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]

EMEA Recruitment was proud to attend CSCMP Switzerland Roundtable’s event, Supply Chain Leaders’ Must-Have Strategies, Systems & Models to Become Resilient & Competitive, in Zug on Thursday 20th April 2023.

Robust supply chains and sustainable strategies are essential to navigate today’s ever-changing business environment. Therefore, this was an opportunity for attendees to network face to face and gain valuable insights from industry leaders.

Speakers from various organisations explored how Supply Chain strategy has strengthened their businesses and helped to deliver long-term growth.

We heard from:

• Hans von Pfuhlstein, Partner at The Strategists Network
• Maria Kounenaki, Executive Director, Pharma Global Supply Planning at Bristol Myers Squibb
• Alexander Habath, Head of Security, International at Biogen
• Nicole Miara, Digital Transformation Lead, automotive industry

The presentation agenda involved the following:

• Supply Chain Risks in Today’s World and Corresponding Strategies
• Turning Uncertainty to Opportunity with Resilient Supply Chains
• Supply Chain Resilience as part of Enterprise Risk Management
• Surviving Supply Chain Disruptions: How can Companies Minimize Impact?

Representing the EMEA Recruitment team was Neil Cope, Manager of Procurement & Supply Chain recruitment in Switzerland, joined by our Swiss Country Director, John Byrne, and Senior Consultants, Sienna Grey and Sasha Gill.

The Procurement & Supply Chain team was on hand to answer any recruitment questions you may have and offered additional advice to support your Procurement & Supply Chain recruitment strategies.

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

We are proud to have been an official sponsor of CSCMP Switzerland Roundtable since January 2023.

On 16th June, we hosted our second in-person event of the year with CIPS Switzerland.

It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet some new people sharing our passion for Procurement & Supply Chain.

We had three wonderful speakers commenting on the topic of Perma-Crisis - Michelle Wang, Head of SCM Contracting & Partnerships at Hitachi Energy, Valentina Coco, CEO and Team Culture & Engagement Consultant & Coach, and Corina Cioranu, VP Global Packaging and Personal Care at Unilever. Plus, a very engaging panel discussion led by Pauline King, Head of Group Procurement at SwissRe.

We received some fantastic feedback from attendees, with 70% saying the content was relevant and interesting, 100% of attendees confirming that the evening benefitted their understanding of the topic, and 100% agreeing that they made useful connections at the event. Equally, over 90% of respondents said the event was inclusive and representative across P&SC.

“I think it’s very good having events like this and I’d like to do it more often.”
- Attendee

We expected, with the battle of conflicting priorities - supply issues, sustainability, diversity, inflation, etc. - that Procurement would be entering an operational/firefight mode.

What we heard from our speakers, however, was that they were really driving strategy further and with greater success during these times of increased pressure, and that long-term strategic, solution-led, business impact/value stream approaches that centred around partnerships and engaging wider business initiatives have been crucial to survive and thrive in this environment.

It was interesting to hear from Corina Cioranu and Valentina Coco on the importance of developing the relationship with peers in Finance and how gaining cross-functional internal sponsors is key to executing successful strategies and the Procurement function to effectuate real business impact.

A lovely terminology we will be adding to our vocabulary is “cris(is)-unity”, which really describes how Procurement has been acting as the glue to bring organisations together over the last couple of years. Thanks, Michelle Wang!

It also led to some very exciting conversations/realisations that we are in the midst of a big culture change in the wider Procurement & Supply Chain space. In attendance was a truly representative group of inspiring leaders from a range of different sectors and backgrounds. We enjoyed some healthy discussions showing a much welcomed diversity of thought and innovation, and we would like to thank everyone in attendance for creating such a fantastic evening with honest, authentic and insightful exchanges.

We would also like to offer a huge congratulations to Varsha Asporata for her first successful event as Chairperson for CIPS Switzerland.

If you’re interested in attending similar, future events, please get in touch with Charlotte Cruise, our Senior Consultant: [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 Thursday 15th June 2023, we hosted the third and final event in our A Journey in Personal Leadership series, in partnership with Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

This event, How to Create your Personal Inspiring Vision and Roadmap to Success, took place at TradeXBank in central Zurich on Thursday 15th June from 16:00-17:00. There was also an opportunity to network with fellow attendees afterwards, with food and drink provided.

Jonathan Cave, Founder and CEO of MyPhy, trained delegates on how to clarify and communicate where you want to go and how you want to get there, as well as how to identify behaviours to provide the foundation stones for successfully achieving your objectives.

This was the final event in a series of three sessions that we’ve hosted in partnership with IMA Switzerland Chapter, our career development partner.

The first event, How to Find your High-Performing Self and Leverage this in your Career, was held in Geneva in December 2022.

The second session, How to Boost your Energy Levels & Apply this to your Daily Life, took place in Zurich in March 2023.

If you’re interested in attending similar upcoming events, please reach out to Mark Robinson, Associate Director in our Finance & Accountancy recruitment division in Switzerland: [email protected]

Mark attended the event in Zurich, along with Meriel Graham, Director, Mike Baldwin, Associate Director, and Annie Gosnell, Senior Consultant.

Jonathan Cave was a highly-trained lawyer/partner in a multi-family office in Geneva, where – for almost 15 years – he helped high and ultra-high-net-worth families grow their businesses and protect their fortunes.

At the age of 40, he reoriented his career and trained in coaching, public speaking and leadership.

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]