Helping students in a time of crisis

Is networking key to getting a job in times of crisis?

As soon as the students look up from their books, they are met with words like financial crisis and unemployment, but to businesses, employer branding is still an important aspect. Therefore, 20 businesses meet the students at the informal career fair ’Enlighten Your Career’ on Wednesday 4 November 2009.

- The students are eager to get in touch with the businesses already during their studies, but they often do not know how to make contact. That is why we need informal career fairs, Manager for Company Events Kristine Heuser says.

The students’ favourite places of employment

Even though there are not many available positions at the moment, it does not mean that employment branding is less important.

The Swedish consultancy Universum has just publicised a study on the most attractive places of employment for business and engineering students from all over the world. Google is at the top of the list, but PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and KPMG are also popular among the students. Procter & Gamble has been ranked sixth and will also be present at the career fair.

- The businesses in the top 50 are working strategically with employer branding, CEO of Universum Michal Kalinowski points out.

Now recruiting from all of Europe

One of the businesses with increased focus on employer branding is International Committee of the Red Cross, which participates in ‘Enlighten Your Career’ together with Danish Red Cross. It is the first time that a non-profit organisation participates in the networking event.

- Each year, we are looking for 20-25 new employees, and it is no longer possible for us to recruit from within Switzerland. For that reason, we have expanded our geographical field to the rest of Europe, says Markus Dolder, responsible for HR Promotion.