In searching for a job, it is important to remember that it is not just only about what you can provide to the company, but also about the potential for growth and development the company can provide to you. To this end, it is important that your goals, principles, and values align with those of your potential employer.

This is one of the many concepts repeated consistently by our featured speakers during the MBA Career Days workshops. An important annual event, Career Days provide a series of workshops designed to explore topics such as how to search for and identify potential employers, how and where to get those employers to identify you, how to polish your CV, and how to triumph in a job interview, among many other useful topics directly affecting your job search strategies and influencing their success.

In every program segment, a representative from a different company provided valuable insights into what they specifically look for during recruitment and interview processes within their companies. Our highly experienced speakers consisted of managers, talent search specialists, and consultants from multinational firms, including Electrolux Professional, Legor Group, and Mangiarotti-Westinghouse, companies well known not only in the Veneto but also throughout Europe and around the world.

Most of us focus our energies on our CV. But one particularly interesting suggestion focused on the importance of introspection in the very beginnings of the job search process: looking deeply within ourselves to best understand what it is that we are truly searching for. What are my skill sets, strengths, connections, passions, interests? What aspects of my life would I like to exploit in my career and which aspects should I work on more. As importantly, what is it that I would not like to do or to do again? As part of the introspective process, the speakers recommended placing the emphasis on yourself, thinking about the major issues you have confronted, how you overcame them, and what results for the company were generated. Once introspection has given you a clearer vision, write down your reflection, and begin shaping and forming your career perspective and expectations. With your thoughts placed confidently in mind, begin to focus on your search strategy and the important components that support it.

According to Ms. Nina Pagon from Right Management, our CV should not become the holy grail of our job search process. Instead, our CV should be treated as a vehicle to get our foot in the door, our personal advertisement for the specific position in the company to which we intend to direct it. To significantly raise the probability of getting an actual person to look at it (and not just an AI algorithm), and particularly to get the attention of the hiring manager, Ms. Pagon strongly suggested that we always tailor our CV to the specific job requirements and skill sets the company expects from the person expected to be hired to fill the position.

Both Ms. Pagon and Ms. Gloria Verilli from Electrolux emphasized the importance of making sure your LinkedIn profile mirrors your CV in terms of content. Make sure you have listed all your skills (quantified, if possible), along with your trainings and certifications. This is important because a well-structured LinkedIn profile showcases how prepared you are and valuable you will be.

Once you have completed your profile, you need to put yourself out there. There are several ways to do this, says Elena Duse, Talent & Acquisition Manager at Mangiarotti. You can check out specific job search sites such as LinkedIn or Indeed as well as looking directly to the companies you are most interested in and see if there are opportunities available. Elena also shared that headhunters and recruitment agencies should not be overlooked, as they can be a valuable resource for both you, as the job seeker, and the company.

In one workshop of particular interest to our graduates, three CIMBA Alumni – Alberto Revolfato, Anthony Pireddu and Damiano Guidolin  – talked about their experiences working and living abroad, how the opportunities came about, the decision process they undertook in accepting the opportunity, what adjustments it took to adapt and be successful, and how those experiences have significantly benefited them upon their return.

Attendees were also given helpful tips on how to deal with behavioral interviews, situational processes where the candidate is placed in a specific scenario and asked how they would deal with it. Gloria from Electrolux explained that the best approach is to be prepared with a number of STAR (Situation Task Action Response) statements and to be prepared to perform tasks that put to test your knowledge and abilities. 

One thing emerged quite clearly from all the Career Workshops: finding a job is a job!