Diversity Dinner 2023 at Royal Jaarbeurs: Connection and opportunities for young talent

With 350 guests, this year's seventh edition of the event took place for the first time in the Expo Room exhibition area of Royal Jaarbeurs. Wilma Schild, CEO of Global People, looks back with satisfaction. She emphasized the importance of creating space for face-to-face meetings, "During the evening, we saw great conversations about diversity and inclusion taking place. It is so important that people can look each other in the eye and not just judge a person based on a resume. People who might otherwise not get the chance to connect, quickly find each other at this event. As a young person in search for a job, with a different last name or skin color, you can experience a lot of barriers when looking for a new step in your career. It is great to see that people at the dinner can really, openly, talk about these challenges. Young talent and employers, discussing important topics such as: What are you struggling with, what obstacles to you run into, how can we address that?"

For employers, the dinner also offers insight into candidates on a more personal level. Details of relevant experience that don't normally appear on a resume, such as someone helping their cousins with their homework, can illuminate a candidate's personality. 

"It's so important that people can look each other in the eye and not just judge each other based on a resume."

Manon van Wersch, account and event manager at Royal Jaarbeurs, has been involved in the organization of the event from the start, and shared the ambition to make it a resounding success. "To accommodate any last-minute registrants, we accepted new dietary requirements until the very last minute. That is something that sounds quite logical and easy enough, but it actually is not as simple to manage, for a sit down dinner for 350 guests. In addition, the entire dinner was halal and sustainably prepared with local suppliers. A challenging project for our kitchen staff but a challenge we gladly accepted. And with success!"

Manon fondly looks back on the collaboration with Global People. "Wilma and her team gave us a lot of confidence. They built on our expertise and took on almost all of our advice. And even with a tight budget, we were able to dress the venue beautifully." 

Wilma confirmed, "It was very nice to work with Manon and her colleagues. Our event was managed very neatly and efficiently. We chose Royal Jaarbeurs as our event venue, mainly because of its central location right next to the train station, but we were also really impressed with the execution of the dinner. The food was very good." Manon does still see room for improvement in the future, focusing on a slightly more intimate setting, but that would be the icing on the cake.