Talent Meets Bertelsmann Beijing
‘Talent Meets Bertelsmann’ – Two-Day Workshop In Beijing, Too
At the same time as the “Talent Meets Bertelsmann 2010 program” for German students took place in Berlin, 19 talented university students selected from around 500 applicants around China spent an edifying two days with Bertelsmann China’s senior management in the “Talent Meets Bertelsmann 2010 China Workshop” at the Bertelsmann China Corporate Center in Beijing on July 14th and 15th, 2010. 
During the two-day workshop, the 19 talents were divided into five groups, each with a unique business challenge to tackle. All five challenges were based on real case studies contributed by five Bertelsmann companies in China. They included setting up a Parents Online Shop for G+J China, and an investment proposal on early education at Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI). Assisted and facilitated by senior managers from each company and BAI, each group developed a business proposal and presented it to a jury consisting of five senior Bertelsmann China executives, who after the presentation expressed interest in the ideas proposed by the groups and will consider recruiting some of the students for their organization. At the end of the workshop, students received insightful feedback on their proposals from representatives of each company’s HR department, as well as individual feedback about their performance during the two days, and suggestions about their further career development. 
The two most outstanding young talents from Beijing University and Tsinghua University won first prize, a visit to the Random House headquarters in New York together with the winning team from Germany in this November. Other attractive prizes included full-time job and internship opportunities; training opportunities to enhance professional and leadership skills at various Bertelsmann University programs in China; and career shadow day with Bertelsmann China senior executives as career mentors.
“Bertelsmann celebrates its 175th Anniversary this year. In our long and successful company history, our people have always played a significant role. They are the reason for our achievements in the past as well as in the future,” said Annabelle Yu Long, Chief Executive of the Bertelsmann China Corporate Center, “We need experienced professionals. We also need young talents to work out new ideas, to explore future markets and to further develop Bertelsmann's potential, and provide them with a platform to get to know the opportunities and challenges in today’s media and services sector.”
“I cannot describe how excited I was to participate in the Talents Meets Bertelsmann China workshop, knowing that Bertelsmann is such a great media and services giant!” said Mengxi Lu, team leader of the winning team. “After this memorable two-day workshop with its inspiring environment for reflecting and learning, I’m now considering being an entrepreneur within a company like Bertelsmann instead of being an entrepreneur on my own.”
The workshop sparked a lot of media attention as well. Some local media targeted at young readers, especially students and young employees came to observe the last part of the program on Jul 15, when the winners from China were announced. They interviewed HR director of China corporate center, Rachel Ji afterwards. Asked "Why did Bertelsmann China hold this TMB event?” Rachel Ji responded: “First, it is an employer image initiative targeting university students. The campaign, which reached over 40,000 students, helped them to better understand where we are now in China. Secondly, the event offers a platform for all the Bertelsmann China companies to meet talented young students who share the same mindset of ‘entrepreneurship’ for further career development.” (benet)
