Oracle EMEA Campus Recruitment

Study and work or study to work?

Maria Hernanz — Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:11:47 +0000

Hi everyone,

My name is Sofia and I am currently working as an Analyst for the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), based in Bucharest, Romania. I would like to share my opinion on a topic that is always on the mind of young students: should we study and work or better study to work?

Whether it is a couple of weeks in Sales, a year in Contracts or just every Monday afternoon with a Consultant, any work experience you might gain is invaluable. First, it provides you with an insight in the areas you are studying about and give you a good idea of what you do and do not enjoy, even more, of what you are good at and at what you are not. This kind of experience is priceless when you start thinking about a long-term career path.

Secondly, it will make your CV stand out and give you an edge over other candidates, it will say something about your person. Being able to work during the studies does not only show that you have gained experience and a set of skills, it shows that you are willing to go the extra mile, are good at time management and are prepared to sacrifice a bit of your spare time in order to gain experience. No one said that this would be easy, but it is definitely worth it.

Tips and tricks about managing study and work

· When deciding to start looking for an internship or a part-time job, it is important to set some criteria and not look for the job with the best financial offer. When looking for a job during the studies, it is very important to look for an activity which is relevant to your education, which can help you in your future development.

· After you have found an activity which completes your studies, you should start thinking about time management and priorities – you must be aware that you will not have time to do everything you want, and sometimes you will have to go to work or stay at home and study while your friends are going out – but in the end, the effort will definitely pay off. You will definitely get familiar with the term of procrastination!

· When applying for a job, be sure to specify that you will need time for your studies and discuss your schedule with your future employer – you will be surprised to see that almost all employers are willing to help you and sustain the fact that you wish to successfully finish your studies.

· If you speak any foreign languages, try to find a job which gives you the chance to interact in that specific language – as you surely know, the business language is different than what we learn in school, so working in a multi-cultural environment will also help you develop a good business vocabulary.

How have work and study turned out for me?

Working during the week and studying on weekends is not easy, but it helps you gain more confidence, as you realize that you are actually capable of accomplishing more than you would have thought of. You get to know yourself and get to know how the work environment really looks like – in most of the cases, the reality turned out quite different than my expectations.

My current role in Oracle combines most of the skills I have developed in school – working as an analyst means liaising between several teams, starting with Sales, Credit, Legal, Collection and Business Practices. I interact with people all over EMEA on a daily basis and my job implies both economic and legal skills.

Working for different employers until now, I have realized that I am looking for a multi-cultural environment, a dynamic organization where people are seen as entrepreneurs, rather that employees – and this is exactly what I have found in Oracle, an organization which encourages employees to make their own decisions and take ownership of their tasks.

So, if you want to get to know yourself better and are willing to go the extra mile, I can only tell you to start looking for an internship – it will definitely be worth it!

Working for an IT Sales team in Prague

Maria Hernanz — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 09:53:16 +0000

Do you see yourself working within an IT company? What about working within a team that sells hardware?

I have never imagined myself being part of an IT team as I was part of another world. My name is Violeta and I started my career one year ago within Oracle. I graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and I studied International Trade. You can see that I didn’t have any IT background, but I definitely wouldn’t miss the opportunity of getting a job within Oracle. This was actually my dream: working in a big international corporation.

I am a young lady that is working within the Hardware team. Does it seem challenging? Of course it is and in the beginning it wasn’t easy at all. I started as a member of the Customer Intelligence Team and my main tasks were profiling companies and following up on Oracle events. I was in contact with IT Managers and System Administrators which required at least a basic knowledge about Oracle software and a high level of flexibility. As my software knowledge wasn’t at a high level, I struggled a lot to learn and to gain experience. I was lucky to attend many product trainings in Oracle and also to meet people willing to share their knowledge with me.

After 5 months in the Customer Intelligence Team, I decided that it’s time to move on, so I was very happy to join the Business Development Group in Hardware. Business Development Consultants are at the beginning of the sales cycle, so we cooperate very closely with the Sales Representatives. The next big challenge was working within the Hardware team. I had learned about Oracle Database before and I was so excited to have the chance to gain knowledge about a new area.

Right at the beginning I went for the foundation training in Dublin. It definitely was an unforgettable experience! Three weeks of intensive learning and knowledge transfer, but also fun as I met my colleagues from many different countries. I learned a lot about the IT industry step by step. Now, after six months of intensive work, I really enjoy what I am doing a full 100 % because when you are working in the IT industry, you will never be bored as there are and will be always many things to learn.

This is the right place for me to work as it is a dynamic and learning environment. It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or a boy as long as you are open to new challenges. I even finished the second quarter with 160 % overachievement. Sales, hardware, software, IT trainings, they are all part of my world now and I love it.

Do you want to find out more about our job opportunities? Follow us on https://campus.oracle.com .

Spotlight on an office – Romania

Maria Sandu — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:58:46 +0000

Have you considered the importance of the working environment in choosing your future job?

We all would like to enjoy the 8-hours spent in the office and once we start working we realize what a great impact the environment has on our daily activity. This particular aspect is highly valued at Oracle, so we invite you to travel with us and have an insight on how the working environment is in our offices from different sides of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Every month you’ll discover a new location and new people. First stop is Romania, Bucharest.

1. Location
There are three buildings in Bucharest with different names, all of them being located in the same area, North Bucharest, Bld. Barbu Vacarescu : Oracle Tower, Nusco Tower and Floreasca Business Park. It’s an office area, so you can easily get here by subway (Aurel Vlaicu station), by tram (no 5) or by bus. If you enjoy having a cup of coffee after work or maybe a walk in the park at sunset, the good news is that nearby you can find Floreasca Park as well as Herastrau Park, with lovely cafes and restaurants.

2. Food
You have many options to choose from for that well-deserved lunch. You can choose between the restaurant on the ground floor of Oracle Tower, the canteen from Floreasca Business Park or the cafeteria from Nusco Tower. You can also order food at work and enjoy the lunch with your colleagues in the team dining-rooms.

3. Work environment

As soon as you arrive at work, you can grab a mug of tea or coffee, as it is morning and you need to wake up!

You go to your desk and one-by-one your colleagues start arriving. Everybody wants to share how they spent the evening, what new pub they’ve heard about, what they did with their friends, what movie they saw or what a great deal they found for the next holiday. This is how you enjoy your coffee or tea. The phone rings, so you start your work. E-mails, meetings, phone calls, video calls, reports, urgent tasks, no time to waste. Oh, it’s lunch time already? It’s like a meeting taking place in the dining room with your colleagues, chatting, laughing and eating.
You don’t have to worry, there is life after work. We often go out with our colleagues after work and have a drink, go dancing, play society games or watch a movie. It’s a great way to make new friends.

4. Fun at work!
Games: Of course work can be fun and that is why we have foosball tables and dart boards. Whenever you have a break you can play with your colleagues and even participate in competitions. The good news for board games fans, is that we have players here that organize board games nights.
Events: If you’re not a fan of these two games, maybe you’ll enjoy our parties or special events. Let’s take Secret Santa as example. What is Christmas without presents? That is why every Christmas all departments organize Secret Santa event, when colleagues bring presents and celebrate.
Contests: What is the symbol of Halloween? Pumpkins. When it’s Halloween you can participate to the carved pumpkins contest. If you like football, you are invited to join our Oracle football team and help us on the next year win the first prize in the Companies’ Cup competition as we did last year.
Volunteering: There are also many volunteering initiatives for people in need or for environmental projects you can join.

Would you like to apply for a job at Oracle Romania? Follow us on Oracle Campus or join our Oracle Romania Facebook Community.

Confessions from a manager working with graduates

Maria Sandu — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:04:55 +0000

I’m Ionut and I’m in the business of enthusiasm.

I live it, I draw my energy from it, I search for it endlessly and I feel a great celebration inside (fireworks included) when I find it in other people. The difference between doing something because you have to and doing something because it makes your heart skip a beat under the sudden burst of enthusiasm is so great, that the choice between the two is always the same, over and over again. Working in a team that draws its energy from the urge of doing everything very well and making a difference with their work is more than a job. It makes your projects matter, it gives meaning to what you do and it sends you home with a smile, rather than a grin.

So how does someone find that work environment that motivates them and makes them go home thinking it was a great day?

Well, I don’t really have a recipe, but for me it was the result of my eternal quest for enthusiasm. I put enthusiasm above experience and I am happy to say I wasn’t wrong. I chose, being also supported by my managers, to hire graduates instead of very experienced seniors. The people I met and hired proved that it was a great decision. An experienced senior is a must in any team, but graduates can also be trained. Even though training someone on the job may need patience and supervision, I think it’s worthwhile. Any sports trainer would rather have a very eager player, no matter her or his experience. And the IT business is not far from that same situation either.

I like how my team enjoys going out together. I like the “Board games night” and I like it when they are all around one computer, working together for the task of just one of them, but doing it together – and doing that without myself asking them to. I like to think it resembles the college teamwork when the goal is to deliver something together and help each other along the way.

For the pride and glory of being the best and getting the best mark.

We kept the pride, and we still want the glory, but this time we’re aiming for it inside world’s largest corporate software company. And we need all the enthusiasm we find, no matter if it’s wrapped in the experience of a senior or in pure state, as a graduate would offer it.

For anyone looking for us, we’re the Automation and Architecture team in Product Development IT, combining efforts to bring environment creation time from 3 weeks down to 30 minutes, for a $ 2 billion business. And we’re almost there!

Want to get quick career development?

Tim Koekkoek — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:37:27 +0000

My name is Sabina and I am a Business Development Consultant. I started working in the role of Customer Intelligence Representative at Oracle after I finished my studies in International Business and Languages at Avans University in the Netherlands. However after only 4 months I moved on to my current position. I will tell you my story and how it all started!

I was contacted by Oracle to interview with them for a position and this was even before graduating. I was successful in the interview process whereupon I moved to Dublin. From the very first day I have been made feel so welcome and such a valued part of the Oracle Direct team. As a Customer Intelligence Representative you get a really good induction program; it introduces you to the organization and everything you need to know to move around the company. I was also assigned a mentor who was great at helping me to settle in.

My role as a Customer Intelligence Representative involves profiling accounts and supporting activities for the Benelux & German market. Besides that I am also generating demand for information about Oracle solutions. I work on different campaigns for all teams within Oracle Direct; Technology, CRM On Demand, Hardware and Applications. Before I start to work on a campaign I first get briefed by one of Oracle’s sales people; Inside sales or Field sales. In the briefing you get an explanation what the campaign is about and what your main task is. Every campaign is different because for every single one of them you need to speak with different people. For instance for CRM you are looking for and speaking to sales and marketing managers/directors, and for Applications you need speak with CFO’s, CIO’s or HR-directors. You are working on two or three campaigns at the same time. So every day holds a new challenge, this really makes coming to work exciting and I have a great sense of achievement at the end of each day.

What I really like about Oracle is the opportunity to have a long career within the company and the really interesting people that you meet. You also have the possibility to move within a few months to a Business Development Consultant role. Oracle supports you to develop your career by coaching, training and mentoring. At Oracle you are only learning from the best!

During my studies I already had the chance to work with people from different countries. Now I have colleagues from all around EMEA, this makes my working environment very diverse and fun. Besides that, this multicultural environment makes it also possible to practice my language skills.

I work in East Point Business Park which is in Dublin. Dublin is a great city and I spend a lot of time socializing with my colleagues in the city after work. Dublin is a city for young professionals. For everyone there is something. You can enjoy yourself with the many cultural events, shopping or going to the theater or cinema. Furthermore, Dublin gives you the possibility to practice your favorite indoor and outdoor sports such as golfing, sailing and surfing or to try something new such as Gaelic Football or hurling!

If you want to know more about this role or any other opportunities please check our website http://campus.oracle.com.

Working within a virtual team

Tim Koekkoek — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:19:27 +0000

Have you ever thought that you could be part of a team whose members aren’t in the same office as you are and not even in the same country? Have you ever thought your colleagues would be from different cultures? I hadn’t thought about it before coming to Oracle. In business today, many companies are made up of virtual teams. License Management Services ECEMEA (Eastern Central Europe, Middle East and Africa) that I am part of, is one such team.

My name is Susan and I’m a License Management Services graduate based in Johannesburg, South Africa. After I completed my Finance degree at the University of Johannesburg, I went on to study Management Marketing and Logistics in Communications in the Czech Republic. Challenging isn’t it? For 2 years I was exposed to a completely different culture and I really enjoyed it. Nothing builds character like adapting to an environment that’s the opposite of one you have known all your life. I truly believe that this experience was in preparation for something bigger that was to come into my life. I was being prepared for the new chapter I was about to embark on in LMS team within Oracle.

License Management Services determines the Oracle licenses our customers use as compared to what they are granted to use. Through a process that involves our customers every step of the way, we reconcile those differences. My role in LMS is to perform reviews, coordinate several campaigns, I also offer support to my team where possible. Being a team located in different continents makes my daily tasks much more challenging and exciting.

What countries are we located in? South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Russia. Of course, we all come from different backgrounds and some members are based in a country that is not even their birth country. It’s a big challenge for us, but we manage to make it work. Having the ability to connect with someone at the click of a button to exchange ideas and knowledge is somehow still fascinating to me. Despite the distance between us, I have become an effective member of my team. I have benefited in so many ways through virtual collaboration. One of the biggest benefits is that I am no longer limiting myself to work with just a team in South Africa. My dream and ambitions travel over long distances. They begin in Johannesburg all the way to Cairo and Moscow.

The first time I met the team in person was in Prague. This meeting brought a positive input to our team and it definitely was a special moment. Nevertheless, before this moment, we still had to work together and talk on the phone. So trust was built on these virtual relationships months before the face-to-face meeting. We have all become closer with time. Not only have we built working relationships but I believe I have made some great friendships. I cannot imagine myself working and learning from a better group of people than those I have in ECEMEA. Because we make use of all virtual tools that Oracle offers, I am able to stay in touch with this amazing group of people who are my colleagues, mentors and friends. What more could a graduate ask for?!

If you are interested in joining the LMS team or you want to find out more about opportunities at Oracle, please check http://campus.oracle.com or send an email to maria.sandu-at-oracle.com

A Quick Catch Up with an Expat in Prague

Tim Koekkoek — Fri, 6 Jan 2012 07:37:37 +0000

Ali is a Business Development Consultant who moved to the Oracle office in Prague from Turkey. He studied in Istanbul and he is a fresh graduate from Bogazici University with a B.A. in Management, and he is a native Turkish speaker.

I approached him to ask how his life in Prague is going so far as he used to live in a completely different environment in every aspect: language, people, even the weather. I was not sure if he would be able to settle in. So I asked:

- Hi Ali, I was going to step by your desk later but had a chance now. How is everything going?

Thank you for asking, everything is great! Well, I would say “it will be great”, if I look at my first weeks. I came here on my own and started a new life from a scratch. There were days when things seem complicated and insolvable, but I knew that from the first day I applied for this job.

I faced some paper work, dealt with real estate agencies and getting all the essential like a bank account, address registration, check up etc… But here I am, all ready to start!

- How did you get past these difficult days?

I was encouraged enough to get over the problems. Oracle also helped me a lot with the registration for permanent residency, social security, bank account etc; basically with everything that needs to be done after moving somewhere completely new. My colleagues gave me tips about the life in Prague. Also talking about the problems and the adventures with my old friends on Skype helped to change my mood completely.

Talking about “talking with old friends”, here in Prague, I sometimes think of the time when people migrated for good in the days before cell phones, VOIP, email and Skype. I feel like home when I talk with my friends and my family over Skype and I cannot imagine the reverse. To remember these days when I look back, I created and wrote a blog about being an expat in Prague. But unfortunately it is only available in Turkish.

- Why did you decide to move here?

I always believed the fact that the things that makes our lives worth living is outside our comfort zone. Therefore, I decided to live outside Turkey for a while. If you studied in Turkey and have Turkish as your native language, there is only one option for you to go abroad: Finding a multinational company with offices in both Turkey and outside of Turkey.

Oracle was one of the first companies that came to my mind. During my studies in Istanbul, I did internships in other tech giants like Intel and Google, and I had a chance to go to Berlin for an internship in a social gaming company – Wooga. After Intel and Google, I knew that I wanted to work in IT, and after Berlin, I decided to move outside of my home country, because living as an expat was full of fun and full of challenges. After looking at the photos of the office and visiting Prague for a day for the interviews, I knew that Oracle was the place I wanted to be. Look at this picture I took with my cell phone. What else would you do other than to wish to work here?

- How do you like Prague? Did you miss anything about your hometown?

Every day I discover new things about life in my new hometown – looking, evaluating, trying to understand and adapt to a different culture, It can be very stimulating. Before moving here, I asked my friends about their impression while traveling to Prague. I know people that do not like Paris, London or Barcelona, but I’ve never seen a person that does not like Prague!

I love the city and the people here. The people, both at work and non-work are great. Czech people are tolerant and warm to all foreigners. My landlord, for instance, studies English vocabulary before coming to my apartment in case of any repair or service.

Of course I miss my hometown. I was raised in the Mediterranean region and studied in Istanbul. So, I would say the warm weather is the first thing I miss! I will be honest to my friends who want to visit me or graduates that apply here: Prepare your thickest coats before you come here. Take a look at that picture, it was a very welcoming weather in my first days indeed. Fortunately, the rain is gone and has not appeared yet for the last 5 weeks.

- What do you like most about working at Oracle?

After the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, having both hardware and software in house, Oracle has been taking serious steps to ease the whole enterprise IT industry. It also adds value to people’s daily lives, even though most of the end users are not aware of this. Whether a metro is running on time, a bill is calculated and sent correctly or the internet is working, it all has Oracle technology behind it.

- I know you are going to attend the 3 week foundation training in Dublin. After this training, what are your responsibilities going to be?

I will be working as a Business Development Consultant which is a subset of the Inside Sales organization. I generate demand from inbound calls as a result of sales initiatives, marketing campaigns & event follow up, downloads, web-seminars and partner campaigns. This I do together with my truly international team. Our team exists out of people from Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Turkey and Central Asia region.

- Do you have advice for friends who want to apply for Oracle?

Most of my friends didn't think of working abroad right after college. I would encourage more graduates to consider broadening their horizons. For my friends that are still studying: Go work in the IT industry, the jobs are more rewarding and satisfactory than any other industry. You need to adapt yourself and learn every single day when you are working on IT products and services. By the way, I found this job via Oracle campus website, it is worth checking it every day!

If you want to know more about Oracle, please check our Facebook community or if you want to get in touch with Ali, connect with him on LinkedIn.

Start your New Year well, find yourself a new job using LinkedIn!

Tim Koekkoek — Tue, 3 Jan 2012 04:47:22 +0000

It's 2012, everybody is making plans again for this new year, some people want to stop smoking, some people want to travel and some people are looking for a new job. This is where this article might come in handy. Last month I wrote an article about how to get your LinkedIn profile up and running and how you can optimize your profile to be better found by recruiters and organisations (link). This article is all about how you can find the perfect job yourself using LinkedIn. Not all companies will actively look for candidates and perhaps the companies you’re looking at aren’t finding you. So be pro-active, start your New Year productive and look for the jobs that are out there!

Actively looking for jobs

Of course LinkedIn is not just about being found and networking, but it can help you find your perfect job as well. As it is widely used by many people these days, LinkedIn starts to become the favourite place to advertise jobs for many companies. But next to that there are many “hidden job” out there as well. Below I will share some tips on how to find your dream job:

1. Job Section

The easiest way to find jobs is to look at the job section and look for jobs that are posted. For students and graduates there is now even a special job section that can be found here. You can straight away apply with your LinkedIn profile, so follow the steps I gave to you the last time for getting your LinkedIn profile up to date. LinkedIn will also suggest jobs you might be interested in; this is based on your profile features, behavior, location and attributes of people like you.

2. LinkedIn signal

On the homepage of LinkedIn you can find a small search box above all updates from your connections, which says “search updates”. Here you can search for all updates from your connections or from everyone on LinkedIn. Use for instance the words “recruiting for” or “job” or “looking for” or any other strings you can come up with that people use to find new employees. Of course you should try this in your own language as well. You will get the results from up to 10 days.

3. Search

Not all companies post their jobs on LinkedIn, but perhaps you already know what sort of company you would like to work for. For instance if you are looking to work for an IT company, type in the people search bar for “Oracle”. On the left hand site of the page you will now see many companies where people work who have Oracle somewhere in their profile. These are most likely companies, that you could be interested in to work for.

As soon as you found some companies you would be interested in to work for, try finding and connect with their recruiters or HR. They can tell you about the latest vacancies you might be suitable for. They also might give you advice how to apply. However don’t bully the recruiters, just ask them for advice and most of them are really open to connect with potential candidates.

4. Join groups

Are you looking for specific jobs or in a specific area? On LinkedIn there is probably a group about it. Join the groups, engage in conversations and keep looking at the job section of the group.

If you want to know more about finding jobs on LinkedIn and get more tips, I can highly recommend this video from Jonathan Campbell from SocialTalent.co. If you have some tips of yourself, please share them in the comment box below!

Next month we will have a blog article about getting a job using Facebook. So keep an eye on this blog, for all the latest updates!

Teamwork: The keyword for a success story

Tim Koekkoek — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:41:12 +0000

Teamwork ¦ Collaboration ¦ Enthusiasm ¦ Optimism ¦ Strong will ¦ Support ¦ Great communication ¦

These words are the foundation of our story. We believe our story shows what teamwork really is about and it is also a great story about what graduates can truly achieve within a big company like Oracle. Everything started in January 2010 when we, Alina and Roxana, became interns in the Oracle On Demand Center. We were very enthusiastic about working for such a big company and also very willing to learn new things. Oracle On Demand is a strategic partner to our customers, that manages their IT infrastructure and runs their business applications. The best part was that we were fully involved in this activity, we learned the specific procedures, we created complex reports for customers and attended trainings and meetings. By June 2010, thanks to the intensive work, we learned about most of the processes used in our department. Therefore, after only 6 months of internship we became permanent employees.

If you think that this is the best part, read the rest of our story!

In August 2010 our managers decided that a new team will be founded within our department: the Service Monitoring Team. Its members would be in charge with OSMR checks, customer reports and services maintenance. The great news was that we, Alina and Roxana, were promoted to Operation Managers within this team, and Emil became our team leader. This was even a greater challenge than at the very beginning as interns. Communication, optimism and team spirit, these were our ingredients for success and for doing a great job. We had new responsibilities and very high expectations. We wanted to prove that our managers had made the right choice!

They certainly had and our results were so good that we had a new member joining our team in February, Victorela. She mentioned that it wasn’t very difficult for her to adapt to the work environment here, as she found herself a team willing to offer her support.

They say that getting together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success. This is absolutely true! We’ve been a team for more than a year now, working together day after day, helping each other and of course, having fun! After work is over, we often go out together. We love karaoke and even have a new singer in our team, Liliana. She is the latest member that joined us in November. There are 5 of us now, but we know she is not going to be the last one. Isn’t it amazing that we now grew to almost the biggest team in the ON Demand department?

If you’re willing to join our team, visit http://campus.oracle.com and you could become part of our success story.

Oracle Recruitment wishes you the very best over the Holiday season and in the New Year

Tim Koekkoek — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:53:06 +0000

Another year is coming to an end, and I hope that yours was filled with more highs than lows. With the evolution of social media, most of us have started documenting these highs and lows through links, photos, videos and comments. A pretty cool record of our achievements is being made online and shared with friends. We’re also engaging with each other much more – in the past, you may have only contacted old friends at Christmas, but now we keep up to date daily via nuggets of tweets, likes and comments.

The possibilities that this media offer are still only being discovered. Previously hidden talent has now found a platform to be acknowledged. New contacts are made and opportunities are created. A few minutes spent on social media sites every day, used effectively, has real-life tangible benefits. We live in a “Global village” where the right kind of engagement with the community is preparation for success, regardless of where you live.

With this in mind, we had an idea, that a simple photo competitio n would be a fun way to top off 2011 and mark the start of 2012. In this simple way, you have the chance to be creative, share your proud moments and reap the tangible benefits by winning a prize. Who knows what else might result?

It offers us the chance to see how people from all over the world, who share a common interest in Oracle, spend this time of year, or what this season means to you. A collage of culture, creativity and tradition can be formed on the Campus at Oracle Facebook page. And that diversity of culture and ideas from so many great people from all over the world has been a defining part everyday life working at Oracle personally.

All the very best over the Holidays, and in 2012!

What has inspired you in your career choice?

Tim Koekkoek — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:01:24 +0000

We’ve been thinking about who or what has inspire Romanian students and graduates in their career choice. Would it be a relative? Or maybe a famous person? Could it be a story or a video?

We thought that a good way to find out, would be by asking them to share their answer with us on Oracle Romania Facebook Community. Whether it was a friend, a famous person, a quote, a motivational speech or a teacher, they all searched for inspiration around them in choosing their path. That is why we created the “Inspiring Day”, inviting those who posted their answer on Oracle Romania Facebook page, to visit the company and meet people who INSPIRE LIKE NO ONE ELSE .

Fourteen students and graduates from the universities in Bucharest spent one day with us, visiting departments of interest to them, finding out more about Oracle’s activity and tasting a little bit of our working environment. They started the “Inspiring Day” talking about what their dreams and aspirations are, drinking a cup of coffee or tea and understanding what Oracle does. Questions, amazement, laughs, curiosity, eagerness, we had it all for a good and promising start of our day together. The participants divided into two groups, one technical and one non-technical, visiting three departments of interest.

The technical group, along with Simona, from the Romanian Experienced Recruitment team had an insight on how departments like Development, On Demand and Technology Service Center work. They found out what their basic activity is, what responsibilities they have, but also how it feels to be part of their team and what activities they do outside the office. Tekin, one of the participants, said that he was pleasantly surprised by the dynamic and warm environment he found within the three departments. He realized that having motivated employees is a vital element that helps Oracle be in the top companies around the world.

Maria, from the EMEA Graduate Recruitment team accompanied the non-technical group on their visit. They found out more about Oracle Partner Network center, the Contracts team and Contract Renewals team.

How was it like?
Roger, one of the participants, said: “After spending a day in the company and visiting 3 non-technical departments from Oracle Bucharest, my viewpoint has totally changed. A day at Oracle made me more interested (in Oracle), I started to consider it as an opportunity for my future career and I decided to share it with everyone in the same position as myself.” Diana, another participant, confessed: “I was pleasantly surprised to see how many young people are working within Oracle and what a fun environment they work in! I think that teamwork is an important value here and it seems that Oracle has become like a family for most of them!”

After the three visits, everyone gathered altogether, talking about how the whole day was for participants, what they learned and how their opinion about Oracle changed. Our biggest reward was their enthusiasm and willingness to come back as an employee or spreading the word about the visit.

We will definitely have more “Inspiring Day” events and we’ll meet new enthusiastic students and graduates. Follow our communities to find out fresh news regarding Oracle and the events we organize at Oracle Romania, CampusatOracle.

Opening High Potential Students Program Spain

Tim Koekkoek — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:27:50 +0000

My name is Cristina and I am an Intern in the Graduate Recruitment Team in Spain. I am part of The High Potential Students Program, the Internship program we have here in Spain. I would like to share with you the opening that took place a few weeks ago. First of all I would like to explain what the High Potential Students Program is.

We are approximately 50 interns across Spain who have the opportunity to develop our skills: we present to the rest of the interns to share our roles with them, we receive training about Oracle products, and we have the chance of having breakfast with important managers of Oracle, that tell us about their experiences in the company and give us some useful advice to develop our professional career. Another important point of this program is that managers are aware about the responsibilities of having an intern, so they give us objectives to follow up and also help us to develop our skills.

Like last Christmas, we have been making a calendar and all the profits we raise will go to charity . Apart from the social side, this activity has allowed us to become a more cohesive group of interns and we had a great time together taking the pictures for the calendar. The results show how successful this program is. From a total of 54 interns in FY12, 11 of them have been hired and 7 have been sub-contracted. These results motivate us much more, and give us strength to work harder.

Opening HPSP

First of all, we had the opportunity to listen to Antonio, VP of EMEA ACS (Advanced Customer Support) Delivery, who gave us the keys to a successful professional career; the most important is the desire, and the passion we put into our work. Second, Alejandro (HR Director Spain), held a brief presentation about Oracle, he talked about its origins, and about how Oracle has evolved to become in what is today. He made us reflect about what we would like to do in the future and encouraged us that is possible to get our objectives; “if you want, you can, there is no excuse”. We also listened to Jorge (Oracle Iberia Consulting Director), he talked about his personal experience and told us some anecdotes when he started as an intern. He emphasized that we should innovate when we do things, and we have to take advantage of this great opportunity of working in Oracle, because it’s the beginning of our professional career.

A very interesting part of the opening was the participation of Alfonso (Staff Advanced Support Engineer). He told us about the experience of moving from an intern to employee. The beginnings were hard, and he found bad moments along the way, where the motivation was falling. He rejected other job offers and finally got what he wanted, and opted for Oracle.

Finally, Ana (HR Spain) held the presentation of the High Potential Students Program, she talked about the objectives of the program, the training and activities, and the personal skills that we will develop through the several workshops that we’ll have; flexibility, teamwork, communication and initiative. To sum up, this program allows us feel part of the company, and that’s very important because in the end… Interns are the future of Oracle!

If you want to know more about Oracle's High Potential Students Program, connect with us on our Facebook Community or send an e-mail to vanesa.rodriguez-AT-oracle.com.

Internships @ Oracle Netherlands

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Fri, 9 Dec 2011 03:14:03 +0000

10 students started their Internship at Oracle in the Netherlands in September. They are working on a variety of assignments related to Social Media, Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, Business Analyses and IT. On the 8^th of December they updated the management team about their progress so far. This was an exciting and somewhat scary meeting for all interns involved, but there were many good ideas that will get implemented by the interns in the next few months.

One of the interns is focusing on Exadata, one of the most innovative products at the moment in the IT world. He wrote a piece on his experience so far.You can read more on his website. The interns will stay until February. More of their stories will follow on this blog. So stay tuned for the next update!

How to use Social Media in your job search?

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Mon, 5 Dec 2011 09:16:40 +0000

Nearly everyone these days has a LinkedIn account, a Facebook account and most likely you use Twitter. If you are looking for a job (and everyone will come to this point in their life, at least once) social media can support you to find the perfect job.

My name is Tim and I’m a Graduate Recruiter at Oracle, in this blog article I will give you some hints and tips about how you can find a job using LinkedIn. In the 2 articles I will cover the most popular professional social network of the moment.

Linkedin

LinkedIn is a professional networking site that is currently used by more than 131 million people around the world. It is by far the most used professional network followed by Viadeo (35 million, mainly big in France) and Xing (11.1 Million, big in Germany). LinkedIn is growing at a rapid rate and increased its members with 63% in comparison to last year. In September of this year 75 of all Fortune 100 used LinkedIn to hire new talent. Maybe you already received an invitation from someone reaching out to you for a potential job offer!

Getting a profile on LinkedIn and be found

Signing in at LinkedIn is free. When you sign in, LinkedIn guides you through the process to get a good profile. The first thing you should do is get your profile 100% completed; this is really easy, just follow the steps LinkedIn suggests. When your profile is 100% complete you have 12 times more chance to get opportunities through LinkedIn. Getting the 100% completeness is not the Holy Grail of LinkedIn, but it is a first step. Now some good hints and tips to make your profile stand out from other profiles. A good article on how to update your profile for LinkedIn search was written by Kristin Burnham, award-winning journalist for CIO.com.

1. Recruiters will search for standard job titles and studies:

There are for instance many computer science related courses. I once came across the studies “Bsc Computational Intelligence”. Make sure you mention Computer Science in the title as well. Students in Commerce can for instance name their studies Bachelor of Marketing & Sales Management. This makes your profile better searchable and findable. Good words to use in job titles are for instance: coordinator, consultant, sales, manager, project leader, customer service, representative and marketing. If you are currently not working, don’t be ashamed as currently many talented people are on the market. Mention it in your headline that you are looking for a new opportunity or job.

2. Be specific:

Make sure you are specific in your summary. Don’t just mention your responsibilities, but also mention achievements. If you worked in sales, mention your achievement rates (when they are positive of course). If you worked as a project leader, mention that you implemented project XY in company YZ successfully. When you are a top performer at University mention this. Where you promoted three times in your part-time job? Mention it.

Companies, like Oracle, are looking if a candidate could be a good fit to their team next to fact if a candidate has the right skills. Often humour is commendable. Two funny things I’ve seen in profiles from candidates that I interviewed at Oracle and in previous roles were: “Great student looking for a sales job by day, by night I’m part-time ninja!”. “Recently finished master student looking for an entry level job at a NGO to show off acquired cocktail shaking skills for team nights”.

3. Add sections on LinkedIn:

What I highly recommend is the skills and languages section. Your skills are indexed, so companies can look for specific skills. The same counts for languages. When you are looking to land a job at one of the Fortune 100, languages can be really important. If you speak more than 1 language fluently make sure you mention it. Based on a test done by Bill Boorman, your skills are higher ranked in a LinkedIn search than the keywords you use in your summary.

4. Location

If you are, for instance, based in the Netherlands and you are actually looking for a job in London, make sure you put your location as London. Companies won’t look for people in the Netherlands to fill jobs in London (if they don’t need specific Dutch language). Further according to Bill Boorman (2011): “Results are weighted to those closest to the search”.

5. Build connections:

LinkedIn is a professional social network. Build your connections with people you know through school, university, work or private. Everyone should be able to quickly build a minimum of 100 connections. You can start with adding me to your network. Your network can, for instance, post jobs on their wall or share job offers or other interesting information they get from other people with you. To increase your connections quickly, import your contacts from your email addresses. Further, the LinkedIn search engine uses connections to show most relevant results. So if you are connected in 2nd or 3rd Degree (or group) to the people that look for new employees that will get you higher in the search results.

6. Engage in Groups:

One of the great things about LinkedIn are the professional groups where you can engage in interesting discussions and where you can find jobs related to the specific group. If you engage in a specific group, it can give you valuable insight in how to get a job you want and get you noticed by other people engaging and reading the discussion. Be aware though, most groups aren’t just for jobs, but mainly for information sharing and discussion topics.

Try these tips and hopefully they will help you in getting opportunities! If you have some good tips of your own that you would like share, just comment on the post!

Next article I will continue about LinkedIn and the possibilities to actively look for jobs yourself!

If you have any questions or want to share something you can reach out to me on tim.koekkoek-AT-oracle.com or send me an invite on LinkedIn or join our Facebook community!

Combining Technical and Business aspects in your job? Apply now.

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Wed, 2 Nov 2011 16:06:26 +0000

Hi, I am Ben. I am working as a Pre-Sales Consultant for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Malaga as part of the EMEA Pre-Sales Center (EPC). I did my Bachelor in Wirtschaftsinformatik (Business Informatics) at the University of Applied Sciences in Kufstein, Austria. I got to know Spain for the first time when I studied in Granada for a half year during this Bachelor and definitely wanted to go back. When I graduated I moved back to Granada again and did a distant learning Master for 2 years in Business Informatics through the Ferdinand Porsche Fern FH in Vienna.

During my Master I started looking for a job and came across the role as a CRM Pre-Sales Consultant through one of the Oracle recruiters in Germany. I immediately felt this was a role that was an almost 100% fit with my studies as it combined both technical and business aspects. After going through the recruitment process I started on the 1st of November 2010.

My job consists of remotely supporting the Pre-Sales field consultants in Germany and Switzerland. This means I am working on answering questions from customers on a functional level related to the Oracle CRM product stack and also preparing and demonstrating Oracle CRM Products to potential customers so that they can see what we can offer. To create a good bond with my colleagues in the field I’m flying over to Germany and Switzerland 2-5 times a year. I also work closely with the EPC teams in Bucharest, Romania and in Bangalore, India.

Pre-Sales

The Pre-Sales role gives you a very broad insight in the customer’s business, economy related aspects and the Oracle products. After this role you can, for instance, move to a role as Field Pre-Sales Consultant in the country you originally come from, or potentially move to a Sales or Consulting role. Other doors, for example into product management, are open as well. As soon as you have a foot in Oracle you can achieve nearly everything if you really want and work for it.

“Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness”

What I have experienced in the last year working in the EPC team is that Oracle is a very entrepreneurial company, where you get the chance to work independently and come up with ideas and suggestions for improvement. My manager told me from the very beginning that I can see Oracle as my company and act this way. That is something I really like. As an example, I am part of a project group focussing on internal communications within the EPC team next to my job which gives me a chance to work with new social media technology and platforms available internally already to get a glimpse of how it works, before our customers start using it.

Malaga, Andalusia

Living in Malaga, and having Andalusia on your finger tips is a great experience. Also the office in Malaga has grown rapidly this year from 50 to 300 employees, and consists of employees from a large number of different countries in Europe. So the atmosphere is very international. I speak English, German and Spanish every day. I pass by the reception and say “¡Buenos días!, I walk upstairs and welcome my team saying “Good Morning!” and then I pick up the phone and say “Guten Morgen!”. The EPC team itself consists of all young professionals.

If you want to join the EPC team and work and live in Andalusia we have a great opportunity for German speakers in the CRM, but also in the Technology Pre-Sales team at the moment. In the technology oriented role you will focus on the Database or Service Oriented Architecture related product stack of Oracle. Therefore this role is as well technical, as it is business focussed. For more information visit http://campus.oracle.com. Interested? Please send your CV to benjamin.kolp-AT-oracle.com.

Oracle Direct: Rising Talent Development Centre for young professionals

Cristina Ciocoiu — Wed, 5 Oct 2011 07:10:41 +0000

My name is Ajmal. I studied International Business Administration (IBA) and MSc Strategic Management at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). After having completed my studies I took up the challenge to work for one of the largest and prestigious IT companies in the world as a Business Development Consultant. I am located in Dublin and am working for Oracle Direct, our Sales Operations team. As you might have read in the news, Oracle is currently recruiting around 1,700 new employees!

I have been in my role for 6 months and I can say with confidence that this is one of the best places where I could start my career; an international environment full of opportunities to grow. I have experienced that the company devotes significant efforts to support the progression of candidates through skills enhancements, skills development, coaching, mentoring and training with the potential to grow into a next role within 1 – 1,5 years!

Something I value deeply within Oracle is the way the company manages to bring an international, talented group of people together to work on a common goal. Although the team spirit is great it is important to realize that in many ways your career and talent development plan are in your own hands. Our managers strongly encourage us to individually own and actively manage our personal development within the company. For example, you can have the opportunity to rotate across all lines of business and regions to work on projects outside your core roles. This will extend your scope of responsibilities and skills.

This is a great opportunity for ambitious graduates who want to pursue a career in an international environment. The most important things you can bring as a graduate candidate is responsibility, positive attitude and a willingness to learn. If you have these characteristics and you want to develop your talent in many ways then OracleDirect is the ideal place to start your career journey.

Dublin as a place to life: Dublin has its own unique character. This city with most of the inhabitants between 20 and 40 is offering a lot of activities for young professionals. Dublin is modern, young, and has of contrasts. You can select activities that are as diverse as: water sports, chilling at the beach, cycling, indoor sports, or hang out with some friends in Temple Bar and much more. Dublin also has a lively cultural and musical scene.

I am looking forward to see you here on board!

You can find all our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com .

My first Career fair: Tips from a student to the students

Cristina Ciocoiu — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:47:30 +0000

My name is Audrey. I am studying at IPAG Business School – Paris – and joined Oracle UK in February 2011 – more specifically, I joined the EMEA Graduate's Recruitment Team (EMEA stands for Europe, Middle East and Africa). Our team is responsible for graduates and interns recruitment in EMEA - being more visible and more attractive to students and on campus - handling the recruitment process (sourcing, selection, offer, hire) for all students', graduates' and junior profiles. Our Oracle Recruitment EMEA team recruits the most motivated people in the industry for jobs in Oracle that offer a challenging and rewarding environment.

Our recruiting team in EMEA are part of the Oracle Business, working in partnership not just to fill jobs but also to find the most successful people who want to establish a long term career in a strong and successful enterprise.

My main objective is to find candidates for the French market; our main tools of searching are social media websites and the top Schools in France: “Grandes Ecoles”. I am also in charge of organizing events and career fairs in France. My role is a wonderful way to understand how we recruit candidates in a multinational company. I am also learning how answer to managers’ needs and how to be efficient in order to facilitate the recruitment procedures.

One of the events I organized was in the Business School of EM Grenoble, one of the Top Business Schools in France (6th place in the ranking); with which Oracle Recruitment and Oracle Academy (https://academy.oracle.com/) have cooperated with for a long time.

Below, I explain the key points from the career fair that I attended in Grenoble:

• How do I feel informing students about roles instead of being “a student looking for a job”? Just before arriving in the School it is quite stressing, as I am a student I had to be well prepared in order to look professional and keep the control of the presentation to have an impact on the candidates. When the students arrived I felt like having the responsibility to inform them about our role's offers, our company and finally I forgot to be stressed because I had knowledge about our activity that the students didn’t have. The interesting and “funny” point is that I am used to going into career fairs to find more information about companies and opportunities. This time I was in the “opposite role”: I could see the students’ shyness when they arrived to the career fair, and they remember me in the same situation just a few months ago!

• What is the most important tip for a student attending a career fair? Probably to be more aware about the companies presenting during the career fair; looking at the company website they are going to talk with and at the job descriptions they want to apply. Of course it is much more profitable to bring a resume to give to the recruiters.

• My feedback of the journey: It is really interesting for a student like me, who will look for internships or their first job in the next years, to participate as a company representative during a career fair. I learned an important aspect of a student’s behaviour: we used to search an internship only because we have to do it in order to validate our diploma; but company representatives can feel when students are presenting their resume because they are interested in the company, they have passion for that business… and not only because they have to do it for the school…

The contact with the recruiters starts in the first moment you meet them to ask questions… so be more motivated!

We are looking for you!

If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact annapia.racanelli-AT-oracle-DOT-com. You can find all our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com

Another perspective

Cristina Ciocoiu — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:55:52 +0000

Hi everyone.

My name is Ilias and I am part of the Management Team for the Business Development Group for Germany and Switzerland in our Oracle offices in Dublin.

I would like to give my perspective on a thought that goes through many people’s minds when thinking about their future.

‘Choosing the right career path and succeeding in it can be a daunting task for many fresh graduates especially when they are having relatively limited experience in the job market’.

What skills do I have? Which direction should I follow? In which industry do I have the best chances to excel and feel fulfilled in my job? These and many others are dilemmas that make the choice of a career path seem very complicated and scary. There is good news ahead!

When I joined Oracle few months ago, I came to realise from the first few days that this is an organisation that solves many of the challenges I have mentioned above. The reason for this is that you are given a very clear understanding on what the different development opportunities and directions are, (and there is a huge choice of them!) and you are given all the support that you need and ask in order to reach your goals. What you have to do is decide for yourself and consult your manager in order to set up a development plan and put your energies into achieving it.

And there is something for everybody there:

If you have little experience or exposure to customers, you might be looking for a position as a Customer Intelligence Representative. There, you are given the opportunity to gain experience in customer contact on a daily basis, support greatly the creation of sales campaigns by profiling and improving the quality of the contacts and you are doing your first steps towards opportunity identification.

If you had a successful progression within the CIR Role or you are coming to Oracle with previous customer interaction and great motivation for sales, you might be fitting for a Business Development Consultant role. In this position you are actively engaging with customers who have either interacted with Oracle in some way (Marketing Events, Downloads of Software) or whom you are calling proactively to discuss topics of current interest around our products. The goal in this position is to invoke interest, identify and qualify possible opportunities and pass them on to the inside sales colleagues for progression.

Most colleagues after that are looking for a career in Sales moving from BDC to an inside sales position and eventually to field sales but there is also the option to develop your skills in another direction and move into management if you wish to do so. Apart from that, somebody can always decide to look into another direction into the organisation outside of sales or outside the country they are based in.

As you see the possibilities are plenty and the path to reach them very clear.

What one needs is to be active, motivated, inspired.

Ilias

If you want to work with the brightest minds in the industry and to be part of a dynamic, international and great team, then Oracle is the place for YOU.

You can find all our internship opportunities on http://campus.oracle.com .

If you have any questions related to this article please contact felix.wehmeyer-AT-oracle.com.

Top Notch Talent: University students experience life at Oracle

Cristina Ciocoiu — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:46:28 +0000

University students from the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia visited the Customer Visit Centre at Thames Valley Park, UK in July to learn about graduate opportunities at Oracle. The engineering and computer science students heard a series of presentations from Oracle employees, giving a flavour of daily working life at Oracle and outlining the choice of career paths available. They also learnt about Oracle culture and received tips on how to apply for positions.

The session at Oracle's campus in Reading, organised by Oracle Recruitment, was part of a two-week UK tour (www.twoweeks.es) undertaken by the students to introduce and prepare them for the world of work. The initiative is co-ordinated by Prof. Dr. Antonio Reig from the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, and also dovetails with the ambitions of Oracle’s Top Notch Talent program to recruit, develop and retain the best talent in the industry.

Gillian Channer, Senior Director, Business Operations, UK and Ireland, gave an account of her career, starting as programmer, and then a trainer of Oracle products. Her advice for the students was to work hard, never take things for granted and most importantly network.

The final presentation was by Annapia Racanelli, Oracle recruiter for Italy and France, who highlighted the different opportunities available within Oracle for graduates. Annapia also explained how Oracle encourages continuous development of skills.

Annapia explained how Oracle Direct provides a vibrant, multi-lingual working environment for professionals at early stages of their sales career. She also offered advice on finding positions within Oracle – recommending the students join the dedicated Oracle Facebook page and set up a Linked-in profile as soon as possible.

Prof. Dr. Antonio Reig concluded: “The day at Oracle was a great opportunity for the students to see first-hand how one of the world’s best companies works.”

The student day forms part of Oracle's continuous recruitment programme to attract the very best graduate talent from across Europe. The team establishes strong relationships with each of the top European universities, making regular visits to careers departments and student unions to ensure the students are fully briefed on opportunities available at Oracle.

The team works hard to ensure that Oracle has a strong online and social media presence for jobseekers and sends out targeted emails to the top potential candidates. It also works closely with the top European MBA programmes to ensure that Oracle attracts the best interns, and sponsors some of the best student projects and awards. The programme also arranges for Oracle employees to return to their universities to speak first-hand to students about what it’s like working at Oracle. If you are interested in participating, please contact annapia.racanelli-AT-oracle.com.

The day opened with a presentation from Gordon Davies, of Sales Knowledge Communications, EMEA, who provided an introduction to Oracle's business in the IT industry, its customers and global organization.

DAK company run in Potsdam

Cristina Ciocoiu — Mon, 8 Aug 2011 07:19:20 +0000

5:30 o’clock pm: The weather is really nice which means it is sunny. We meet at the Oracle banner in a very good mood. All of us are very excited and of course nervous. After half an hour the group with 23 participants has arrived. We all are wearing our beautiful t-shirts and our running numbers. The team are all in an excited and good mood for the photo and we talk about our possible times and make some jokes about the weather.

6 o’clock pm: Before running a good stretching and warm –up is important. The organizer has reserved a sport studio to do a warm up with all of the 1200 participants. It was a funny picture J

6:20 o’clock: The Oracle team goes unified to the starting area. The sky shows only different dark colors but the sun is lost. Our fears come true. We hope all together that it will not rain while we run but…

6:30 o’clock: …At the exact moment when the race is due to start, it starts to rain! Not very extreme but it starts. The speaker and the Potsdam Mayor request us to wait for the television. They will do a review about the company run.

6:35 o’clock: The mayor gives the signal to start with a pistol. That is also the signal for the sky to flood the earth. Within a few minutes all runners are extremely wet. The whole 4,6 kilometers you can’t see anything, you feel only wet and your shoes are heavy because of the big puddles on the ground.

After 30 minutes everyone in our team has finished the run. We had some non-alcoholic beer and water from above. It was a real pity that the party fell through but it was a great fun!

All in all it was a day that we all will remember.

You can find all our internship opportunities on http://campus.oracle.com .

If you have any questions related to this article please contact felix.wehmeyer-AT-oracle.com.

Made in Germany @ Oracle

Cristina Ciocoiu — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:15:28 +0000

Hi, Moin Moin

My Name is Neele, originally German and now living in Ireland. I have been working as a Business Development Representative for Oracle in Dublin since November 2010. After graduating from my Business School in Southern Germany (DHBW Ravensburg) I was working at Lidl for about a year until Oracle came into my life. Oracle contacted me and offered me an amazing start to my career. As I studied International Business, my dream was to work abroad. The opportunity with Oracle included the chance to work abroad in an international surrounding with getting to know people from all different countries of Europe. – My Dream!

This multicultural environment is unique in Europe. I am working directly with colleagues from France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Great Britain, Portugal and many other European countries in ONE single team.

So far I have gotten to know nearly every language in Europe and try to adopt some words for myself.

Oracle gives you the chance to develop your own career in an international environment. It´s a multicultural organization and offers you the ability to learn global business processes. Nowhere else can you gain this much knowledge that you can promote into the next role within one year.

My job is focused on generating demand for Oracle products and finding new business opportunities over the phone. I have established a close relationship with Sales People all over Europe, but in particular, those based in Germany and Switzerland. Within a few short months I have acquired a professional knowledge of the whole IT Sector. At Oracle, I constantly receive relevant training on a weekly basis to enhance my skill-set. I am constantly supported by management and my personal mentor. I attend regular on-to-one sessions with my manager to review my career development plan.

The most amazing thing I am experiencing is my growing self-confidence and professionalism when speaking with customers. From having CEO’s on the phone, to having meetings with 15 different nationalities, to familiarizing with living in Ireland… it’s something that you will never experience in Germany.

( from left to right: Neele Asmussen, Mathias Privat, Martin Lagerberg, Dieter Hirsch, Barbara Schless, Bella Koury, Pilippe Hauck, Lisa Gayme )

Dublin as a place to life is also important to mention: Dublin has its own character. A city with most of the inhabitants between 20 and 40 offers a lot of activities for young professionals. The city is modern, vibrant and has a whole lot of contrasts.

You can decide between anything from water sports, chill at the beach, go cycling, or indoor sports, or hang out with some friends in Temple Bar and still I haven´t mentioned all of activities Dublin has to offer. Also there is a big cultural and musical scene here in Dublin.

If I am speaking for myself: I am a member of around 10 people from Oracle who plan to go on trips once a month or go to pubs and movies all together. Just last month we have been to Northern Ireland for a weekend.

Those groups emerge during every foundation training all New Starters get here. It is a training course for getting the start up knowledge for Oracle.

All in all working here in Dublin for Oracle with all the different possibilities for personal career development is an added value to a career path for business graduates and a perfect opportunity to get to know an international global player and its cultures.

I am looking forward to seeing you here on board.

You can find all our internship opportunities on http://campus.oracle.com .

If you have any questions related to this article please contact felix.wehmeyer-AT-oracle.com.

Multitasking @ Oracle

Cristina Ciocoiu — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:24:30 +0000

Hi!

My name is Sofia and I am from Milano. I would like to share with you my internship experience within a great Company: ORACLE! J I completed my Master Degree in Business in October 2010 at UNICATT – Milan and got the chance to join Oracle Compensation & Benefits Team a few weeks later.

From the second I stepped into Oracle’s world, I got a positive feeling. I was told of all the things that Oracle could offer me and, thankfully, I seized the opportunity immediately. I was given a fantastic opportunity and luckily, on that rainy day in November when I signed my contract, I had the sense to give it a go!

While I was still a student I used to dream of an international career and global workplaces. And this is what this huge, multinational company gave me: the possibility to mature professionally in a challenging multicultural environment which was both dynamic and broadminded, and also the chance to interact with colleagues from so many different nationalities.

My current role is a support role within the Compensation & Benefits Team focusing mainly on the Italian and South East Europe markets. My role consists of managing a wide variety of tasks that range from compensation data analysis to definition of business cases to implementation of programs. I can now identify that this role allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to deal with the pressure of deadlines and constant changes and consequently focus on what’s important.

This is what I deemed most important on improving and it drastically helped considering I was a new graduate diving into working life, a pragmatic role that requires you to multitask, that keeps you active, and that really helps to “wake you up”! It’s by far the best way to build on capabilities, competencies and skills!

Oracle offers the best environment to learn , grow and have fun at the same time!

If you want to work with the brightest minds in the industry and to be part of a dynamic, international and great team, then Oracle is the place for YOU.

You can find all our internship opportunities on http://campus.oracle.com .

If you have any questions related to this article please contact annapia.racanelli-AT-oracle.com.

Oracle went back to school !....

Cristina Ciocoiu — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:54:41 +0000

I am Georgiana, Contracts Manager for Oracle University and Advanced Customer Services in Romania. I started working for Oracle for 4 years ago as a Contracts Specialist. Two years ago I became a manager of a team of 9 Contracts Specialists. On a sunny day in March some members of my team visited the students of the Academy of Economic Studies, accompanied by Recruitment colleagues. This was part of a new initiative to raise awareness on career opportunities at Oracle.

We spent approximately 2 hours illustrating and explaining different aspects of the day-to-day activities of an Oracle Contracts Specialist to the future graduates of the Academy.

Role Play

Since a role play is worth 1000 job descriptions, the audience witnessed an entertaining performance on the contracting process from the phase of the negotiation with the customer to actual signing of the contract.

The main focus was on the role of Contracts Specialist liaising with all the groups involved and ensuring that the contract is compliant with Oracle policies while generating the expected revenue.

However, the team took other roles as well i.e. Sales Representative, Customer, Business Approver and Lawyer to demonstrate their role in the process. As each of these roles only have a small slice of the big pie, it is vital to understand what happens before and after you come on stage as a Contract Specialist.

Contracts Specialist

Being a Contracts Specialist goes beyond simply knowing what policies apply, it means understanding Oracle’s core business model, understanding customers’ requests and addressing them in the most effective way.

The job also involves connecting smaller teams that are often geographically dispersed across multiple regions so that they become a bigger, stronger and successful team. You are the expert in this key position that can facilitate the closing of a deal or stop it from happening if the risk is too high. The role play provided insights on both.

Why I love this job

Events of this kind are sometimes just as useful for the “recruiters” as for the “recruits”. For me, as a presenter, it was an excellent opportunity to think about the many reasons why I love what I do in the Contracts department every day and to share this with the students.

I wanted to explain to the audience, who are still considering education and career possibilities, that what we do in Contracts DOES make a difference. You have the power to achieve targets that you did not think reachable before. Working in the dynamic Oracle environment shapes you as a person and there is a lot to take away from this experience.

Looking back to my years in the Academy (I graduated from the Academy myself), I wish I could have listened to more people talking about their great jobs and about how I could get there. If those were Oracle people I might have been writing this article sooner. J

If you are interested to join the Contracts team please click here for more information or contact lavinia.protopopescu-AT-oracle.com.

You can find all openings in Romania via http://campus.oracle.com

CEMS Business Project @ Oracle

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:03:26 +0000

Hi!

My name is Katrin and I am studying for the CEMS Master in International Management. Together with four fellow students from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School I conducted the CEMS business project at Oracle Direct EMEA in Dublin. For almost four months we analysed trends within the Business to Business market place on vendor demand generation strategies and formulated recommendations for adoption by Oracle. Besides extensive secondary research, we conducted numerous interviews with (Inside) Sales staff both from Oracle and from other companies in the industry.

The project was very challenging and rewarding at the same time. The benchmarking analysis about Business to Business demand generation strategies required us to condense all collected information in order to yield clear conclusions – a task, which is easier said than done. In the recommendations part of our project, we were able to build up on our findings and to bring in creativity. Since none of our team members had previous experience in Inside sales, we had to learn about the organisation and functioning of this corporate function from scratch. Thanks to a great deal of support from Oracle, particularly by our project mentor, we were able to quickly close our “knowledge gap.”

The final project presentation at Oracle was very well received. During a joint lunch our Oracle mentor told us which of our recommendations the company was planning to adopt in the future. Thus, the CEMS project at Oracle did not only provide my team with a hands-on learning experience, but also left us with the positive feeling that we could add value to the company.

If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact sara.svedin-AT-oracle-DOT-com. You can find all our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com

Writing your CV- A few tips to get you started

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Wed, 1 Jun 2011 13:49:35 +0000

Curriculum Vitae is Latin for “life story”. The purpose of the curriculum vitae is to make you attractive and interesting to the company. It is your business card, an advert to sell yourself to an employer, so make sure you do this in the right way. Here are some useful tips to guide you.

The basic information that needs to be in your resume is:

Personal details: Name, home address, phone number, email address, date of birth.
Education: Give places of education where you have studied. Put the most recent education first.
Include subject options taken in each year of your course. Include any special project, thesis, or dissertation work. Pre-college courses (high school, etc.), may not need much detail.
Work experience: List your most recent experience first. Give the name of your employer (describe shortly what the company does, and its size), job title, your role and responsibilities and achievements.
Skills: Languages: including level of proficiency, courses and IT Skills
Others: i.e. publications, prizes, interests, hobbies, sports, travels

Keep in mind that a resume does not apply to every job and every company. Your target is to get an interview and convince the interviewer that you are the right person for that position; therefore the resume must be “tailored-made” for that company.

Include in a clear, precise and attractive manner those degrees, seminars, internships, experiences and any relevant information that may you get an interview for that job. All the information not linked to the vacancy may be removed or summarized in a couple of lines.

A company most likely receives hundreds applications for a position, and they will only choose a few people who appear suitable for interview. So yours must be easy to read and short. One or two pages are the maximum.

Resumes are used to screen all the applications and then make a decision on who to invite for an interview. Therefore, your resume must be as good as you can make it, so before sending it out ask someone else to read it. What you have written may seem simple and obvious to you, but someone else might have difficulty to understand what you mean.

Do not forget….

If they don’t hear it, you didn’t say it
Be consistent, structured and organized.
If you wish to include your photograph, add one that gives a professional image and is recently taken.
Never lie! You will lose all your credibility and the interviewer will question any statement in your resume.
Check the spelling
Keep it simple, but don’t write in telegraph style
It is your business card, work on it!
Do not copy standard CV samples; use them as inspiration to create your own!

Objective

You could consider starting your resume with an objective or personal statement. This is optional; this could be included in your cover letter as well. If you choose to add this: keep it brief (three or four lines max.) Describe your career focus and evidence of two or three main strengths and were they were developed. This part of your resume has to be tailored to the role and company you are applying to.

The best of luck with writing your resume and if you have any questions please feel free to comment on this article. If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact jessica.ebbelaar-AT-oracle-DOT-com. You can find all our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com

Girls Day 2011 @ Oracle in Potsdam

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:12:57 +0000

On 14th of April 2011, Oracle Germany took part for the 6th time in the nationwide Girls' Day. This day aims to present a wide array of career possibilities in the technical fields (which are still widely considered as male-only) to a young feminine audience. In order to achieve this, Oracle organised a program in which colleagues shared experiences, educated and advised young girls interested in a technical career.

The day started in the Oracle Tower where the girls took the impressive glass elevator up to the 7th floor which overlooked their hometown. This viewpoint was completely new for the 14 years old girls. The day changed their view on working in the IT- Industry and this is exactly what we wanted to achieve! Here is what happened on the day:

Firstly Linda Mihalic, the General Business Senior Director, introduced Oracle and the different Lines of Business by using a simplified company presentation. The example of online shopping to purchase pink coloured high heels made it easier for the girls to understand the purpose of our software.

To show the girls how you can start your career at Oracle, all participants reviewed their resumes sharing the fun and exciting moments but also the second thoughts and doubts they have experienced. This way we could make it clear that sometimes you need to jump in the deep end and there is more than one way to reach a goal. Also how it is a benefit to have learned different languages and to have fun is the most important aspect to keep in mind when you work on an assignment.

After this “Aha-Erlebnis” the girls started their first job. They had the chance to gain an insight into the daily work and were able to become active themselves: writing emails, applying for holidays in the system, taking calls from colleagues. Also, they had the chance to experience our main line of business in Potsdam: Sales!

In a web conference we gave the girls an insight in how our software works. We used a Telecom Customer as an example to show the technical process of sending a text message from a mobile phone to the mobile phone of a friend – up to the billingof the message with Oracle software. This example showed that the virtual world is our daily work and that online calling is possible at Oracle.

A bagel lunch gave new energy to start the second session of experiencing the daily work at Oracle. This was followed by a quiz about what they had learned during the day where the girls where split into in teams and the best team would win. This gave them the experience of teamwork. They felt the period of fours hours flew by quicker than being at school. The girls enjoyed the overall experience and will share it with their friends and fellow students. They gave us great feedback!

If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact felix.wehmeyer-AT-oracle-DOT-com. You can find all our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com

Fundraising @ Oracle in Spain

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:08:44 +0000

Our names are Roberto and Maria and we are interns at Oracle Spain in Madrid. We are about to reach the end of the fiscal year and for this reason we are happy to share with you one of our greatest achievements of this year which all the interns in Spain are very proud of.

The Calendar

Our story began a few weeks before Christmas... as an internal tradition in the High Potential Student Program (HPSP), interns sing a Christmas carol every 23rd of December, at the Christmas party in front of all Oracle Madrid employees. This year we wanted to prepare something different and innovative for this day.We aspired to go beyond getting together to celebrate this day and working together for a common goal of helping others. Something that could be remembered for a long period of time. One day during breakfast, we had a great idea of making a calendar. Innovative and something that everyone could use throughout the year and a goal for all interns to achieve based on collaboration!

The Photo-shoot

After receiving the required approval, the group of interns organised a meeting in order to brainstorm and decide what would be the best topic for the calendar. We finally agreed to create a calendar with photographs that could represent each month in Oracle Spain. We also wanted this calendar to be part of an Oracle Spain social project. We decided to collaborate with Manos Unidas to provide funds for building a school in a village in Zambia.

We did not have any budget for taking these photographs so we had to use every resource at our disposal; one intern volunteered to be the photographer, the marketing interns helped to brighten the pictures, some Oracle employees offered their support to help us and of course all the interns were available and supportive during the process. Real team work!

With no doubt the hardest part was to develop a good campaign so the employees would buy one of these calendars- AND we did it. The calendar was a great success! People bought the calendar for their office, share with their families, give to partners and customers... We managed to sell over 700 calendars and the funds contributed towards building a school in Zambia.

A big thank you!

We want to take this opportunity to thank those people involved in this project, especially the interns from all departments who worked together in order to achieve this amazing result. Also thank all employees who made an effort to buy more than one calendar! You were the ones who truly made this possible!

Finally, we would like to share with you the quiet bliss that we had at the end of this fantastic project.

“Imagine your office at Christmas Eve, just 3 or 4 people working that day in the office and in a complete silence... what can be seen on every single desk?... yes, at least one of our calendars for the Zambia school!”

If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact maria.hernanz.santorroman@oracle-DOT-com You can find all our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com

Attention: Talent in France!

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Tue, 10 May 2011 13:27:24 +0000

For the past 6 years, Oracle has attended one of the most prestigious Students events in France, the Concours de Negociation organised by the EM Normandie and gathering sales and marketing students from several Grandes Ecoles and Universites in France. For the past 6 years, we have hired top talent from this highly rated event.

As we in France enjoy food, let me give you the recipe a successful Sales competition:

Select 20 top students, highly ambitious and willing to prove to Oracle Senior Managers that they have a high level of understanding complex needs of a customer and deal with customers in the most professional and sales-y manner
Invite Directors, Managers and Oracle colleagues to the beautiful sea-side Deauville to meet with the above mentioned students
2 days of presentations, meetings, a glamorous Gala dinner and 20 sales simulations – a fairly busy agenda, which gives students the full opportunity to understand the superb careers Oracle offer to graduates
Offer a trip to our winner (this year we offered a trip to Greece) and dinner vouchers in a castle as 2nd and 3rd prizes
… And the result is: the best students will get an offer to join the excitement of working in Oracle! Oracle offers internships and permanent positions in its Oracle Direct teams (Sales Teams) in the vibrant cities of Dublin and Malaga.

You will work with French customers but will fully enjoy our European Centre’s facilities with second to none training and a taste of Erasmus atmosphere – 17 nationalities working together.

Want to know more about our training in Oracle Direct?

Oracle Direct is our Sales Academy – no wonder training is second to none.
Oracle Direct offers all new hires an intensive foundation training programme to fully equip them with the skills & knowledge to perform their new role to the highest standard & ensure a successful start to their career in Oracle.
The intensive programme is challenging, rewarding & fun! It involves a mix of innovative sales skills training, interactive product training & lots of sales simulations to put the learning into practice. In addition to being a great learning experience, this 3 week training is a superb multi-cultural networking event, offering the chance to mix with all levels of people from all over EMEA.
When Foundation is finished training does not stop there! Oracle Direct offers many more trainings to continue to allow reps to develop a variety of skills. We offer a full sales accreditation programme which can result in a certificate or diploma from one of Ireland’s largest & most recognized third level institutions – Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) so while working employees can also be adding to their academic qualifications. There are 5 sales training modules offered as part of this Accreditation Programme.
There are on-going product trainings organized for employees often designed specifically for campaigns they are working on to optimize their chance of success in the job!
A competitive compensation package that is aligned with your qualifications & includes an employee benefits scheme: Extensive Relocation Package Join the excitement!

Apply on line to our French speaking positions on http://campus.oracle.com or send your CV to Annapia.racanelli@oracle.com

The dream job @ Oracle!

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:19:05 +0000

My name is Chloe Chometon-Sosio and I have the dream job in one of the most successful organisations in the world: I lead Graduate Recruitment for Oracle in Europe, Middle East and Africa. My team offer to top students and graduates to add to their CV a line which is going to change their career: an experience with ORACLE – meaning second to none training and excitement of working in a highly dynamic, international and fun environment.

To say it in fewer words: my team changes the lives of hundreds of students and graduates every year and offer to them the chance to learn what success looks like, with high standards.

(from left to right, my Dream Team: Vanesa Rodriguez, Jessica Ebbelaar, Chloe Chometon, Sara Svedin, Annapia Racanelli, Lorraine Gallagher, Lavinia Protopopescu. (not on the picture Felix Wehmeyer, and our great team of interns)

There is a quote from our CEO, Larry Ellison, that I always like to mention because I very much believe in it: "Oracle is filled with people who, when just meeting their own internal standards of achievement, astonish other people." And it is true – by raising the bar very high at the recruitment stage, we ensure we will work with highly talented, ambitious professionals… and with whom we will have fun!

Do you want to join ? If you have less than 2 years experience, please have a look at https://campus.oracle.com and apply to any position of interest. You can also send us your CV to graduates-emea_ww@oracle.com mentioning your availability and what area you are interested in.

If you have over 2 years experience, please apply on line at http://emeajobs.oracle.com

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Tags van Technorati: Graduate Recruitment,CEO,Larry Ellison,campus.oracle.com,emeajobs.oracle.com,dream job,Europe,Middle East and Africa,highly dynamic,international and fun environment.

‘Work and life balance’ at Oracle EMEA in Ireland

jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:25:22 +0000

“To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.” Pearl S. Buck

Hi, my name is Ela and I am working at Oracle in Dublin (Ireland) as a HR Administrator. In this article I want to tell you more about Oracle’s work-life balance activities in Ireland.

Oracle in Ireland acknowledges the role that work plays in an individual’s life and is devoted to creating a positive work environment. As part of Oracle’s ongoing work-life balance strategy a variety of tools and initiatives are in place. They will help to raise the awareness to employees on the importance of the concept and encourage them to lead a more healthy and balanced life. In March, the most recent work-life balance initiative was hosted where all employees were encouraged to take some time out and consider how they can improve their work- life balance.

On Friday 25th March we had the chance to attend a 5-A-Side Football Tournament- sit in the sunrays, breathe fresh air and watch those of us who decided to take their chance in winning the main prize: food and beverage voucher. We all enjoyed the atmosphere of the day.

As part of our Work Life Balance Day we also had the chance to shine as photographers in a Photo Competition. The goal was to capture: "What Work Life Balance Means To You". The response for this initiative was phenomenal. We could all enjoy these digital masterpieces on the big screens in the canteens while having our lunches.

Moreover, on the day we were provided with some helpful links to assist us in living a healthy lifestyle. The goal of the initiative was to promote the concept of a balanced life and to remind the employees about the numerous working arrangements and family friendly policies that are available to them.

When you find the golden measure that allows you to combine your employment with other aspects of your life it will lead to a more balanced and harmonious lifestyle. It will help you find the joy and satisfaction in everything you do. Here, in Oracle EMEA, all the tools and support are in place - ready to use - the rest depends on us.

Some examples on work life balance initiatives include;

Family Friendly Leave Policies in place to support employees in achieving a successful work life balance.
Employee Assistance Programme available to all employees and their dependants, a professional and confidential service to assist in resolving challenging work / life issues.
Monthly events are held as part of our health and wellbeing calendar, including parenting skills workshops, First Aid seminars, stress management, smoking cessation and health screening / awareness days.
The onsite Gym and fitness classes including Yoga and Pilates, assist you in balancing work and incorporating daily exercise into your routine.
Onsite Nutritional Consultation is available to all employees.
Onsite Massage
Sports Clubs and Teams create a fun atmosphere in the office, for example Soccer, Basketball, Golf, TagRugby etc
Sports and Social Club, Oraclub, schedules a number of social events and parties throughout the year, including summer BBQ, Halloween party and Christmas Kids Party.
Oracle Employees are encouraged to participate in our Leadership in Society initiatives, including charity work and volunteer days.

If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact jessica.ebbelaar@oracle.com You can find all our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com.

Tags van Technorati: work life balance,Competion,Family Friendly Leave Policies,Employee Assistence Programme,Health and Wellbeing,Gym,Fitness,Nutrion,Massage,Sports Clubs,Social Club,Leadership in Society