Following his lecture on Career Consultancy in May 2021, John Bower was invited back to the American University in Switzerland (AUS), to deliver a corresponding seminar.

In May, John, our Director – Finance in Switzerland, hosted a virtual lecture on Career Consultancy for AUS students. He has a personal passion for career planning, as he felt that he missed out on this level of insight while at school and university.

At the end of the lecture, students were given a task to go away and complete before October’s seminar. Using John’s guidance and an example provided by EMEA Recruitment, students were asked to write down their proposed career plan to bring to the seminar.

On Tuesday 12th October 2021, John returned to conduct a virtual seminar, giving an overview of the previous session and hearing feedback from students on how they found the task.

One student asked John for some advice on how to get into companies in the first instance, while another asked for words of wisdom on gaining employer feedback when unsuccessful with a job application.

Those who had completed work experience or internships were asked to share with the group how the reality of working in an organisation compared with their expectations, before John conducted a poll on whether the students would prefer to go down the corporate or entrepreneurial route.

With most of the students stating that they’d rather work in an entrepreneurial capacity, John suggested some tasks and reading material that can help with finding one’s own path. For those looking for a corporate career, John presented a range of entry level roles across multiple disciplines, which highlight the variety of positions within a company.

He was also asked if it’s okay to not know what you want to do in your career. John left the students with a range of recommended reading to help them with developing a career plan and setting off on the right path.

One suggestion was the Executive Interview that John completed with Claire Bramley, then Regional Head of Finance EMEA at HP Inc. Her career advice may be simple, but John reminded the students that putting your learnings into practice is the best step that you can take.

He also advised the students to listen to the EMEA Recruitment podcast episode with Cornell Thomas – Making Your Dream Happen, which explores the concept of life mapping in further detail.

If you’re interested in learning more about developing a career plan, reach out to John: [email protected]