The 11th edition of the EDHEC job forum was held on 13th January 2006 in Paris. It was an important moment for all MSc students who had the chance to meet recruiters from over 90 well-known multinational and French companies. It was also an important moment for the companies participating, providing them with the opportunity to find people of high potential and inform them about the jobs they offer.

The EDHEC forum in Paris is an annual recruitment event that attracts the attention of thousands of EDHEC students from all levels (first year bachelors, to master programme students). The goals of this event are to put EDHEC students in touch with their future employers and to help them with the research for their future career.

This year students were able to visit the 90 company stands representing a great range of activities such as banking (HSBC, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas), audit-consulting (Deloitte, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young), distribution (Coca-cola, Danone, Kraft, Pepsico, Unilever) and industry (BMW, Renault, Peugeot-Citroen, Philips, Shell).

Almost all the companies participating in the Forum have already recruited EDHEC students either for internships or for permanent jobs.  The main reason for a company to participate in this forum is that they are looking for people with a solid educational basis.  In the European business community is known as a fact that EDHEC performs well in this respect.  This EDHEC tradition thus proves to be an effective way for EDHEC students to orient themselves in the job market and help them plan their future careers.

Lafarge (world leader for material of construction, with 77.000 employees) representative Bruno Rousseau, Human Resources Development and Training Manager explains that his company participates in the forums of the most important French business schools, to search for talented students. EDHEC students are important for his company because they have a sound academic background and an international profile that corresponds to its needs.  Lafarge offers full time jobs and internships in different domains such as Finance, Marketing and Audit.  For him an internship is a great opportunity, not only for the company but also for the student.  For the company it is a chance to get to know the student better in terms of his knowledge and abilities and maybe at the end of this period propose him a full time job.  The student benefits by getting to know the company better and understand more fully the profile of the jobs offered.

Shell, the petrochemicals and energy giant with 112.000 employees in 140 countries, was represented in the forum by Anne Visman, Campus Marketing Manager in France.  She states that Shell participates in the forum to explain to students that the company offers great job opportunities not only for engineers but also for graduates of top business schools.  She explains that EDHEC students particularly interest her company because they study in one of the top European business schools, they have a multicultural profile and they are the ideal people for an international career in Shell all over the world.

Shell was also represented in the forum by an EDHEC alumnus, Olivie Eudeline, who after finishing his studies and doing an internship, found a job in the company as stock analyst in the supply chain of northwest Europe, in France.  His thinks that being an EDHEC student helped him in many ways.  Shell knows the school and the work that is being done.  They are especially aware of the international dimension of EDHEC and the abilities of its students to work together with people from different cultures.

From the students' point of view the forum was a great success. Kai Kai Hua a Chinese student in the MSc in Finance programme found lots of companies that interest her, gave her CV to many recruiters and got their e-mails. Mantas Armonas a student in the MSc in Strategic Management programme from Lithuania believes that the forum was a great opportunity for EDHEC students to meet top companies.  He was warmly welcomed and talked with many recruiters, who were motivated to give him advice for his future career.  In the Forum he heard real life stories about the labour market in Europe and learned important specifications about the jobs offered by each company.

Rendez-vous next year in Paris for the Forum of 2007..