandVision.

If you are interested in attending similar HR events in the future, please contact Katie on: [email protected]

We were proud to host a virtual event with Professor David Larson, the Dean of Academics at the American University in Switzerland.

The Storytelling: How to make Presentations more Impactful, Interesting & Meaningful session was held on Monday 8th March 2021 at 13:00-14:00 CET.

David was joined by our Director – Finance, John Bower, to host this engaging lecture for our Swiss network.

You rarely hear someone say, “Wow, I’m so excited to go sit in this budget presentation!”. Most people dread sitting through presentations. Most people hate giving presentations. Most presentations are horribly boring and painful to listen to, and to deliver.

Everything conveys a message; we just need to craft a stimulating and engaging way to tell that message.

In this session, we explored how you can use storytelling and interactivity to bring to life any presentation, and create that engaging information flow. We looked at introductions, laying the foundation, building the climax and then how to wrap it all up in a dynamic conclusion. At the end, our audience should have had a better understanding of how to design more thought-provoking, memorable and powerful presentations.

We are proud to continue our strong working relationship with the American University in Switzerland. We recently held a virtual lecture for the students on managing your career: https://www.emearecruitment.com/events/career-control-with-john-bower-aus-speaker-series/158

David Larson has more than 20 years’ experience of designing, developing and delivering adult education. He has lived in Jerusalem, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Ukraine, and worked in dozens of other countries, creating and implementing experiential learning opportunities for government and community leaders, including seminars, courses, workshops, coaching and mentoring.

In addition to face-to-face activities, he has written numerous guidebooks, case studies and tool kits. Most of his work has been building up and supporting young leaders around the world, including founding a youth leadership organisation in Ukraine.

David has an extensive management background, from managing upwards of 30 programs simultaneously, to being the chief Administration and Finance Advisor to the Afghan Electoral Commission and heading the National Democratic Institute’s West Bank/Gaza country office.

He has briefed international ministers, US secretaries, ambassadors, diplomats, US members of Congress, and senior US military and civilian leaders, and has worked closely with senior government officials.

David has worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and has consulted with the US Department of State, US Peace Corps, the Special Olympics, the National Democratic Institute, the Global Fund, Gavi and the McKellar Corporation.

To stay up to date with other events that we have planned, please see our website: https://www.emearecruitment.com/events

We were pleased to host the Becoming a Successful Business Partner webinar with our career development partner, Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), and Anders Liu-Lindberg, a top advisor to senior international and Finance and FP&A leaders.

This free, virtual event was hosted on Thursday 25th February 2021, from 12:00 to 13:30 CET via Zoom.

Finance business partners go beyond the production of standard reports and analysis, to lead multi-disciplinary conversations that yield insights to inform and improve decision-making, and – ultimately – boost organisational performance. Our interactive discussion taught you how to become a valuable business partner to drive performance across your organisation. This event included up to 1 CPE (Continuing Professional Education) credit hour.

Featured Speakers

Alain Mulder, the Senior Director Europe Operations at IMA, was joined by our Ambassador, Valentina Coco, and Anders Liu-Lindberg to offer their expertise and experience in Finance business partnering, followed by a panel discussion.

Anders is the Co-Founder, COO and CMO of the Business Partnering Institute, and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance business partnering on LinkedIn. He has ten years of experience as a business partner at the global transport and logistics company Maersk. Anders is the co-author of the book Create Value as a Finance Business Partner and long-time Finance blogger, with over 33,000 followers.

Valentina has a long-standing relationship with EMEA Recruitment and recently became our Ambassador. She is currently a consultant and coach for Swiss businesses, helping them create diverse and inclusive environments. Previously, Valentina was a Senior Controller, Senior Finance Manager and Supply Chain Finance Business Partner at leading companies.

Alain leads the European operations of IMA, with offices in Amsterdam and Zurich, as well as the growth of the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) program in Europe. Alain has experience in growing businesses, Operations, Finance, Business Development, Marketing and Communications.

As our Finance career development partner, IMA is offering you a free, three-month trial membership. Find out more and sign up here: https://www.emearecruitment.com/institute-of-management-accountants

We were delighted to host a virtual event with Dr. Steve Ingham, a world-leading performance scientist.

How to Develop High Performing Teams was held on Tuesday 2nd February 2021, at 13:00 CET.

Steve joined our Founder, Paul Toms, for a motivating session.

Steve has provided support to over 1,000 athletes, of which more than 200 have achieved World or Olympic medal success. He also led the team of 250 scientists in support of Team GB to the 2021 and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Under Steve’s guidance, Great Britain became the first country ever to win more medals at a Summer Olympics immediately after hosting a Summer Olympics – 67 at Rio de Janeiro, two more than in London 2012.

Steve presented focussed support aimed at unlocking your potential and taking you to the next level. His approach has been proven in the unforgiving world of elite sport, and can now be applied to business.

Sport sees the power of coaching all the time, but it is at its best when it empowers the resourcefulness of the learner to become a role model for sustainable high performance.

The highest performing teams invest in developing their people. Are you looking for impactful and inspiring personal development? 

Steve and his performance specialist business, Supporting Champions, are trusted by Google, McLaren, the Premier League, the BBC and Sky.

Steve joined Paul on the EMEA Recruitment podcast back in March 2020. You can listen to the full episode on Reaching your Maximum Potential here.

Be sure to keep up to date with the other events we have planned for 2021 through our website or LinkedIn profile.

Ahead of the festive season, we brought together leaders in the data science field for a BI & Data Roundtable, discussing the topic, Where does Data Belong?

On Thursday 10th December 2020, we hosted nine top thought leaders from across Switzerland to engage in an open discussion on where data sits within an organisation and where it should sit.

This virtual event brought together key professionals from Geneva, to Zurich, to Lausanne.

Members of EMEA staff were joined by:

• Matteo Vasirani – Data Science Manager at Electronic Arts (EA)
• Marcus Köhnlein – Head of Digital Business at United Grinding Group
• John Wegman – VP & Managing Director at Iron Mountain
• Valéry Thomas – Head of Business Intelligence, Analytics and Digitization at Bell Food Group
• Dirk Jan Verschuijl – Director Commercial Investment & Analytics at Salt Mobile
• Clemens Pirker – Head of Intelligence/VP at Swarovski
• Steffen Lange – Group Data & Analytics Officer at Sulzer
• Leon Peeters – Data Science & Data Analysis at Swiss Casinos
• Pascal Sulser – Data Science Lead at IWC Schaffhausen

We kicked off the discussion by asking participants where they believe data should sit within an organisation.

Matteo and Dirk agreed that the data science function deserves to report directly to the top, acting as an independent advisor to the business. Marcus argued that data should be split within an organisation, between the structured, traditional processes, and the flexible, agile side. John noted that there is currently huge tension between the two areas.

Pascal believes that the focus should be on where the most value is created, which should subsequently “steer the ship”.

Valéry feels that data belongs everywhere, to which Dirk added that the creation of data should sit within the technical function, while it’s the consumption of data that is across an organisation.

Steffen feels that there is a danger that we’ll look back on the 2020s as a time when we were so focussed on data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) that we left out emotional intelligence and gut feeling.

The topic moved onto how to find really good data professionals to join your organisation.

Leon gave his top tips on attracting the right people to the role, while Steffen focussed on why Switzerland is both a blessing and a curse when competing for talent.

EMEA Recruitment ended with key recruitment advice for data science professionals.

We’d like to thank everyone who took part in the roundtable for their active participation and hope that everyone left with lots to think about!

If you’re interested in participating in a similar event in the future, please get in touch with Paul Toms.