A LOOK BACK AT THE EHL HOSPITALITY BUSINESS SCHOOL'S SPRING 2023 CAREER FAIR (Switzerland)
As the Spring 2023 Career Fair was held at the EHL Hospitality Business School campus in Lausanne, the Journal des Palaces looks back at the highlights of this bi-annual event. |
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A LOOK BACK AT THE EHL HOSPITALITY BUSINESS SCHOOL'S SPRING 2023 CAREER FAIR (Switzerland)
As the Spring 2023 Career Fair was held at the EHL Hospitality Business School campus in Lausanne, the Journal des Palaces looks back at the highlights of this bi-annual event. |
Category: Europe - Switzerland - Careers
- Career
Article written by Vanessa Guerrier-Buisine on 2023-03-21
A new Career Fair was held on Saturday, 18 March at the EHL Hospitality Business School campus in Lausanne. A day punctuated by meetings between various companies and candidates, reunions with alumni and inspiring round tables organized for students.
Committed candidates
Organized by the Alumni & Industry Relations department, the Career Fair brings together companies that wish to attract students from this extraordinary school. Contracts that vary from internships to first jobs, interactions with companies that can lead to career plans for students... these are all opportunities that students seize at each of these events.
The companies present, interested in the profiles of EHL students and alumni, come from increasingly varied backgrounds. While the hotel, restaurant, yachting and destination sectors were naturally represented, the Career Fair also attracts players in the finance, cosmetics and luxury goods industries, etc.
Young people proved their determination and maturity to these companies and recruiters, regardless of their age. From first year candidates to alumni who have already left EHL, all were present at the volunteering event and were motivated to network or to find a job or an internship.
The luxury hotel industry always stimulates the curiosity of young people. Candidates asked the Journal des Palaces, also present at the fair, what the luxury hotel industry might offer. Most of them had a precise idea of their project or seemed to be outlining it, with a targeted destination or a preferred department in the establishments.
Guidance from inspiring personalities
Two round tables brought together inspiring figures from the hospitality world. Their views and experiences provided students with concrete advice for their future studies and careers. Informed tips, of course, but above all, exclusive ones.
An evolving recruitment process
The first round table on the recruitment process brought together Sabrina Westphaelinger, Senior Director Talent & Culture DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) at Accor, Camille Pendaries, International Talent Sourcing Project Manager at Cartier and Colin Abercombie, Strategy Director at NEOM Hotel Development Company. The round table was brilliantly moderated by Evangeline Chien, EHL student and ambassador for Wynn Resorts, an EHL Alliance partner.
Experience, hard-skills, soft-skills and the centres of interest of the candidates set the pace for the panel to express what recruiters are looking for today. We also discovered that companies frequently use video analytics to validate the consistency between what the candidate expresses verbally and their facial expressions. A way to avoid recruitment mistakes and mutual waste of time, said Colin Abercombie.
They all insisted on the need to accept sacrifices when doing an internship or starting a career. Going beyond one's limits, accepting shifts in working hours, asking to do more... all this advice was repeatedly given by the recruiters. Sabrina Westphaelinger also encouraged students to be curious, reminding them that learning and training will continue throughout their careers.
On the companies' side, efforts are also being made to improve the recruitment process. The importance of responding to all applications, even if they are rejected, was mentioned, as well as the need to be available so that candidates understand their areas for improvement or the gap between their profile and the recruiters' expectations.
Camille Pendaries emphasized the extent to which candidates are now interested in the ESG policy, the environment, diversity, flexible working conditions or even the well-being at work observed at Cartier, which has led the company to communicate on these points to candidates.
A careful entry into professional life
The second round table brought together a varied panel, with Chiara Amadi, Global Management ABInBev, alumni of the class of 2020, Vincent Billiard, General Manager of the Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel, Paris, alumni of the class of 2002, Antoine Chocque, Hospitality Manager at Jacquet Droz and alumni of the class of 2020, and Fabio Nairi, Sales Director at Regus Spaces Signature. A round table discussion moderated by Nicole Atkin, EHL student and ambassador for the Swiss company Migros, partner of the EHL Alliance.
When applying for a job, as when they finally enter professional life, students are invited to "try, to dare", these were the first tips that echoed in the Tschumi auditorium during this second round table.
Mindful of stability. This was the key advice given by Antoine Chocque, whose experiences followed one another after leaving school. According to Antoine, who seems to have found the mission and the company that suits him, multiplying the lines on the CV could have a poor effect on recruiters. Vincent Billiard then opened up about his own experience. He joined the Ritz-Carlton after graduating from EHL, and opted for international mobility within the group itself to avoid the effect of changing companies on a CV. Moving from one establishment to another allows you to be unstable, but in a discreet way. Thus, progressing for years within the same company, while changing jobs regularly, creates an image that is both dynamic and stable.
Now general manager of the prestigious Crillon Hotel in Paris, he also advises young people not to be too impatient, not to wait to be promoted too quickly. And above all to find mentors, people they can talk to throughout their career for advice or enlightening opinions.
The two round tables gave us a repeated piece of advice, which is undoubtedly the key to a successful career: "There is no possible evolution in the comfort zone", insisted Colin Abercombie. Especially as there is a gap between what students expect and the reality of the job. Preparing to leave one's comfort zone allows one to adapt more quickly to professional life, Fabio Nairi recalled. Getting out of your comfort zone to evolve, valid advice for EHL students and beyond.
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