On Tuesday 8th February 2022, EMEA Recruitment hosted a virtual Q&A with Talent Acquisition leaders from Danone and Upfield.

Talent Acquisition functions are experiencing a time like never before, fuelled by the competition for top talent and the great resignation.

Katie Insley, our Associate Director of Human Resources recruitment in the Netherlands, was joined by Koos Wurzer, Global Head of Employer Branding and Candidate Experience at Danone, and Bianca Eder, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Upfield, to discuss some of the key topics in the world at TA at present, as well as addressing some audience questions.

Bianca explored how technology is changing the recruitment role, but insisted that the fundamentals of Talent Acquisition remain the same and will stand the test of tech.

Koos went on to explain the impact of a good candidate experience during the recruitment process on employer brand. He believes that candidates look for an atmosphere that they can grow and belong in.

Katie also asked both Bianca and Koos for their advice to TA professionals hoping to move into leadership roles; while Bianca focussed on the soft skills needed, Koos insisted the importance of putting in hard work.

The Q&A finished with a question around how Bianca and Koos like to work with recruitment agencies.

Thank you to all those who attended this virtual Talent Acquisition Q&A, hosted in partnership with Danone and Upfield.

If you are interested in attending similar events in the future, please get in touch with Katie, who will ensure you stay up to date: [email protected]

Alternatively, if you work in the Swiss market, please contact Keely Straw, Associate Director, who will be happy to help: [email protected]

Thank you to Koos Wurzer and Bianca Eder for offering their valuable insights to our network and for a truly engaging discussion on the evolving world of Talent Acquisition.

EMEA Recruitment was proud to host an exclusive, virtual Procurement & Supply Chain Roundtable discussing Women in Leadership on Tuesday 30th November 2021.

Charlotte Cruise, one of our Senior Consultants in Procurement & Supply Chain recruitment, was joined by key leaders from across Switzerland to host an open discussion between our guests.

We hope to build a Procurement & Supply Chain community within Switzerland that is committed to supporting and advancing women within these departments and functions.

To ensure a confidential and sensitive environment, the group split off into three breakout rooms to discuss the following questions in more detail, before bringing their different points of view back to the main group:

1. What are the main challenges you can identify to creating a diverse workforce and supporting women into leadership roles?
2. What are you doing to provide women with opportunities within Procurement & Supply Chain to progress into senior leadership? 

Helping lead this discussion were:

Alejandra Garcia, VP Global Procurement at DSM

Pauline King, Swiss Country Partner at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply

Varsha Asarpota, Women Leadership – Core Team Member at CIPS Switzerland

We are committed to creating a supportive environment for senior departmental leaders, motivated on this topic, to connect and network. In order to continue this important conversation after the event, we shared attendee details with the rest of the group.

Charlotte hopes to host Procurement & Supply Chain roundtables once a quarter for our network, to discuss some of these topics in further detail. If you are interested in either attending as a guest or a speaker, please let us know. 

If you have any questions about this event or would like to register your interest in future roundtables, please contact Charlotte: [email protected]

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]

We’re proud to have sponsored the sixth Procurement & Supply Chain meeting organised by CIPS Switzerland, CSCMP Roundtable Switzerland, Kanton Zug and Technologie Forum Zug.

This virtual conference, on Tuesday 28th September 2021, focussed on Carbon + Circularity, turning our attention to the consequences of business activity on others.

CIPS and CSCMP conferences are usually attended by over 200 Procurement & Supply Chain professionals, with attendance higher for the online event.

Organisations must account for any harm arising from their operations, to anyone, anywhere. This includes everything from greenhouse gases released by upstream suppliers, to the disposal of products downstream. Customers and investors demand action. Legal compliance is no longer enough. Executives are confused and bewildered as they plead: “But I didn’t break any laws!”

If ever there was a time for people with expert knowledge of Supply Chain and Procurement to step up and lead, this is surely it.

The following speakers explored how to lead organisations:

• Mario Gross, Chief Procurement Officer at Holcim
• Benedicte Buersing, Sales Operations & Supply Chain Director at Canada Goose
• David Brocas, Head Cobalt Trader at Glencore
• Katharina Stenholm, Former CPO at Danone and SABMiller

For any queries or questions you have about the event, please get in touch with our Director – Procurement & Supply Chain, John Byrne, who will be happy to help: [email protected]

We are proud to continue our relationship with CIPS Switzerland and CSCMP Roundtable Switzerland, having previously sponsored their events.

To discuss your Procurement & Supply Chain or Operations recruitment needs across Switzerland, please contact Neil Cope on: [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.