Talent Matchmaking
More of this, please!
I had the opportunity to participate The Shortcut’s Talent Matchmaking recently at A-grid. Talent Matchmaking was an event co-hosted by The Shortcut, A-grid, and The Hub where talents and startups went on speed “dating” sessions. Moreover, there was also workshops on how to gain the benefits for startups and job seekers from government representatives so that they can focus on working.
A few takeaways from this event from my perspective are:
1/ This was a great opportunity to meet lots of new people, both representing startups and other talented people to share ideas and inspiration. I met founders from sketchboard.io, a digital mind map tool made by developers for developers, and DealRoom, who provided the platform for participants to contact and set up meetings themselves.
2/ During the event, there was a reverse pitch session where the startups and jobseekers pitch themselves towards the others. I believe this was a good chance to represent yourself to a big audience, share what you can do, and learn what others can offer or are looking for.
3/ The speed dating sessions was an interesting aspect. The environment was informal away from the pressure of conventional job interview settings, which comforts both startups and job seekers while encouraging them to be bolder to assesss each other. I love how the discussions between the sides were going so well that they created such a meaningful connection, so that startups can improve on their products and services while job seekers can have a better insight for the job they’re looking for.
4/ Talking about insights, the officer from TE-service has delivered such a wonderful and informative presentation. For those who doesn’t know, TE-services or TE-palvelut is the public provider of employment and economic development services which mostly are free of charge. Things I noted from their speech included:
- For startups, there is a startup grant that assist the livelihood of those who are starting their entrepreneurship. The support can be applied for 6 month periods under some circumstances. Checkout more from here.
- For job seekers like me, TE office gives out notifications on courses, language classes, or even employment opportunities. It helps when you don’t know where to find job, or even get some subsidy payment from TE office when the startups you are working for can’t pay enough for your livelihood. This is very helpful especially for those who are new to the country.
5/ It was interesting to hear the stories from the people from A-grid and The Hub organization about how important it is to have the right mindset when looking for jobs in the startup ecosystem. Some advice encourages job seekers to try more non-traditional approaches to the employers.
All in all, I feel this event was very good for the participants who are either looking for jobs or more manpower for business growth. Especially more exposure was created for both startups and job seekers. Therefore I believe this event should be held more often in future times.
