On 20th and 21st March, ESADE’s Sant Cugat campus hosted the fifth edition of the Spring Recruitment Fair, an annual gathering that allows students from the school’s Bachelor of Business Administration, Double Degree in Business Administration and Law, and MSc Programmes in Management to learn about the projects of companies from a range of different sectors and countries. The participating companies included Amazon, Inditex, Stern Steward & Co. and Bloomberg. In addition, British Airways and Torres gave specific workshops designed to provide a closer look at their various areas of business.

María Obiols, Director of Career Services at ESADE, described one of the great incentives of the recruitment fairs organised by the school. “Many of the companies that visit us take advantage of these events to start their selection processes here on our campus,” she explained. “We’re fortunate enough to enjoy the participation of executives as well as alumni who, in addition to sharing their experiences, can play a fundamental role as mentors to all these students.”

ESADE, a source of talent for Amazon

The companies that take part in the fair have the chance to meet ESADE students and recruit top talent for their organisations. One such company, Amazon, is a regular participant in three of ESADE’s annual recruitment events: the MBA Recruitment Fair, the Consulting & Management Recruitment Fair, and the Spring Recruitment Fair.

ESADE is one of the business schools where Amazon identifies and recruits new talent. To date, the American e-commerce giant has hired a total of 112 ESADE alumni – young people poised to make a difference and shape the future of the organisation – as it continues its steady expansion across the globe.

Indeed, more than a hundred ESADE graduates now work for Amazon in 13 different countries on four continents, mainly in the areas of strategy, management and marketing. Of the ESADE alumni who have gone on to work for Amazon, 70% graduated in the last five years.

Professional development of students

“Attending ESADE’s Recruitment Fair last year was a turning point in my life,” commented Anxiang Gin, a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Business Administration who, thanks to the event, landed a job interview with Alfa Consulting, where he now works as an operations consultant for European multinationals in China. The key, he explains, is to approach the companies’ stands with a clear objective in mind: “You have to do your homework first: bring a list of questions tailored to each company you’re interested in and deliver a powerful message about your candidacy.”

With this approach in mind, the Career Services team helps students prepare for each Recruitment Fair by familiarising them with the selection processes applied by each company. This preparation, Ms. Obiols explained, “is of a piece with the continuous improvement and adaptation to changes in the market and in the professional interests of our school’s talented young people”. In the case of Amazon, for example, this preparation includes an visit by ESADE students and alumni to one of the company’s logistics centres – an annual activity known as “Amazon Trek”.