Experienced professionals are looking for start-ups

Match.Me.Up!, brings together impact-driven start-ups looking for experienced professionals to boost their business through an interactive match-making event with a dynamic speed-dating format. The application deadline for the current edition is 20 August.

Match.Me.Up! has been redesigned for this fourth edition incorporating the learnings from previous editions and the latest trends in human resources practices based on this article in the Harvard Business Review amongst others.

The programme consists of three phases

1. Matching Phase: Flirting
During the first stage, max. 20 start-ups will be recruited and the job profiles posted online. Start-ups profit from two HR workshops by IBM’s experts helping them to prepare for the upcoming recruiting and onboarding process. Max. 60 candidates will be selected and invited to the match-making event. The interactive event takes place on October 30. Every start-up gets 1 minute to pitch in front of all candidates followed by 12 rounds of (pre-selected) speed-dating slots à 5 min. After the speed-dating session, start-up representatives can mingle during an informal networking apéro.

2. Project Try-out Phase: Dating
Start-ups will individually conduct interviews with the selected candidates and engage one or max. two for a concrete short-term project (i.e. franchising plan, marketing strategy, programming assignment, etc.). Thisis based on the assumption that a project is an essential part of successfully engaging a team member. A job with a start-up is not a normal job: you have to find out if the culture, skills and mindset actually match. A “tryout project” is the perfect way to do this. Each project will include at least 6h of work per week, last for 3-8 weeks and be sealed with a binding project contract. The project should be structured in a way that it will allow candidates who are still in a job to complete it next to their professional obligations. The project by itself should be beneficial for the company (and is not remunerated).

3. Job Phase: Marriage
If the collaboration during the project phase was successful, candidates will be taken on for a permanent position. This is a mutual decision between start-up and candidate. From here onward everything will happen individually between the start-ups and the candidates.