Simone's career at Bosch started in 2007. Over the years, Simone has successfully taken on different responsibilities in the areas of training & development, recruiting, employer branding, compensation, labor law and process improvement. His international experience with Bosch in Italy, China, and the Middle East is an example of how Bosch believes in global mobility adding value to the careers of its associates and managers. Today, Simone is the HR Manager of Bosch Middle East, a fast growing entity of the Bosch Group with over 90 associates working in the business divisions: Automotive Aftermarket, Power Tools, Security Systems, Thermo Technology and Drive & Control Technology. With headquarters in Dubai, Bosch Middle East also has regional offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and soon in Pakistan and Iraq. Simone Beretta hails from Italy, and holds a Master’s Degree in HR and Labor Studies from the University of Milan. Apart from HR, Simone is passionate about sports, especially football, running and skiing. In this interview with Bayt.com, Simone shares his advice to professionals and employers in the Middle East region and what he feels are the new trends in recruitment: 1. How would you describe the corporate culture at Bosch? Bosch’s global culture is a combination of local values with a global perspective, united with a shared goal of understanding and learning from each another. A digitally-connected world creates the basis for this and we do the rest – together. We ensure that the global culture of Bosch grows and evolves every day. At Bosch we are proudly aware of our company's regional and cultural origins, we consider this diversity an asset and a precondition of our global success. Bosch’s corporate culture makes us unique and this is why our employees are proud to work with us. It creates a special bond and guides our actions and interactions with one another. 2. Bosch was voted as one of the Top 50 Most Attractive Employers in the World for Business and Engineering graduates. How do you plan to attract local talent in the Middle East within these fields? We need to speak the language of young talent and this is why we are joining them on platforms where a lot of their communication takes place. We are on Facebook and on professional networking sites and are looking to extend our presence to other social media channels in the future. We also value face-to-face interaction with our potential candidates. We regularly participate in the career fairs organized by local universities, embracing the opportunity to meet students, answer their questions, advise them on career development, and give them concrete examples on what it means to work with Bosch. And naturally, we seek to recruit the most talented ones for our internships and junior positions. In particular, our internship programs in Sales & Marketing, HR, Communications, Logistics & Supply Chain, and Purchasing offer students and fresh graduates the chance to get involved in interesting projects and day-to-day business operations, under the supervision of our qualified tutors. 3. What is your #1 advice to professionals who want to work at Bosch? Apart from an outstanding academic background, our ideal candidates are open minded and able to work effectively with different cultures, showing initiative and an entrepreneurial mindset. Underpinning all of this, they will have a passion for innovation, which comes in line with our slogan “Invented for life”. 4. Any advice for employers who want to retain their top performing talent? Based on my experience, the main driver for retaining the best talent is an exciting and challenging work environment, with forward-looking HR policies especially in regards to training, development and work-life balance, along with mutually shared values as a basis for all business interactions. At Bosch, these enable us to retain our key talent and to achieve very low employee turnover despite the high level of competition we face in emerging markets. 5. What would you say has been your proudest moment as an HR professional? My proudest moment was when I joined Bosch Middle East as their HR Manager, with the challenge to further support the growth of our business in this region through an innovative HR strategy. In particular, we recently introduced new guidelines for a flexible and family-friendly work environment, including measures for flexible working hours, working from home, and special leaves for family matters. The measure that I am most proud of is the introduction of a new maternity leave policy that gives our employees time to focus on their family before resuming their job. In addition, we guarantee new mothers different part-time options for re-entry, according to their family needs. As are most of our employees, I am definitively proud to be part of this winning team! 6. Do you have any predictions for trends in hiring this year? We can’t deny the increasing importance of social media across many aspects of modern life; this is true even for recruiting. As an employer, it is vital to make sure that our potential candidates can interact with us on social media platforms. Another important trend is mobile navigation. More and more users browse the Internet via. mobile devices, this is why we are looking to improve the experience of candidates who want to know more about us and want to apply for our positions via. their smartphones and tablets. 7. Can you tell us about your experience with Bayt.com? Which Bayt.com feature do you think is the most useful to you as an employer? Bayt.com helped us in our recruiting needs thanks to the great visibility of their job posts as well as database searching, which gives access to potential candidates who may not actively be looking for a job, but could be suitable for positions at Bosch. Do you have an exceptional employer story to share with the Bayt.com community? Drop us an email at reemb@bayt.net!
