MISSION POSSIBLE
Connecting with people from across the globe and get a better understanding of the various business lines of Arcadis: that was my reason to apply for Global Shapers 2015. And that is also exactly what it brought me. As the only person from the Arcadis headquarter, and as one of the few non-engineers, I was very excited about meeting my colleagues from different business lines and countries. During the Global Shapers program I learned how to effectively work together with people with different cultural and educational backgrounds. Besides that, I made friends for life!
Work hard, play hard
There was also plenty of work for us to do! During the face-to-face meeting in Ede/Rotterdam we could choose between five workflows to focus on. #Engage our talent, the passion movement, the GS show, branding and the Arcadis Connector. Each team worked on creating different tools to attract and retain talent, to bring the passion alive, and to create dialogues between Arcadians.
Tools we created to reach, inspire, scout and educate
In the #Engage our Talent workflow supported by Lia Belilos, we worked on creating four tools which aim to attract and retain young talent at Arcadis. We realized that the Arcadis brand is not as strong as that of our competitors within recruitment of young professionals in university. We therefore came up with a plan to use Arcadis’ professional expertise to educate and inspire young generations in university by getting students involved in live Arcadis projects in their final year. We also believe that Social Media can help to attract young talent from universities. A social media training for our people help create 28.000 brand ambassadors for our company. Once we have attracted the young talent and onboard them, it is important that they feel welcome in the Arcadis family. We therefore designed the Arcadis way of onboarding, which will help new talents to get through the first 120 days of their new job. To make sure that the newly recruited talents are aware of the Arcadis global capabilities, we create a localized platform for educating new recruits to show them our global capabilities through real life examples.
So what’s next?
The tools were presented during the GS show in Rotterdam. The reactions from the AGLF members were amazing. Everyone showed his or her support and wanted to get immediately involved. The first positive response came from the UK. The UK Global Shapers received funding from the UK CEO, Alan Brookes, to work on the Arcadis global capabilities platform. This was great news! The North America Global Shapers have set up the first Social Media training. Another milestone achieved! Last but not last, the Dutch Global Shapers are working with HR to set up guest lectures at universities to strengthen our brand recognition and to attract talent.
Global Shapers 2015 has been a wonderful experience. Besides making 99 friends and getting a better understanding of the Arcadis global capabilities, it was wonderful to see all the positive reactions and support from senior leaders on the tools we created. The ripple effect is clearly visible and continues…
Serena Zuidema – Arcadis Headquarter Amsterdam