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. 

We were delighted to provide the first virtual lecture in the American University in Switzerland’s Speaker Series on 12th November 2020.

Our Director – Finance, John Bower, hosted the inaugural session on Career Control for AUS’s students.

“We have to be in the driver’s seat for our career.”

Thanks to his strong relationship with AUS’s Dean of Academics, David Larson, John was able to share his passion for recruitment and inform students on what skills they need for post-university life.

John is well-connected within the Swiss Finance & Accountancy community, particularly among C level leaders. He therefore has a deep understanding of what industries are looking for in talent today and, more importantly, in the future.

With the world changing at a rapid pace, managing your career is essential if you want to make a difference.

John discussed what might have happened in his own career if he’d been consulted in this unique way between the ages of 15-25. He feels a personal commitment to delivering this information as early as possible in someone’s career, making AUS’s students a perfect audience.

The model John went through focussed on Finance, his area of expertise. However, the same structure can be used for practically all other disciplines.

He explored the subject of globalisation and how companies now have more competition; whereas previously they may have employed professionals from within their canton or, at least, the country they’re based in, the world now works on a more international level.

You can watch a short clip on this subject here:

John also described how the adapt or die approach now applies to people’s skillsets, and the reasons why millennials want more control over the direction of their careers.

For those seeking the highest level positions within businesses, John explained the importance of being able to talk about every level of the career pyramid.

John was pleased to take questions from the students, who are looking to take their first steps into the world of work.

We look forward to working with the American University in Switzerland on future events.

If you would like to discuss John’s Career Control lecture, please get in touch with him at: [email protected].

In mid-October, we were proud to partner with The Future of Work Unconference in Switzerland, which was hosted by Shake Up The Workplace.

This unconference-style event took place on Monday 19th October 2020, at Kunsthaus, Zurich.

The Future of Work unconference brought together human-centric leaders, the C-suite, entrepreneurs, NGOs, government, start-ups and academia to sit at the same table and leave with an action plan.

Shake Up The Workplace’s English-speaking event was one that Zurich had not seen before.

Breakout sessions took place in the art galleries of Kunsthaus. A list of the fantastic line-up of speakers is below:

• Henriette Wendt – Microsoft
• Réginald Bien-Aimé – Master of the Ceremony
• Daniela Landherr – Google
• Heiko Fischer – Resourceful Humans
• Simon Brown – Novartis

As a Network Partner of the event, we were pleased to offer a 15% discount on tickets.

Shake Up The Workplace’s mission is to create a Swiss Future of Work ecosystem that facilitates collaboration, experimentation and co-creation.

Unlike traditional conferences, the unconference is a participant-oriented gathering where the attendees decide on the agenda elements, discussion topics and workshops.

The event welcomed everyone who wants to co-create the Future of Work ecosystem in Switzerland. If you are intrested in attending similar events in the future, please contact our Marketing Manager, Rose Jinks, at [email protected].

We were delighted to host a virtual event, How to Get a Career you Love and Negotiate the Heck out of it, with Wies Bratby.

Wies is the Chief Enthusiasm Officer for Women in Negotiation (WIN). She launched WIN to help women across the world realise their worth, communicate it, and get them the positions and salaries they want. WIN is consistently successful, with an average salary increase of 49.1% for promotions or new roles.

Wies’ long-term passion for negotiation led her to begin her career as a lawyer in the Netherlands, before moving on to become a HR Director, setting up human resources across the globe. Upon moving to Switzerland, she recognised that women around the world were struggling to find their dream jobs and negotiate fitting salaries for their hard work.

On Friday 16^th October 2020, we partnered with Wies to host her How to Get a Career you Love and Negotiate the Heck out of it webinar session with women from our Dutch network.

In the session, Wies shared tips and insights into how women can transform their careers by finding their dream job and negotiating a salary that truly reflects their hard work.

We held a similar event for women in our Swiss network back in June.

In May, we welcomed Wies to the EMEA Recruitment podcast, in which she outlined how it is her life mission to help women negotiate their worth and gave an overview of WIN. You can listen to it by clicking here.

If there are any future events you're interested in attending, please let Rose Jinks know at [email protected]