MADRID – “Is it for real?” quipped Anatolii Galimov, a Russian Masters student, who commenced in September and was gobsmacked when he stood at the entrance of a room full of representatives from technology and financial services organisations. He was pleased to witness the presence of his dream technology companies including Facebook and Amazon at the Forum located in MMB-31 bis Garden, whose representatives he believed could assist him in knowing more about career opportunities at their organisation and potentially land a job. He looked towards Alicia, another Masters student from Italy, standing beside him, who wanted to meet representatives from financial services’ companies and their smiles signalled that they were ready to get lost in a sea of opportunities.
This room is the arena called “IE Talent Forum”, which is the largest careers event of the year at IE. More than 120 companies from 16 different industries and sub-sectors represent themselves spanning throughout 5-days, whereby each day is earmarked for specific industry mainly technology, consulting, luxury, transport, law et al. More than 20 presentations are also expected during this forum.
Day one kicked off with companies from technology and financial sector and we asked the representatives of Facebook, “What is your biggest motivation to drive to this fair, make presentations to augment interest in your organisation and queue up in booths for long hours when you have a flutter of CVs flying to your desk every day?”
Their response was similar to one received from Amazon, European Investment Bank, Guidewire and Salesforce executives, “The open-minded students with a global perspective from diverse educational backgrounds, aware of working in teams of plural nationalities provide the most appropriate fit for our organisation- composed of people from various cultures”. They added that this platform provides them with the first touch-point to get to know their potential future recruits and their past work experiences and interests, with a high possibility of eventually metamorphosing this contact into a relationship if they believe that their attitude is apt for their organisation.
As we spoke to the representative from Guidewire, she told us that candidates who interacted with her and had come prepared, leaving a positive impact, are likely to receive an email from her by tomorrow, which will kick off the recruiting process. Pointing to the queue at the booth of known organisations like Amazon, she further added that students should come over and talk to upcoming organisations like theirs to not squander opportunities at hand.
The labyrinth at the forum is easily manoeuvred if one possesses “Career fair plus” application. The Talent and Careers department had erected banners at different locations across the university to ensure its greater visibility and accessibility. This app showcases all the employers attending the forum for each day, the location of their booth as well as the current job openings and if they are willing to sponsor a work permit. Candidates spending a reasonable amount of time on this application before coming to the forum, researching about the organisations they are interested in, are likely to perform better than the others.
“The open-minded students with a global perspective from diverse educational backgrounds, aware of working in teams of plural nationalities provide the most appropriate fit for our organisation- composed of people from various cultures,” – representatives from Amazon, Facebook, and others.
A new message popped up on the mobile screen of Anatoli as he was walking out of the forum asking him to return tomorrow to meet representatives from Consulting and international development organisations. “I had to come here again anyway for my LinkedIn photoshoot is scheduled for tomorrow”, said Anatoli. Alicia remarked that she was overwhelmed to inquire from the registration desk that more than 1000 students had come over on the first day of the forum. Both of them were tired after a long and informative day but were bookmarking their favourite companies on their way back for day 2 on “Career fair plus” app.
