EAE News
Drafting a strategy, a key factor in professional promotion
29 de July de 2019
The Professional Careers Department organized a workshop on searching for employment at the JoaquĆn Costa Campus.
Aimed at students EAE's Part Time and Weekend programs, the workshop was led by Olga Prikhodko and David DomĆnguez, both Partners and Consultants at Q Human Resources. The headhunters began the session with an initial more theoretical part focusing on the search strategy
Entitled "Professional Development Strategy Ā An individual roadmap towards success" the employability workshop gave the students an insight into the headhunters' vision of the market, career development and the opportunities for professional progression. Taking an eminently practical approach, the session began with the participants presenting their professional profiles, before moving on to useful tips from teh recruiters at Q Human Resources.
David explained how to approach professional development from a perspective that really embraces change. "Our experience is hands on. We are talking about well-defined design and strategy that always begins at the same starting point: the prior analysis", he explained. After studying the candidate's personal situation and analysing the employment market, you have to define a value proposition. This prior analysis phase is essential, in the headhunter's opinion, Ā because, based on this foundation, "we are ready to set some professional goals". Factors such as the position, sector, target companies, business culture, financial conditions, development opportunities, career plan, international projection, work-life balance, technologies, learning and personal fulfilment all form part of the initial analysis phase.
The recruiters then recommended implementing an action plan, which involves professionally designing the online (LinkedIn profile, employment websites and social media) and offline settings (letters of reference, qualifications and other documentation). To build our personal brand, it is important to be have a high degree of self-awareness (identification and value proposition), a professional strategy (setting objectives and action plan) and enhancing the visibility of our profile (among groups of interest, communication).
Turning to work interviews, David and Olga focused on the Elevator Pitch, a brief presentation created to define and differentiate you and grab the recruiter's interest. They also underlined the importance of networking, which they defined as contact between people, including professional relations, participation in events, education centres, connections between candidates, professional organizations and social media. "Only 20% of company vacancies are published. The rest are filled through networking", explained David, emphasizing the Ā professional opportunities that arise with events, which the headhunter described as "a great way to increase your network, meet other professionals and access offers".
When getting ready for the selection process, the recruitment experts both stressed the importance of preparing for the interview and following up on the processes individually: sending a specific CV and getting feedback on the strategies through revising, analysing and adjusting them.
Tips for a professional development strategy
The advice given by the headhunters to the EAE students included organizing and planning, enhancing your online visibility, digitizing your CV, studying the offers, considering the 'consultancy and projects' option, promoting yourself, updating yourself, applying for realistic opportunities and managing your frustration.
"We work with filters and keywords. We don't read the whole CVs", explained Olga, so one of the key tips is to adapt your profile to each position. To apply all this knowledge practically, they used the example of an ideal candidate for a supply chain position in the renewable energy sector, analysing the candidate's weak points and probability of being hired. They also studied their LinkedIn profile and gave valuable feedback to the students with respect to their online presence with keywords and the use of groups. Although it is extremely uncommon for a candidate to meet 100% of the requirements stipulated by companies, Olga emphasized that the more developed the candidate's LinkedIn profile, the more it will help them in their job search or transition process. Ā