TerraConnecta Blog

Head of Compensation and Benefits (M/F)

REDCATS Group federates a world of 15 renowned fashion & home decoration brands, synonymous with strong identity, and leadership positions in their respective markets, and is a leader in home shopping. Operating in 29 countries, generating 3,76 billion Euros in revenue in 2007, REDCATS uses a multi-channel retail approach combining catalogues, Internet sites and specialty stores, (Redoute, Cyrillus…).

To join the Redcats Group means, to integrate the world of creation, of design and of the web. 20,000 employees share this dimension and actively participate in a synergy of immeasurable talents, from the conception of the products to their delivery.

REDCATS is a PPR company.

The Redcats Group is currently seeking to recruit a Head of Compensation & Benefits (M/F) for the corporate HR team based in Paris.

For more information on this exciting corporate career opportunity, please click on the following link :

Compensation & Benefits, Paris

Tags: Comp&Ben, Human Resources, International Expatriation Packages, recruitment, Remuneration, Terra connecta

R&D specialized in numeric simulation for finite elements

The Saint-Gobain European Research and Engineering Centre (CREE) was established in 2001 in Cavaillon, (Vaucluse, France) and is part of the High Performance Materials sector within the Saint-Gobain group. CREE is one of the three largest research centres among the 15 laboratories worldwide within the Saint-Gobain group.

The research teams work on innovative products and production processes, from exploratory research through to the demonstration of technical and commercial feasibility. You will meet a variety of multi-cultural specialists who are developing cutting-edge expertise in the areas of polymers, ceramics, electro-chemicals, grains, powders, abrasives and surface sciences.

Within the context of development, the scientific numeric simulation department has created a new position for a scientific researcher specializing in numeric simulation for finite elements.

For more information, please click here.

Key Account Managers, Iberia

Pyrex® is the number one manufacturer of glass ovenware, part of ARC International, world leader in Tableware. But today Pyrex® is much more than heat resistant glass, as the range has expanded to include ceramic ovenware, non-stick bake ware, microwave and stainless steel cookware. Pyrex® can be found everywhere in the kitchen, from the freezer and refrigerator to the microwave and oven.

 With headquarters in Villepinte (France), Arc International Cookware employs 550 people, and has two Boro Silicate Glass Plants, situated in Châteauroux, and in Arques, near St Omer. In order to strengthen the Iberia commercial headquarters in Leganes, Arc International Cookware are seeking to recruit 2 Junior Key Account Managers Iberia, based in Leganes (near Madrid).

To find out more information, please click here.

Tags: Commercial, Consumer Goods, International careers, Key Accounts, Sales, Terra connecta

EMEA Controlling Manager

Steelcase, a Fortune 500 company and the global leader in the office furniture industry is currently seeking to recruit an EMEA Controlling Manager for the European headquarters in Strasbourg (France).

Reporting to the Steelcase International CFO, the EMEA Controlling Manager will work on a daily basis with the EMEA Business Leader and its organization and assume all Finance missions to support these markets.  EMEA covers 100 countries, with primary businesses in Eastern Europe, Morocco, Middle East, Italy.

For more information please click here .

Tags: Finance Career, Financial Controlling, International career, Terra connecta

Societe Generale or why encourage employees to do the right thing?

Société Générale, a French bank recently lost 5 billion Euros because of fraudulous behavior of one of their traders. Jerome Kerviel had executed a series of fictitious transactions that lead to one of the the biggest losses ever recorded in the financial industry. Such incidents shed bad light on the company’s reputation, and question the future survival of the organization.

Investigations are still ongoing, but such a scandal develops speculative questions like: does Société Generale have the right people on board, and why was the organization not able to prevent one of their employees from cheating?

It seems as if the 28 year old trader had a particular psychological profile. His over dimensioned ambition lead him to take extremely high risks, which he was able to hide from the organization. In doing this, he violated the corporate organizational rules, as well as ethical principles like honesty and respect for property.

The financial industry fascinates and attracts some individuals merely motivated by making money, and very often big bonuses signify personal success and power. An organization such as Soc Gen needs to protect itself and its customers.

The Soc Gen story could encourage organizations to protect themselves against such risk takers.

• A well developed selection methodology including assessment of the candidate’s psychological profile can prevent recruitment departments from hiring the wrong employees.
• Definition and implementation of ethical principles can help organizations to create a value system that is shared and respected, improving behavior evaluation at an early stage

Following the Enron scandal, many US companies make ongoing efforts to enhance their employees understanding of the companies’ code of ethics, and train them to solve ethical dilemmas that can arise in a complex world.

The elevator company Otis offers a comprehensive program of support called “do the right thing every time”, encouraging employees to live by their ethical principles.

Have a look at the Otis work principles ! 

This is not a guarantee for employee honesty, but is a first step towards a more ethical corporate world. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: company ethics, HR Management, Otis, Societe Generale

CIS Business Development Manager, Moscow

Steelcase, a Fortune 500 company, is the global leader in the office furniture industry. Founded in 1912 in Grand Rapids (USA), Steelcase is today an international company with approximately 13,000 employees worldwide, manufacturing facilities in over 50 locations and more than 800 dealer locations around the world seeks to recruit a:

CIS Business Development Manager
Based in Moscow

The main objectives for the CIS Business Development Manager are:
consolidation and optimization of existing businesses as well as development of new business opportunities inside the CIS region.

Responsibilities:

- Manage Steelcase sales, dealers & partners’ relationships in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and Central Asian countries.
- Expand Steelcase’s activities in new territories by exploring new distribution channels and models
- Manage and coach the existing CIS sales team ( 5 direct reports )

Profile
A university degree with 5+ years successful sales experience including
managing a distribution network, preferably in a multinational organisation.
If you are interested in this exciting challenge, please apply online or send your CV and letter of motivation by e mail to:
Sibylle von de Fenn: svondefenn@terraconnecta.com

Tags: CIS business development manager, Job opportunities in Russia, moscow, sales position

Corporate Values can attract the Right Audience

TRUST, a creative international business game created 5 years ago by Danone is successfully attracting international graduates from four continents.

Through targeted communication to universities in 12 countries, selected candidates experience real life situations, dealing with multiple aspects of their future job; how to manage complexity; how to build a long term performance, etc…

The team from Argentina won the 2007 prize.

Take a look at the enthusiasm, diversity and fun in the TRUST for Danone video

                                                                                            Anne Marie

Tags: Danone, Employer Branding, Recruitment Games, recruitment podcasts, Terra connecta

Identifying Talent in the 21st century

Identifying talent is definitely becoming more complex from a global and local standpoint. Corporations competing in the international market place are facing important hiring & retention challenges over the next decades. The global attractiveness of an organization will be paramount in the coming years, and one success factor will be the ability to understand and communicate with the right talent.

There is definitely a global shift in candidate attitudes to employment, career development, employers of choice, international mobility, work-life balance, women in the workplace, etc… Companies need to understand that this modern & transparent “attitude” is not simply a trend, but, a reality.

Over the past 15 – 20 years, candidates have been more exposed than ever to cross border education systems, and it has to be said that education is one of the key drivers promoting international exposure & cultural sensitivity. As a result, Graduates have fantastic opportunities to study abroad for one year, and to study in a new language (Erasmus, TIME, CEMS, etc). Early Career Professionals and Middle Managers take time out of the workforce to study for internationally-renowned MBAs, seeing this as an important spring-board for career development. Executives from all over the world frequently travel to Business Schools to participate in tailor-made or consortium programs to further their business education.

Powerful professional & personal relationships are developed through these experiences and it is normal that such candidate populations have different viewpoints and attitudes from their predecessors. Companies can be harsh and sometimes extremely narrow-minded, when evaluating candidates that do not “fit into” the normal candidate profile. Corporations need to integrate this reality. The employment marketplace and candidate attitudes are evolving at a fast speed.

To reinforce this discussion, have a look at the PWC interview “The Future of Work”, which highlights some critical points. PWC conducted a global survey of 3,000 graduates entering the workforce from the US, China, and the UK, to evaluate their views and expectations on the future of work.

                                                                                                      Anne Marie

Tags: Employer Branding, PWC, recruitment, Talent Acquisition, Terra connecta

Employees as HR Ambassadors

A classical rule of reputation is : it is not what you say about yourself that matters, it is what third parties say about you!

Corporate websites start to integrate this idea into their HR communication strategy and encourage employees to promote the company they work for and its career opportunities.

It started with interviews of employees describing their job and explaining why it is great to work for company X, simply because a job searcher has difficulties to understand a given job content when reading a recruitment add.

More and more companies also integrate employee videos into their websites since audiovisual communication has more impact as it gears information in a shorter, more attractive and perhaps more authentic way than written communication. Especially younger people prefer watching to reading.

Watch the Intel example: in less than 2 minutes, Nick, a Intel Process Engineer promotes the idea that Intel is completely different from other companies when it comes to:

openness for change, quality of products, cross-functional career development and informal company culture….

Sibylle

Tags: corporate career site, employee videos, Employer Branding, HR Communication, Intel

Deputy General Manager Ghana

EURAPHARMA, the leader in pharmaceutical distribution and marketing services in Africa and French overseas territories, has recently created a subsidiary in Ghana following a very successful strategic alliance with the leading local pharmaceutical distributor.

In order to reinforce the general management team, and the financial management structure, EURAPHARMA has created this new expatriation position.

For more information, click here

Tags: Finance, General Management, International career, Pharma distribution, Terra connecta