« The portrait of the month »: we know that you like this serie a lot, based on reality and full of life.
After the portrait of our lovely colleague Elisabeth, it is now Nicolas NGUYEN's turn, Sourcing & Campus Manager at Moovijob, to play the game!
An interview full of good advice and good vibes... 👇
Hi Nicolas, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
It's the story of an Asian guy who played ping pong, kung fu and started his studies in IT.
Honestly, there's nothing more stereotypical than myself. I was born with the perfect Asian starter pack, by the way, you can also call me Taï. 😉
I learned German from a young age, I studied at the University of Metz and I'm still very attached to this city, I'm a real product of the region! Afterwards, I wanted to develop my foreign language skills in the various disciplines of finance, marketing and recruitment.
And then, boom, it was a shock! I found myself studying LEA (Applied Foreign Languages).
I discovered the grammar, the secrets of translation and I was very happy with it, so I decided to go to Dublin for a 3-month internship in a placement agency. Thanks to this experience, I discovered marketing, communication, emailing and I improved my English level (by rolling the "R")!
I realised that I was enjoying it and decided to do my second internship in a recruitment agency in Luxembourg, as a recruitment officer: a good experience that put me on the right track and helped me understand the workings of the recruitment industry.
I discovered Moovijob.com thanks to a recruitment fair that took place in Metz. The first meeting was not conclusive and then...
In March 2015, the Moovijob.com adventure began...
...First as an intern (thanks to Moovijob.com). 😉
Afterwards, I evolved as a Sourcing & Campus Manager. A real challenge!
Lately, I have had the opportunity to work on candidate sourcing issues through:
- School relations,
- Media: community sites, social networks,
- Partners: employment-related institutions and associations.
It is a job that is rich in interactions and possibilities, which feeds my curiosity.
What makes you get up in the morning?
I think it's the Moovijob.com project and the whole ecosystem that gravitates around it: colleagues, partners, employers, candidates.
WE are the Employment.
People count on us, they believe in us and I find a meaning in what I do.
What does a typical day with Nicolas look like?
Right now, you're in a Talent Sourcer's shoes. A quick wake-up and it's already time to get to the train station. On the train, I have 4 options: I continue sleeping, I scroll through the news, I continue my Netflix series or I read. Okay, you got me, I sleep.
For people who are awake, I assure you, this is a good way to start the day. The train is not usually crowded in the early morning and you can do what you want to do while the train takes care of getting you to Luxembourg.
Once I get to the office, it's time for a mug of water. It's good to keep your brain hydrated!
My day-to-day life is punctuated by managing the Moovijob.com website and the recruitment events we organise throughout the year.
My 2 main objectives (to sum up):
- To make sure that the Moovijob.com website is functional and that the job ads are visible to candidates,
- To ensure that Moovijob.com events are well organised.
I also check the availability of the job offers, the feedback in terms of applications and I follow up on the actions taken for the ads that need to be boost.
Every day is different, it really depends on the diversity of the offers I am working on: one day I am looking for hairdressers, the next day I am focusing on finding accountants and the day after that I am interested in building technicians.
My job requires me to use a wide range of skills, including sourcing, campus management, marketing and foreign languages.
When there is an event coming, my schedule gets very busy, but the retroplanning of the actions and the Monday meetings give us the priorities for the day. All in all:
- We make sure that we provide answers to candidates and recruiters with questions regarding participation in upcoming events,
- I make sure that our candidate search strategies are deployed and that the whole Sourcing team has activated the "sourcer" mode.
At the end of the day, my day-to-day work is more than a 9am-6pm shift, it's more than a job description, it's a never-ending journey, a quest for skills to satisfy both recruitment parties: employers and candidates.
What advice would you give to job seekers who want to stand out?
Be yourself:
You don't have to be someone else to be different. In a codified world where appearance can play an important role, a recruiter will always appreciate authenticity. As an employer, our goal is to validate skills, and to validate personality.
I am not saying that you should tell everything about yourself, but give the interviewer the opportunity to identify who you are and what you are capable of bringing to the table.
Looking for contact:
Beyond the simple use of the Moovijob.com website, you must make every effort to meet people: a job opportunity may arise from a casual conversation within your own network: family, friends, neighbours, shopkeepers, etc.; give priority to recruitment events (e.g. Moovijob Day, Moovijob Night, Unicareers, etc.): it is at these events that you can see and identify the right contacts: HR, business and technical teams.
Don't hesitate:
With this formulation, you are capable of so much.
Don't hesitate to :
- Thank the contact, for the exchange following an interview,
- Follow up by e-mail, telephone, and introduce yourself at the premises (note: follow up by e-mail, telephone and presence at the premises should be moderated according to the information you receive from your contact, do not be too insistent).
You must only insist if you don't get any feedback.
And on the other hand, what must be avoided?
Doing the opposite of what was mentioned above: overacting, doing only a virtual job search and being like everyone else.
Do you remember your worst professional experience?
I have a very bad memory of it, it was during my second internship. The content of the internship was OK, but the supervision was catastrophic.
The details are not interesting, but I'll give you some tips on how to survive it if it happens to you:
- Make the most of your experience,
- Don't let your tyrant get to you and push away the negative thoughts. Focus on your work,
- Are you being blamed? Is it justified? Take a step back and moderate your questioning,
- Never be disrespectful: be smart and leave the ship when it's best for you,
- Get to know the psychology of the person you are dealing with to understand its way of being and his expectations.
Moovijob.com in 3 words, it's:
...I'm lucky to be part of a FUN, COMPETENT, and DYNAMIC team.
A final word?
I would like to end this interview with this sentence that I appreciate very much, from Jean d'Ormesson and which celebrates life: "Thank you for the roses, thank you for the thorns. Life is not a perpetual celebration, it is a valley of tears. But it is also a valley of roses and if you talk about tears, you must not forget roses and if you talk about roses, you must not forget tears."
Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to be our next portrait of the month (communication@moovijob.com) ! 😊
