Held on Monday, 9 March and Tuesday, 10 March in Montreux, the International Recruitment Forum organised by the Swiss Education Group (SEG), is the key event when it comes to recruiting people for jobs in the hospitality industry. Over the course of two days, around 2,500 students from five of the Group’s schools have met to exchange information with their future employers. This is the 13th time the event has been held and, on this occasion, it played host to almost 180 representatives of more than 60 prestigious international companies from the hospitality and tourism industries. Around 1,220 applications have been submitted online for 167 job vacancies.
Providing the ideal springboard to a better class of job, the event gives students from the Swiss Education Group exclusive access to the best career opportunities and its success is growing as it attracts an ever increasing number of professionals from the hospitality industry to Montreux.
“We have been attending the International Recruitment Forum since it was first held. Every year, we see it as a unique opportunity to meet and exchange information with young talents from all over the world and to attract the managers of the future,” explains Pierre Botteron, Vice-President HR Europe of FRHI Hotels & Resort.
Held in Montreux twice a year since 2009, the IRF is considered by the hospitality industry to be an unmissable event, bringing students and future employers together. It gives students the chance to discuss their future careers and market requirements with professionals. More than 2,700 interviews are held during the forum, with graduates having an average of two interviews. This year, the forum was attended by more than 90 CEOs, managing directors and vice presidents as well as HR managers and directors.
During the International Recruitment Forum, students also had the opportunity to attend around 22 workshops designed to make the young talents aware of the realities of the world of work. Sophie Wikstrom, founder and CEO of the Nice Life International café concept in Nice and a former student of the Hotel Institute Montreux as well as being a member of SEG, spoke of her experience as an entrepreneur in a panel discussion entitled “Be calm and collected before embarking on your professional wrestling career”.
The International Recruitment Forum is one of the major commitments entered into by SEG for its students in order to guarantee them the best career prospects. An extensive survey conducted on its alumni shows that SEG students enjoy rapid career development with greater potential to take on leadership roles. Similarly, SEG promotes the entrepreneurial spirit amongst its students. In fact, more than 80% of SEG graduates obtain a management position or set up their own company within five years of completing their studies. This percentage rises to 91% after ten years.
