December 15th, 2022
Throughout the past 17 years, Catalyst Solutions has been providing employer branding services to their corporate partners, with a view to outlining successful business strategies. At the same time, it has been expanding its area of expertise by means of the Hipo.ro job portal, gaining notoriety in the job market, as a result.
To ensure that young professionals are presented with valuable opportunities in their career-building journey, Catalyst Solutions relies mostly on the Business Team. The team’s motto could be ”Youth for youth”. This particular area is made up of experienced people, as well as individuals who are just starting their careers, with no previous work experience. The reasoning behind this relies on the intention of providing Gen Z with the opportunity to grow professionally, all while working for the very target audience that they, themselves, belong to. Their journey, however, is closely guided by the experienced professionals in the team, who continuously provide their insights and input.
Regardless of their current career stage, each and every one of the Business team members bring their own meaningful contribution and participates towards the final goals, by use of their own unique strengths and abilities.
One of the contexts in which each team member has the opportunity to share the knowledge acquired over time and tips&tricks is the recurring Wednesday meeting. In this way, the projects supported by the team always keep up with the trends in the area of digital marketing and social media. Each member of the team brings their own value and contribution to the development and implementation of projects.
Here are the main Business Projects by Catalyst Solutions, as of 2022:
The past two years, which have brought about major changes, have required a new organizational model for the events. As of 2022, Catalyst Solutions uses the hybrid model for the majority of career events. As a result, two fundamental needs are being met: on one hand, the need to reconnect directly with HR specialists, speakers, and employers and, on the other hand, the possibility of accessing these events from all around the world.
Finance Recruitment Day is one of the hybrid events by Catalyst Solutions. It took place both in the online environment, but also offline, at Radisson Hotel, with adequate space for the two interactive workshops that were organized. The event brings the students and recent graduates with economic backgrounds face-to-face with the employers that participate. The purpose of this event is to provide young talents with the opportunity to be noticed by recruiters. The main partner of this edition was British American Tobacco.
”Whether they directly engage in conversation with employers at their dedicated booth or participate actively in the workshops, young people with a passion for the economic field have the unique opportunity to stand out from the crowd during the event by means of their ideas, analytic thinking, and spontaneous input. This is exactly what we aim for during each edition: an immediate connection between the youth and the recruiters. At the 2022 edition, seven corporate partners have joined with over 20 job offers in the economic field. A total of over 900 young people expressed their interest by applying to the event and, amongst them, we selected the best: 213 participants! Thanks to the hybrid model, we succeeded in expanding outside the country, as many Romanians who reside abroad also joined the event.” Alexandra Petre, Project Manager @Finance Recruitment Day.
Based on the success that the hybrid version of Finance Recruitment Day achieved, it was decided that Top Talents Romania 2.0 shall take place in a fully offline format.
For the past 15 years, the event has provided the best, most actively involved young Romanians with access to employment opportunities within the biggest companies in the country. From amongst the 1600 people who signed up for the event, only 150 were selected to become participants, based on an extensive selection process, which involved the thorough evaluation of their CV. Those who were selected checked one or more of the following criteria: involvement in extracurricular activities such as Erasmus projects, volunteering, Work and Travel, trainings and internship programs.
”The element of novelty brought by Top Talents Romania 2.0 edition consisted of the Start-Up Competition. Created based on an Assessment Center model, it challenged the youth to work in teams, their main objective being to solve the brief provided by the HR experts. The employers are interested in their ability to collaborate, communicate and manage potential conflicts within the team and these qualities are, sometimes, of more interest than the brilliant ideas that come out of this exercise. The 150 participants were split into 10 teams for the Start-Up Competition. Only three of them were finalists, being selected based on the displayed cooperation and work dynamics. At the end, only one team was awarded the prize. And, speaking of winning, let us also mention the four lucky participants who won tickets to Electric Castle 2023, offered by the Main Partner, Lidl, through the designated raffle.” Alexandra Petre, Project Manager @Top Talents Romania 2.0.
When asked ” What is the key to a successful Start Up?”, Emanuela-Maria Drâgnei, one of the Top Talents Romania 2.0 participants, is confident that the most important aspect is adaptability:
”I believe that a successful Start-Up is one that can be genuinely adaptable. Adaptability to change and changing trends. It is mandatory to always remain in touch with everything that happens on the national and international markets, alike. The key word is this: adaptability.”
Several events that take place throughout the year are not enough, however, to provide all students and recent graduates in Romania with employment opportunities. Thus, Catalyst Solutions brings another project to their aid, Internship and Trainee Marathon, which takes place on Hipo.ro all year round. Over 300 000 youth who find themselves at the dawn of their career, freshly out of university, gain visibility in front of more than 20 nationally and internationally renowned companies.
Over the summer, the event is known as Summer Career Fair.
What 2023 brings new for Internship and Trainee Marathon consists of a wide range of student apprenticeship opportunities. More often than not, finding an apprenticeship opportunity during university is no easy task. This is why the teams in Catalyst Solutions aim to facilitate this experience for students!
Also, starting next year, we will make it official and we will celebrate National Interns Day with a lot of excellent activities. Follow us and we will update you with details!
”We have all been students once, with a desire to apply the theoretical knowledge we learned in class. It has been a long time since finishing university was a student’s only concern. Today, most students are looking not only for opportunities that can provide them with practical experience during their studies but also for the possibility of a permanent position in the company, after graduation. In 2022, we have reached impressive figures in terms of applicants on the announcements on Hipo.ro, by means of the Internship and Trainee Marathon project: 7000+ young candidates and 3000+ job offers for entry-level positions, internships, trainee programs and apprenticeship programs.” Mădălina Vătafu, Project Manager @Internship and Trainee Marathon.
Yet, young people with no prior experience in the job market are not the only ones that need support and guidance from HR experts. Regardless of their current career stage, all candidate categories could benefit from „career coaching”- like this instrument: Employers’ Guide.
Employers’ Guide, dedicated to young people during the spring edition (over 600 000 reach) and to all candidate categories during the autumn edition (between 400 000 and 600 000 reach) provides suggestions, recommendations, ideas, and job offers from recruiters in big companies. Simultaneously, this instrument is also dedicated to the employers, as a valuable opportunity to strengthen their employer branding strategy and promote their vacant positions.
As long as young people and professionals are brought face to face, with passion and the desire to get involved placed in the middle, the Romanian job market will continue to thrive. Catalyst Solutions is already working towards the next 2023 editions of their events and Business projects, aiming to bring forward even more challenges, more opportunities, and more surprises!
