Impressive Winning Projects At TMB
At the international “Talent Meets Bertelsmann” career event in Berlin, some 50 top students from all over Europe focused their attention on Bertelsmann’s growth priorities. The six workshops had a clear emphasis on new technologies and data. The distinguished panel of judges gave the most compelling ratings to the three projects “Fintech,” “Advertising,” and “Learning.”
Around 50 top students from all over Europe recently got an in-depth look at the Bertelsmann world during the 14th edition of “Talent Meets Bertelsmann” (TMB). Over the three days of the career event, they had the opportunity to discuss with company executives and receive professional career coaching. They also worked on exciting, real-world tech & data business models in groups distributed to six workshops. The winning group was rewarded with a prize for its innovative ideas. Once again presented by Vox host Amiaz Habtu, the event was held in person for the first time in two years. Members of the BCP community – BCP stands for Bertelsmann Collaboration Platform – were able to follow much of the event virtually.
In the six workshops, the students focused on four of Bertelsmann’s five growth priorities, namely National Media Champions (“Journalism,” “Advertising”), Global Content (“Global IP,” “Metaverse”), Global Services (“Fintech”) and Online Education (“Learning”). Each of the workshops had a clear focus on new technologies and data, and this time the young talents had seven hours to complete their tasks instead of five as in the past. They were facilitated by “workshop hosts” from all divisions and by “HR coaches” from Corporate, RTL Deutschland, and Arvato Supply Chain Solutions. “It was impressive to see the dedication these highly qualified students brought to their real-world cases and, even more so, the excellent solutions they arrived at in each case,” concluded Pamela Taylor, Vice President Employer Branding & Talent Acquisition at Bertelsmann.
The judges to whom the young men and women presented their work on the second day of TMB were likewise impressed by this excellence. Besides Bertelsmann’s Chief HR Officer Immanuel Hermreck, the judging panel included Bertelsmann Executive Board members Rolf Hellermann (CFO) and Markus Dohle (CEO of Penguin Random House), Núria Cabutí (CEO of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial), Dominique Casimir (CCO of BMG), Karin Immenroth (Chief Data & Analytics Officer of RTL Deutschland), and Lidia Ratajczak-Kluck (CEO of Arvato SCS Poland).
Reward: a visit to RTL and BMG in Berlin
The jury gave the most compelling ratings to the three projects “Fintech,” “Advertising,” and “Learning. The “Fintech” team tackled the task set by Arvato Financial Solutions, of finding an IT solution that, on the one hand, enables companies to record the CO2 emissions generated by their employees’ commutes – something we can expect to see become law in the foreseeable future. On the other hand, the product should offer attractive incentives for employees to commute more sustainably. As a reward for their outstanding work, this group of students will soon be able to embark on another trip to Berlin, where visits to RTL’s Berlin studio and the BMG offices will be part of the program. The students of the “Advertising” team took second place. They were faced with the challenge of finding new approaches to measuring, using, and ultimately monetizing online interactions in the “cookie-free” era that begins next year. In solving their task, they were able to draw on the extensive foundations that Bertelsmann has already created with the Ad Alliance, Bertelsmann Data Services, and AZ Direct. And the third-placed “Learning” team had been commissioned by the Bertelsmann Education Group to develop a plan for integrating the Holliblu online community into the nurse.com online platform used by nurses. Nurse.com has to date functioned mainly as a kind of continuing education platform for this professional group, but is now also to offer peer-to-peer functions for social media and thus become an online community through which nurses working in the U.S. can exchange information with other professionals.
Sustainability wasn’t just a topic on the agenda at this year’s Talent Meets Bertelsmann; the organizers also made an effort to keep the event as climate-friendly as possible. Among other things, participants used bicycles to travel around the city as part of the event, and the catering was vegetarian throughout. Emissions that could not be avoided were offset. At the end, guests were treated to an exclusive concert by singer Fil Bo Riva, whose publishing rights are represented by Bertelsmann subsidiary BMG.
