partner newsletter october 2014

IDCN Newsletter October 2014

Event Summary

The 10th IDCN event was held on September 19th atthe European Headquarters of Baxter Healthcare &Takeda, Opfikon hosted by Baxter & Takeda.

IDCN President Martijn Roseboom introduced ourcorporate host for the event, Takeda & Baxter, andspoke briefly about current IDCN news. The IDCNwelcomes two new strategic members, ETH Zürichand Michael Page. Martijn stressed the importance ofLinkedIn and gave some tips for getting the most fromyour IDCN membership:• Do your homework! Look on the company sites

and job portals for available roles and talkingpoints.

• The IDCN can get your foot in the door. Once yourfoot is in the door, it’s up to you!

• Have a list of companies you want to visit/talk tobefore you arrive at an IDCN event.

• Keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date.• Network at events: meet colleagues and recruiters,

Meet with other spouses from your own spouse’scompany.

Jessica Moore, Baxter International Inc. Finance,director ECEMEA, was the Baxter presenter. Jessica isfrom the United States and has been working forBaxter for 12 years, 3 of those in Zürich.Baxter is a global healthcare company developinglifesaving therapeutical and medical products. Thecompany’s products are used two billion timesannually, whether infused, injected or inhaled. That’ssix million times per day! The annual sales for theirBioscience division is US$6.6 billion; Medical ProductsUS$8.7 billion. Currently these two divisions areseparating, creating new employment opportunities.There are 61,500 employees globally and Baxterproducts are sold in more than 100 countries. Thecompany’s health and wellbeing programs supportemployees through volunteer opportunities, careerdevelopment programs and healthy living programs.

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Jessica spoke about her experiences as an expatarriving in Zürich, and shared her thoughts aboutmaking a successful transition. In particular, she says,give yourself time to enjoy the new scenery, to adjustto a new environment, and explore and get outsideyour comfort zone. Professionally, if you have childrenthen network through the school. On LinkedIn, “own”your career search: be proactive and clear about yourgoals. Recruiters often post jobs first to LinkedInbecause it’s free. Get to know people from othercompanies; they could be your foot in the door.

• Last event summary• Strategy pays off: an IDCN partner’s success story

In this issue:

Antonio is originally from Portugal. He shared his storyof how he came to be in Zürich, and gave us thefollowing advice: “Switzerland can be whatever youwant it to be. It can be a lot of fun! While you’relooking for a job, enjoy the time. There’s a lot thatSwitzerland has to offer you. If you want a job inSwitzerland, you will find it.”

The next speaker was Antonio Pregueiro, TakedaPharmaceuticals International Head of BusinessOperations & Implementation. Takeda is the largestpharmaceutical company in Japan, with 30,000employees globally. Zürich is home to the Europeanand Canadian headquarters. Takeda conductsactivities according to the corporate mission to “strivetowards better health for people worldwide throughleading innovation in medicine.”

Shared experiences by Takeda & Baxter


Randstad and PWN at the event

The event included two main topics:

Topic 1. Building a contracting career inSwitzerland and Beyond

Lee Diamant from Randstad Professionals Zurichpresented this topic. In his presentation, Leeexplained the difference between a permanentposition and a contracting position, why companieshire contractors and why you should apply for aposition as contractor in an agency. He elaborated onthe uniqueness of the Swiss labour market, andsummed up the main sectors in which these agenciesoperate. He presented the contractor setup andconstruct, how to be ready and the check list you canuse for this. He also talked about the mythssurrounding the contract gateway and how to engagewith agencies. He explained the power of referralsand networking. Furthermore we were invited for CVspeed dating, a 30-second glance at attendees’ CVsduring networking time in the afternoon.

Topic 2: Building a professional and socialNetwork.

The speaker of this topic was Margherita BrodbeckRoth, President of the Professional Women’s NetworkZug and Zürich. As she explained, there are multiplepathways to finding a job, including alumni careerservices, the direct approach, and networking.Networking gives you the opportunity to reframeyourself with every new encounter. You can changeyour approach to suit the event, person or job. A jobapplication or a phone call are one-offs, and you don’tget another chance to reframe. Around 60% of jobsare found through networking. Networking can helpyou find a mentor, a coach or a sponsor within acompany, meet a friend, share knowledge, boostconfidence and raise your profile. Margherita sharednine key questions or tips for quality networking:

1. Ask, what does effective networking mean toyou?

2. What is the profile of a successful networker?3. Why do you want to network?4. Where should you network?5. Do your homework: research your host and

speakers

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Parallel sessions by Xing & CV clinic

6. What is your pitch? Listeners can focus for fiveseconds. What will they hear in that time?

7. Walk the room.8. Follow up.9. Be effective and efficient. Don’t try going to an

event every night! Use social media to augmentyour in-person networking.

Xing session

Magith Noohukhan, XING Evangelist presented anoverview of XING for IDCN members, including how tobenefit more from XING by knowing its features.In his presentation, he explained more about XING asa social network for professionals. He talked about 4aspects; your profile, groups, events and jobs. Hepresented the possibilities for creating events andhow to embark on your career journey. Other aspectshe shared were company pages and “Future Me”, atool that lets you discover professions matching yourskills and qualifications.

CV Clinic

A CV clinic was held thanks to the cooperation of tenrecruiters from the IDCN corporate members. Eachattendee had 15 minutes to get advice from anassigned recruiter, who was selected according topartners’ area of interest before event.

“The cv clinic is a good idea and the cv speed dating wasgreat! The event is very well packed, the speakers arevery good and the topics very informative” (VeronicaJohansson, at the IDCN event).

“Your profile should beabout building youronline image, groups areabout building youronline network."


Strategy pays off: an IDCN partner’s success story

Joelle is no stranger to Switzerland. She was born inGeneva to Belgian parents, and after growing up inBelgium, where she started her career in particlephysics research, she returned to Geneva to work atCERN. Since then she has worked in Belgium as aconsultant and IT project manager, spent one year inTokyo, Japan, and switched career paths completely.

“A number of global issues were becoming more andmore important to me, such as environmental issues,and I really wanted to re-focus my career on those,”Joelle says. She started as an Energy Campaigner forGreenpeace Belgium in 2010, and after two yearsfound herself in Switzerland. Now she faced “thechallenge of finding a new job, in a new environment,with a new language, while sticking to my professionalobjectives.”

German was an immediate issue for Joelle, as it is formany expat jobseekers. “When looking at the openpositions in the region, in the area that interests me,which is broadly sustainable development/climatechange/energy, I do see that fluency in German isoften a requirement,” she noted, saying, “It is becausethere are many opportunities in small and mediumorganisations focusing their activities locally, or withlocal customers and partners.”

She put her time and energy into reachingintermediate-level German as quickly as possible.Joelle says she made the choice to use each and everyopportunity to practise and to discuss in German.Don’t be shy! After six months she was able to holdsimple conversations, and felt ready to work inGerman (with some editorial assistance forprofessional writing). Now her challenge is to movefrom intermediate level to fluency and be hired by aGerman-language organisation: “certainly not a pieceof cake!”

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How did the ICDN help you personally?

Joelle joined the IDCN in November 2012, andattended her first event in January 2013. She soonoffered to volunteer for the Measurement Team, oneof the IDCN sub-committees, as co-ordinator. “Theclose collaboration with the fellow team memberswas a pleasure, and our team's objective of providingkey performance indicators about the network and itsevents provided a way to keep certain skills active andincrease my visibility.”

Joelle praises the IDCN for the opportunity to build anetwork, to develop new professional relationships,to learn about the job market, make contact withrecruiters and employer representatives. It’s also away to remain active, learn new skills, and makefriends.

What did you find challenging about finding a job,and how did you overcome these challenges?

Joelle lists her challenges to finding a new job onarrival in Switzerland: language, a limited network,not knowing the market, competing with other morequalified people who had followed the career pathdirectly, and a risk-averse tendency by employers.

Joining the IDCN was one of her strategies for findinga job. She also helped organising the local TEDXconferences, “which brings inspiration and helps growa network”, joined a network relevant to her career,in this case Green Buzz, attended conferences andtraining in her area, kept a close watch on start-upsthrough The Hub Zürich, and learned German as fastas possible. In the end, says Joelle, the first job camefrom IDCN!

What advice would you offer fellow jobseekers?

Before every event, Joelle would systematically checkwebsites of the IDCN corporate members. She usedher research to start conversations with relevantcorporate members. In September 2013, she hadsuch a conversation with a Unilever representative,who confirmed her suitability to apply for the role ofWaste Reduction Manager in the Supply ChainStrategy team. She applied after the event andcontacted the Unilever representative to let themknow. “This very first contact, at the IDCN event, wasprobably key.” Three levels of interviews later andshe had a contract, and, she says, “the highly

Joelle Herin has recentlyfound her first job in Zürich,after switching careerpaths and learning a newlanguage in record time.She credits the IDCN for hersuccess, along withmotivation and goingthe extra mile.


interesting job of finding opportunities for reducingloss of raw materials from food ingredients to paperand board across the value chain of Unilever, fromfarm to fork.”

“You never know which element of your strategy isgoing to pay off,” she says. She recommends to allIDCN members to get actively involved throughvolunteering. The IDCN is managed by sub-committees of volunteers and is a great way to raiseyour profile in the network as well as something toinclude in your CV. Stay up to date with the jobmarket in your industry, and grow your network.Lastly, says Joelle, try to get closer to organisationsthat interest you, be flexible, and be open.

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Call for volunteers

LinkedIn Group IDCNZurich-Zug-Schaffhausen

Our IDCN LinkedIn Group currently has 273 members.Join LinkedIn or update your profile indicating yourjob/career aspirations, and become an active memberof our LinkedIn Group. Connect with other members,corporate members, and find vacancies. Recruitersuse our LinkedIn Group as a talent pool. Our LinkedIngroup also includes former members who have sincefound employment and have knowledge to share.This is a great networking opportunity for themotivated job seeker.

Avoid gaps in your CV, develop new skills, connectdirectly with corporate members, and raise yourprofile within IDCN, by volunteering for IDCN.

There are four groups managing the day-to-dayrunning of the IDCN. If you are interested and/orskilled in one of these areas, [email protected] tovolunteer:

• Administration & Membership:manage member and event registration, databasemanagement, analysing and reportingmembership data.

• Events:planning, organising and managing events, invitingspeakers and corporate members.

• Communications:manage branding, social media, internal andexternal communications, newsletters to partnersand corporate members, brochures, social events.

• Measurements:manage receiving and reporting feedback tocorporate members and partners. Analyse trendsand provide ad-hoc research.

Please let us know about your feedback by sending anemail to [email protected].

IDCN Zurich-Zug-SchaffhausenCommunications Team

Next Event

The next IDCN event will be on November 13th 2014,hosted by Amcor.

Before coming to an IDCN event, we stronglyrecommend you check out the company website,update your LinkedIn profile and be aware of any jobvacancies that may be available with corporatemembers. We look forward to seeing you there.

partner newsletter october 2014

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