Yesterday evening was the Return-to-Work Mix & Match Event of the Eindhoven ‘Fight Like a Woman’ organisation. 15 Skilled technical professionals had the chance to meet the management of TMC, a technical research, development, and engineering company.
The idea was to create an opportunity where potential employees could meet the team leaders of the different business cells of TMC, get a feel of the company, and discover the requirements of the job. On the other hand it was a very efficient way of getting to know possible candidates for vacancies for the management of TMC, in an informal way.
The program of the evening contained, of course, a presentation about what TMC is all about. Patti Drenthen, Account Manager, explained about the history, the vision and work approach of this unique company. They do call their employees ‘employeneurs’ which says a lot. Employees are expected and stimulated to take initiative, develop, and take a lead on their own career path. They do get opportunities and support of the company to make sure they can continue to progress towards their own ambitions. Even when they think of creating or exploring something different from their work assignment, they can make use of the in-house Entrepreneurial Lab. This is a space where experts are on hand to cooperate across the boundaries of their field. “A room to play”, they call it figuratively.
Pong, one of the participants, on the company’s vision: “I really like the empowerment of the employees and I see there are many domains I can work.”
Potential candidates could show their skills, their personality and creativity in a workshop where teams had to come up with a marketable (though not yet realistic it appeared) new mobile phone. Various futuristic features like hologram vision, augmented personal connections, automotive safety, colour change according to your mood and many more new applications were invented to make sure their phone was the best new buy. Marketing talents where challenged too to convince the judges of the superiority of their product. This exercise gave the team leaders a good impression of the various talents of the candidates.
Hans Schuren, Director of Test and Integration “This is the most efficient & fun ‘interview” I’ve experienced, we should apply this to all TMC units.”
The atmosphere was very informal and relaxed, there were many chances to talk to other applicants, who were from different parts of the world. Some just finished their studies, others returning to the workforce after a career gap and people looking for a job change too.
How about the feeling of having to compete?
Hejrah who hasn’t had a job yet: “I feel I have to compete with other candidates but is a peaceful match. It is very relaxed.”
Others who are a bit more weathered:
“It is really nice to interact directly with the team leaders and to get to know more about the job and the company. It is more informal than a normal interview.” Says Ranjani.
An important goal of Fight Like a Woman is to bring back women into the labour force after a career break. Shraddha is a woman from India who is looking for a job in the Netherlands after taking time to dedicate to her family: “It is very good for when you have a gap in your career, to get back on track. This event is a good opportunity to showcase your knowledge.”
It will be a tough task for the management to select the appropriate candidates.
Frank Fleuren Director TMC software: “We have many areas where people can find their match: from Nanotechnology to Big Data, from Industrial Automation to Physics, we do need people in a wide range of fields with different skills and talents.”
Cindy Shen, one of the co-founders of the Fight Like a Woman foundation is looking back on a successful first Mix & Match event, where more probably will follow: “It is really nice for us to see that employers were actually surprised and excited by a number of energies these participants showed during the event”
Irene Martens
