A very successful Job Fair at EHL!
As the February 2010 session of EHL’s bi-annual Information and Recruitment Days moves to a close, we can measure its success – including that of the one-day Job Fair, held on February 10, where industry presence tripled in the space of a year!
In all, 27 companies were at this Job Fair, and a total of 54 companies have come to the campus (for a total of 75 recruitment events) so far in the academic year 2009-2010 to recruit students for internships or young graduates from the Diploma, Bachelor and Master’s programmes for their first jobs after EHL.
Returning companies and new opportunities
The success of the Information and Recruitment Days and the Job Fair can be seen by the number of companies that regularly return to the campus. It can also be seen in the many new companies that arrive as word of mouth spreads about the special quality of EHL students.
More unexpectedly, success is also due to EHL’s own student interns and alumni. Often, EHL students have proved so successful in their internships or jobs that the companies they work for become intrigued by the school and the kind of graduates it produces. Companies including Michael Page and André Balazs Properties came to EHL following the recommendation of an EHL alumnus working for their company. This year, an EHL intern working for Kyoto International Convention Center in Japan brought the company along to the school to hire other students!
A wide range of employment opportunities
Participating companies come from a wide range of sectors. There are EHL’s traditional, long-standing partners, of course, including international chains such as Four Seasons, the Ritz Carlton or Swissôtel, and many luxury palaces from all over the world. There are also hospitality-related companies including, this year, the Compass Group, Hospes Hotels, CAA Holdings, and Expedia.
Non-hospitality companies are also taking an increasing interest in EHL students and graduates as the key role of client-oriented contact becomes more and more apparent. These include private banking or audit companies such as Ernst & Young and Aareal Bank or recruiting companies such as Page Personnel. Others, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, offer opportunities in event management. This year, for the first time, Louis Vuitton was on campus recruiting for its Chinese properties, and a dynamic young Australian company, Togo Hotels, was recruiting both for Australia and for its new hotel concept in Germany.
The EHL difference
EHL’s Job fair is very different from most other Job Fairs. It is not simply a large space in which companies set up a stall, but a true exchange platform. Companies are steeped in the life of the school. They learn about EHL’s unique educational programmes and the special qualities of EHL graduates. Students, for their part, are helped to prepare the event in depth and to get the very most from an exceptional learning experience.
Advantages for industry
The Career Club assists the staff in organizing presentation sessions for recruiters, and arranges individual interviews as well as tours of the school and networking coffee breaks.
Long-returning companies that know EHL well appreciate the opportunity to learn about the many changes and constantly evolving programmes. New companies are helped to discover the special strengths of EHL students – to see, for example, that their social ease, tact and diplomacy is due not only to their multicultural backgrounds and language skills, but to their many hours of professional experience working with people from many different backgrounds.
Advantages for EHL students and graduates
The key to success for students is both intensive preparation – and accepting responsibility. Students must commit to fully researching companies they are interested in and are helped to see that it is not always the most prestigious companies, in high demand, that can offer interesting opportunities. Students are also helped to prepare for interviews and to produce resumes and business cards with the help of a professional photographer.
Maybe the most important preparation of all is to build on social skills that EHL students already possess in abundance, but that they need to hone for the business world. Stephen Fischer, Career Centre Manager, helps them learn how to “work the room” and maximize contact: how and when to engage conversation, how and when to present a CV, business card or – for the Master students – the class CD Rom. Students are also helped to learn how to extend a welcome to participants as a member of the hosting school: to put them at their ease and to engage them in conversation at a level that is unusual for students of their age.
The effort pays off: most recruiters are impressed by the social ease and business networking skills of EHL students – the savoir-faire that is the EHL advantage!
Recruit at EHL
At Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne you will find a rich source of talent and dynamism for your enterprise.
Recruitment Days
The next Information and Recruitment Days session will take place from 13 February to 30 March, 2012.
Partnerships
As the first hotel school in the world, EHL understands the importance of corporate and organisational partnerships. Our goal is to build mutually beneficial relationships with our partners and industry friends and with our alumni and employers. We value the experience and support that these relationships bring to the School and their role in ensuring that EHL remains a key meeting place for the hospitality industry and the world of education.
