Recruiters Rave About IE’s Virtual Talent Forum

Recruiters from around the world praised IE’s first Virtual Talent Forum, which attracted 128 companies—including 50 that had never before attended the job fair.

“The Virtual Talent Forum proved an excellent place to meet and connect with IE’s fantastic student base,” said Zalando’s Employer Branding Specialist Tim Price. “The event will help us keep in touch and build longer lasting relationships between Zalando and our future talents”.

Nearly 2,800 unique users participated in the four-day event that moved online due to restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic limiting crowds and travel.

“It was a very innovative outreach experience for us, not only for the virtual format, but also for the type of platform used,” said OECD Talent Management Coordinator Claudia Cotroneo. “Several students joined the webcast, visited our booth and contacted us through the chat, email and LinkedIn.”

Amazon, Salesforce and BNP Paribas  were some of the most visited stands. Siemens, Luxembourg offices of KPMG, EY and Deloitte, along with UPS, Dow, HR Global Partners and many others were among the extensive list of companies that participated in the Talent Forum for the first time.

“If the fair was not online, I doubt we would have been able to attend since we are located internationally,” said Recruitment Officer Marily Erotokritou from Alter Domus. “If I could recommend something, it would be to do that again --even when times will be more normal-- so we can all attend.”

It wasn’t just the switch to an online format that reaped accolades. Recruiters liked the benefits the virtual scenario gave them in terms of data collection and engagement.

“Loved the way we can now manage and pull the data and contact the students after. It is actually so much more streamlined than taking resumes and contact details,” said VmWare’s Mairead O’Flynn.

For SAP Talent Acquisition Partner David Gomez, “It was great to interact with the MBA students and be able not only to share and present SAP as a great place to develop their careers, but also respond to their questions and concerns.”

According to Alessandra Aloisio, Director Recruiter Relations & Partnerships at IE, the Talent & Careers department adapted in the new Covid-19 context “to continuously provide services to both companies and students in terms of talent identification, preparation and recruitment processes.”

The event, exclusive for the IE community allowed students and alumni to register to any of the 93 company webcasts and interact with companies through private and group chats from any location in the world.

“Implementing this new virtual format has been really useful to overcome the current situation and to continue to connect our students with those international companies ready to boost their talent pipeline.”

Recruiters said they hoped to IE would continue the virtual platform.

“The software you are using is easy to use, good layout, functions as webcasts, chats and upload offers is perfect to schedule a day at a job fair,” said EY Campus Recruiter Sophie Weber. “Happy if you can share with us similar events in the future.”

Eva Valbuena, Executive Director of Talent & Careers said she expected more virtual events in the future since the format was a good fit for IE’s international student body and online education programs.

“Virtual Career Fairs are here to stay! We believe that once companies have experienced them, they realize that this is an effective tool to recruit talent at the international level. It is also a great way to involve not only current students, but blended students and alumni.”

Tim Price, Employer Branding Specialist at Zalando

“The Virtual Talent Forum proved an excellent place to meet and connect with IE’s fantastic student base. Two of our own MBA alumni hosted an insightful Q&A session with many engaged participants, and the feature of being able to contact the students after the event will help us keep in touch and build longer lasting relationships between Zalando and our future talents.”

David Gomez, Sr. EMEA Talent Acquisition Partner at SAP

“It was great to interact with the MBA students and be able not only to share and present SAP as a great place to develop their careers, but also respond their questions and concerns. It was a refreshing and very interesting experience.”

Sophie Weber, Campus Recruiter, EY Luxembourg

“The software you are using is easy to use, good layout, functions as webcasts, chats and upload offers is perfect to schedule a day on a job fair. I am happy that different people could discover EY Luxembourg and our careers opportunity. Happy if you can share with us similar events in the future”.

Claudia Cotroneo - Talent Management Coordinator, OECD

“It was a very innovative outreach experience for us, not only for the virtual format --to which we are getting used-- but also for the type of platform used. Several students joined the webcast, visited our booth and contacted us through the chat, email and LinkedIn.”

Marily Erotokritou, Recruitment Officer, Alter Domus

“The concept of that online job fair was interesting, user friendly and innovative, from the creation of the stand to chatting with the students.
I believe that doing it online was very convenient, for both companies and students and it was pleasant chatting with your students as they were all very professional, mature and polite.
If the fair was not online, I doubt we would have been able to attend since we are located internationally. Therefore, if I could recommend something, it would be to do that again (even when times will be more normal) so we can all attend. Thanks again for all your help and we are looking forward to the next one!”

Mairead O’Flynn, University Campus Manager, VmWare

“Loved the way we can now manage and pull the data and contact the students after. It is actually so much more streamlined then taking resumes and contact details.”

Friederike Bremen, Employer Branding Manager, Celonis

“The IE Virtual Talent Forum was a great platform to interact with students and alumni during chats, but also giving them new insights about our Celonis Hub in Madrid and a live software demo. These two sessions were crucial to having more engagement with participants. Some attendees have already passed their first interview during the Virtual Talent Forum and we generated some leads for new applications. Thank you, IE.”