June 23rd, 2023
Tell us a little bit about yourself:
My name is Lukas and I work as a Talent Acquisition Partner & HR in charge of Switzerland and am based in Zurich. I am 34 years old, originally from Freienbach (located an the lovely Zurich Lake). I have a younger sister that I like spending time with and am also a big football fan.
What has led you to your current role (how have you started as a recruiter/HR)?
I have a background in commercial education with the focus on hotel & catering industry and was playing football semi-professionally at the same time. Unfortunately, an injury forced me to stop my sporting career and made me rethink my career path. The HR field was something that interested me and I have decided to slowly build my way up to it – I started working as a consultant, selling printed media and at a later stage received an offer to work as a recruiter.That is how I slowly started to learn more about the topic of HR. Afterwards, I completed different courses and certifications, and entered into this field fully.
Is there anything you would have wished/liked to know before becoming a recruiter/HR? What are the most important things in your job role?
I would say that I wasn´t aware to which extent are people unpredictable and how fast they can change their mind.
As to the most important thing in my job role is the human aspect – you hear a lot of stories (some of which aren´t always unfortunately nice) and invest a lot of time into getting the know the candidate and seeing if the person is a right fit.
How has the recruiting process changed over the years? Where do you see the biggest and most important changes? How should companies/recruiters adapt?
It has changed immensely – back in the days, you normally had to publish printed ads, or someone knew somebody that might had been interested. Nowadays, everything is digital – this is the biggest factor.
The focus is also more on skills as well as the social interaction; expectations and cooperation with the employer has changed as well. Companies are offering more educational opportunities. Everything is digital and faster, but the human aspect still comes first.
What is the one misconception that annoys you the most about your job?
We are quite often seen as the “bad guys” – candidates sometimes believe that we are the reason that they didn´t get the job – “HR didn´t want me because my certificate isn´t here yet” which of course normally isn´t the case at all. Everything is discussed with the team lead/manager to see if the person fits the role and the work environment
What led you to QESTIT? What are your first impressions?
I saw the open position on Linkedin and immediately applied. Shortly after, I received a phone call from the Recruiting team for the initial interview, later followed by interviews with the management – our expectations matched and my career at QESTIT started from here.
The team in Zurich was very welcoming and cool! We are a small team but work extremely well together- Taking your own initiative is always encouraged. The company lives the flat hierarchy approach – I can go and talk to the management or anyone else I need to directly. Also, the management comes to the office quite often and takes the time to talk to everyone. We also have free drinks available 😊
Have you had any funny anecdotes up until now?
There is one that happened in the end stage of the recruiting process. It was Valentine´s Day and I received a phone call from the management who said: “I don´t have any roses or chocolate for you, but I can offer you a work contract instead.”
Tell us a bit about the recruiting process at QESTIT CH specifically – what is important to keep in mind when applying at QESTIT?
Apart from the standard channels, I work with Linkedin a lot and focus on active sourcing. The process consists of me filtering the applications to see which ones fit the position, followed by a phone call and later on interviews and in the end, if the person fits, a job offer.
It´s important that the applicants present themselves well and put focus on professionalism. On the other hand, it is important to me, to catch their interest with cool projects that we have.
Any final words for the readers who might be thinking of applying?
Believe in yourself and be yourself. That´s the most important.
Get to know another QESTIT member! “Everything is digital and faster, but the people come
Time to meet another QESTIT member! “…the most important thing, is learning from the experience
Life is unpredictable and sometimes our career path as well. We see it with our