The idea for a Masterclass on human resources came naturally after a series of participations of the experts from our team in open lectures on topics such as "Opportunities on the labor market in Bulgaria" and advice to young people on how to be more successful in business. The invitation from the university also included support for Ukrainian refugees studying Bulgarian at NBU.
The series of activities that the format offered to young people, representatives of Generation Z, started in early April with a visit of the students to our office for the "Open Day". The meeting was attended by some of our experts who shared best practices and lessons learned in the areas of People Development, Assessment and Business Intelligence, Permanent Staffing and Recruitment, People and Culture, and Payroll (Temporary staffing and administration).
In the discussion that unfolded, students had the opportunity to see "inside" the processes and absorb our organizational culture. After the meeting, they recreated their impressions in an exceptional essay, sharing their emotion from the experience.
The successful interaction between the participants in the HR Masterclass continued just a few days later, when on 25 April consultants from Manpower participated in the Career Forum of the NBU. Apart from presenting open positions and interesting career opportunities, our colleagues there conducted blitz interviews about jobs and career guidance for students of all majors at the university. We also invited the Open Day participants to put into practice what they had learned in our previous meeting and, under the supervision of their mentors - specialists from our company, to conduct job interviews as well as create their own video profiles.
Since the start of our partnership, in parallel with all common events, we have worked with the NBU lecturers to include real work cases from our practice at Manpower in the training program of the students from both specialties. We had the opportunity to participate in the lectures and we discussed, explained, and provoked young people to propose different solutions, enter into situations, and act out different simulations that put them "in the shoes" of HR experts.
On 17.05, another open lecture (this time for all foreign students at the university) was held at the NBU, where the opportunities for realization on our labor market were presented, as well as guidelines for building a personal brand (CV, portfolio, video profile, LinkedIn profile) to help young people in the work environment.
At the request of the students themselves, at the end of the academic year - on 05.06, a closing, general meeting was held in our office. It focused on practical sessions to consolidate knowledge on key topics such as conducting a job interview - structuring, simulation of interviews for different positions and in different business sectors, best practices, career guidance, organizational culture, and values of the organization.
Following the successful completion of the summer semester and the strong positive feedback from all who participated in the HR Masterclass, the project is set to continue into the next academic year 2023/2024. The difference is that this time the format will be open to students from all business-oriented majors at New Bulgarian University.
Our team would like to express our sincere thanks for the wonderful cooperation, we are looking forward to our next meetings. We wish a happy and joyful summer to all students, faculty, and staff of NBU!
*The HR Masterclass project is initiated by the Center for Career Development, Departments of Administration and Management and Cognitive Science at New Bulgarian University and Manpower Bulgaria.
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Our team invests expertise and voluntary work in the development of young people in Bulgaria to create a better, welcoming, and evolving business environment for growth and transformation. The development of the labor market in our country, as well as partnerships with schools, universities, and companies, are a cause we stand behind with our brand, professionalism, and humanity.