With over 20 years’ experience leading HR teams across diverse industries in Europe, Armand Sohet has hired many HR professionals. Here’s why he compares it to pairing cheese and wine…

Armand Sohet is the Chief Sustainability, HR and Communications Officer at AkzoNobel in Amsterdam. His experience ranges the automotive, pharmaceutical, software, defence, and energy sectors.

“A question people very often ask me is: What is it about recruiting and assessing HR people?” Armand says.

Pairing cheese and wine

An image came to him while presenting to a Swiss-German audience – it’s like pairing cheese and wine.

“Imagine you buy a fabulous bottle of Petrus or Cheval Blanc - a very expensive, €1,000 bottle. You’re thrilled, thinking, this is going to be an experience of a lifetime! So, you grab a camembert (because it’s French and it feels like the right pairing for a fine French wine), but then you try them together, and - let’s be honest - it’s terrible. You wouldn’t admit it, of course, because it’s such an expensive bottle, so you convince yourself it’s good. 

“But it’s awful, because the lactic acid in the camembert will always clash with the Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot in the wine, leaving a metallic taste that’s just unpleasant. I tested this with people who didn’t believe me, and they agreed. So, I said, “Instead of spending €1,000 on this wine, why not just get a €7 bottle of cider to go with the camembert, or maybe a ten or 15-year-old champagne? The bubbles in the champagne will help balance the lactic acid, and it’ll actually be a great experience.” 

How does this apply to HR professionals?

In his personal life, Armand enjoys finding the perfect wine and cheese combination, but it’s much harder to find the best match between people and a company, he believes.

“Imagine the cheese is your company and the wine is the person you’ve brought into it,” Armand explains. “You’ve hired the bottle of wine, because it’s prestigious and expensive, but it doesn’t fit. It’s not necessarily a good match, even if it costs a lot.”

So, what is he looking for in his team?

“Sometimes, people are like Swiss wines – a red that goes well with nearly anything,” he shares. “They don’t always stand out as the best, but they fit in well with a lot of different settings.”

Whether you’re looking for a Petrus or a Sauvignon blanc, our HR recruitment specialists are committed to finding the perfect match for your team.

From large-scale restructuring to building teams from scratch, EMEA Recruitment has experts with a wealth of experience in HR who can help – get in touch through our website: https://www.emearecruitment.com/pages/human-resources

Armand spoke to Katie Insley, Director in our HR recruitment division, as part of our Executive Interviews series in April 2025.

As organizations look to combat changing global economic conditions, Shared Service Centers are continuing to grow in popularity. However, the shared services model can pose significant challenges to attracting and retaining the right talent.

“We’re seeing demand increasing for multi-lingual, tech-savvy, and strategically minded employees,” says Matt Foster, who leads our Global SSC recruitment division.

In fact, in a 2024 survey by Deloitte, 73% of respondents expected to increase investment in shared services over the next year.

Whether you’re in the early stages of setting up your first Shared Service Center or already have a successful shared services model in operation, there are some key considerations organizations should be aware of to ensure a pain-free hiring process and realize those all-important cost savings.

Tackling volume hiring challenges

The growing number of Shared Service Centers in key hubs around the world means that businesses are increasingly competing for the same pool of skilled professionals.

If we look at Deloitte’s research and compare this to our clients’ requirements, we can see that India, Poland, and Mexico are the top three locations with the largest number of Shared Service Centers, followed by the USA. Malaysia is a new entrant to the top five, followed closely by China.

Finding the right mix of technical expertise and soft skills is not easy. When you take into consideration that most organizations are looking to scale headcount at a significant rate, you’ll most likely require extensive candidate shortlists for each role. This is where we see organizations fail to meet their hiring targets and costs increase, as roles are left unfilled.

Partnering with a Shared Service recruitment specialist speeds up the process and ensures you have the time to focus on strategic challenges. Most organizations we speak to don’t have the bandwidth to treat their Shared Services recruitment as a dedicated project, or they have tried and failed to make it work. The key success factor is having access to a recruitment team that can commit to sourcing the volume of candidates needed to fill your roles.

“At EMEA Recruitment, we’ve recognized the global war for talent impacting Shared Service Centers,” explains Matt Foster, Associate Director in our Global SSC division. “We have a dedicated team focused on these volume recruitment projects, who have existing networks of skilled professionals ready for businesses to tap into, speeding up the set-up and success of your SSC.”

Working with multiple agencies may not increase your reach

Shared Service Centers will often go through key restructuring periods, such as a digital transformation or process improvements. In these situations, you may have an immediate need for large volumes of candidates, as well as evolving skills requirements.

At this point, many organizations reach out to multiple recruitment agencies to increase their outreach.

However, you need a strong relationship with one provider who can truly understand your strategy and the candidate profile required to make the best hiring decisions. Although finding the right skills is important, chemistry is essential. Working with one dedicated partner ensures they understand your people and culture.

At the same time, it can be difficult from an internal perspective to manage multiple agency relationships.

Combat retention issues

High employee turnover impacts service continuity and efficiency in any business, but Shared Service Centers are more frequently affected by the challenges of retaining top talent.

Shared Service Centers are sometimes viewed as cost centers, rather than strategic functions. This can lead some employees to feel disconnected from the organization’s core business and as though their career growth is limited.

If the Shared Service Center is geographically or culturally distanced from the company’s headquarters, teams may also feel isolated from the broader organizational culture.

In some cases, a recruitment agency focuses on filling the most straightforward roles first to make a good impression, but this may cause delays for more tricky vacancies – sometimes, it results in some roles not being filled at all.

“Our approach is to headhunt for every role, so that we find the right fit for the organization,” says Matt. “We find new candidates for each role to ensure we make the best fit for the whole team, which improves retention rates.”

If you’re looking for a Shared Service Center recruitment specialist, get in touch with Matt: [email protected]

As the Human Resources Director for HEINEKEN Switzerland, Christoph Hajjar knows a thing or two about cultivating success and high-performing teams – as well as the food and beverage industry. He shares his four ingredients for the perfect leadership cocktail.

“If my leadership style were a cocktail, I would call it the Intention Sour.”

What ingredients go into the perfect leadership cocktail? Christoph explains: “The key ingredients would be: a shot of vision for setting up clear intentions, a splash of empathy to understand and support each other, a little dash of resilience for navigating challenges, and a twist of creativity for fostering innovation.”

“It helps having worked for seven years as a barkeeper!” Christoph tells Keely Straw, the Manager of our HR recruitment division in Switzerland.

Christoph has utilized his vision of developing a diverse team to improve the impact of HR in the business. “By creating an inclusive environment where different perspectives and views are valued and encouraged to be brought forward, team members are motivated to share individual ideas and experiences,” he says.

By working in different countries, Christoph has enhanced his empathy with colleagues. He found the move from Switzerland to Austria an unexpected challenge, learning to adapt his communication style in order to build relationships.

It was a lesson that also built his resilience: “Some dear colleagues took me aside and provided honest feedback, such as, ‘You may be used to that, but please consider that the clocks tick a bit differently here.’ They also gave me advice on cues and the natural rhythm of a conversation when you want to get to a decision.”

Finally, how does Christoph challenge his creativity to drive innovation? His team is currently striking the balance between a data-led approach and maintaining the human touch in HR.

“You can’t have one without the other. You need to have that personal touch, as well as the right dataset, including the knowledge of where to get the data and which pieces to pick out to support an informed decision-making process,” he believes.

In his full interview with Keely, Christoph dives into the role of data and artificial intelligence in HR as a decision-making tool: https://www.emearecruitment.com/executive-interviews/christoph-hajjar-human-resources-director-at-heineken-switzerland/255

Do you agree with Christoph’s ingredients for the perfect leadership cocktail?

Over the summer, EMEA Recruitment has been evaluating the role of Procurement and Supply Chain functions within businesses. Given the significant impact of global events in recent years, the importance of these functions has never been greater. It’s unsurprising that many companies have completed or are undergoing transformation projects to ensure "best-in-class" service delivery in an increasingly AI-driven world. 

Effective Procurement and Supply Chain teams go beyond cost-cutting; they create substantial value and resilience within a company. By strategically managing resources, assessing risks, and prioritising sustainable practices, they ensure that business operations are not only efficient but also prepared for future challenges. This added value extends to areas such as:

• Achieving financial and value targets
• Meeting sustainability goals
• Evaluating suppliers to safeguard the employer's brand
• Ensuring business continuity
• Minimising business risks
• Improving customer satisfaction

Companies that have elevated their Procurement and Supply Chain functions and integrated them across the business are significantly more attractive to candidates seeking their next career opportunity.

If your organisation seeks to strengthen its Procurement & Supply Chain team, EMEA Recruitment is here to help. Our specialists focus on sourcing the right professionals to meet your business's strategic goals. Get in touch with Mark Robinson to discuss your recruitment needs and connect with candidates who can drive your company’s success: [email protected]

Alternatively, if you are searching for your next procurement or supply chain job, speak with one of our recruitment consultants who can help you advance your career in your preferred region, or visit our job search page.

Each quarter, we ask our HR-specialist network which topics are front-of-mind and will be of value to explore. At present, unsurprisingly, the No.1 topic cited is AI; more specifically how it is likely to impact HR departments and the wider organisations they are part of.

Implementing AI may mean that fewer people will be required to complete the same volume of work, of that organisations need to redesign disrupted roles – a potential positive where the roles created encompass a broader range of tasks, offering more stimulating work and a more compelling employee value proposition. New, highly specialised jobs will emerge, requiring a blend of business and technological acumen. Additionally, performance expectations will increase and organisations that are slow to adopt this approach risk losing out to the competition.

As AI impacts how employees interact with HR teams and the technologies they use, a shift in the structure of HR departments and roles becomes likely.

It is expected that generative AI will improve efficiency in HR and, in turn, employee experience, though in parallel HR teams will need to consider potential pitfalls relating to data accuracy and privacy.

Most businesses we engage with are taking the first tentative steps in leveraging AI at an organisational level and are still looking to understand what impacts will result, for their workforce, their talent strategy and the HR function generally. Whilst there’s no need for alarm, the field is evolving rapidly so it’s worth considering the implications sooner rather than later.

If you’re considering the future skills landscape for your HR team or wider business in response to recent developments in AI, do drop us a line to discuss further: [email protected]

As a recruiter, EMEA Recruitment has always been close to new companies setting up in Switzerland and has enjoyed helping them grow. Mike Baldwin, Associate Director, discusses the market in more detail...

Over the last few years, this market has experienced uncertainty and turbulence, which has led to hesitance in the market, resulting in a slowdown of new companies moving to Switzerland between 2020 and 2022.

However, the winds are changing, and momentum is growing - we are very much experiencing an influx of new international businesses to Switzerland. This has created excellent opportunities for those at all levels, as businesses set up new offices and establish Swiss headquarters.

Most recently, our recruitment teams have successfully sourced top talent for multi-national businesses creating their headquarters in the country.

Some of the benefits of relocating or setting up a business in Switzerland include the political and economic stability, its strategic position at the heart of Europe, and competitive corporate tax rates.

Furthermore, Switzerland offers a skilled workforce, and its educational system is renowned for producing well-trained workers. Current in-demand professionals are those who have local expertise and knowledge, who can build business functions with an international outlook.

However, if you have found it difficult to make the next career step over the last few years, you are not alone, and this is typical in the market we have experienced. Fortunately, we feel that 2024 will be a year of opportunity for finding highly rated accounting jobs, supply chain jobs and finance jobs in Switzerland.

Growing industries we have identified span across fintech, life sciences and biotechnology, AI and machine learning, smart manufacturing, and environmental and sustainability consulting. It's important to note that Switzerland's business landscape can vary by region, with major business hubs in cities like Zurich, Geneva, and Basel.

If you’d like to discuss setting up a new team or finding a new role yourself, please reach out to me and I will be happy to help: [email protected]