WHU — Otto Beisheim School of Management is a leading private business school in Germany, offering academic programs and continuing education. As of 2020, WHU's placement and career services have been ranked among the top 2 worldwide by the Financial Times' Masters in Management rankings.

Every year 3 recruiting fairs with different focuses take place on the WHU campus: 'Master Your Career' in January, the 'Career Day' in September, and the 'Founders Career Day' in November. International companies from different sectors are invited to present company information and network with its students looking to learn new career opportunities. However, due to the constraints imposed by COVID-19 in 2020, Heike Hülpüsch, Director of the Career center at WHU, and her team recognized the pressing need to take their events online.

Adopting Talentspace

Initially skeptical about the virtual format, Heike had doubts about whether the concept would be well-received and found it challenging to promote the online format due to her reservations. However, Talentspace had specific video formats for interviews and workshops and allowed for spontaneous questions to be asked at live booths, and this seemed like a promising virtual equivalent for the highly interactive Career Days at WHU.

Throughout the event organization process, the Talentspace team was active and responsive to WHU's needs.

"The Talentspace team is dedicated to their platform – and to their customers! We have received excellent support at all times, making our online career fairs a great success."

Heike Hülpüsch, Director of the Career center at WHU

Thorough onboarding training sessions were conducted for all organizers from the Career Center as well as for all employees from the participating companies. After the event was set up, a thorough review was also carried out by Talentspace to ensure everything was set up for success, and implemented event best practices.

A digital success

The online Career Days turned out to be hugely successful as more students took part than in the previous years due to the flexibility of a virtual event. Talentspace also allowed the Career Days to be much more personalized as students were able to send their questions in advance or during a speech, which can then be addressed as part of the presentation. Information about the Career Days was also centralized on the online platform, which made it easy for students to access and better prepare for and follow up on the event. The diverse video formats offered by Talentspace also allowed for lively interactions and a high-quality networking experience.

As Heike described it:

"We are really impressed with how Talentspace lets participants experience a similar buzz and energy as at in-person events. With its mix of interactive formats and clean design, the tool has enabled us to run virtual events that are incredibly high-touch, and has allowed our students and partner companies to forge meaningful connections."

Despite the challenge of replicating real-life interactions digitally, Heike and her team were able to succeed in creating an interactive and enjoyable recruiting event experience online with Talentspace. Looking ahead, WHU plans to continue using Talentspace to host engaging online recruiting fairs for its students.

You can read more about WHU's digital career event experience on their official website here.