Building a career to be proud of: inside the ESMT Career Fair

One of the annual highlights at ESMT Berlin, the Career Fair is our flagship, school-wide recruitment event. Run by our Career Development Center, it happens every February, uniting top hiring organizations, members of our global alumni network, and students from across ESMT's degree program portfolio.

The result is organizations who connect with their future talent among our community. It's students who find networking opportunities, along with career clarity and momentum. And, above all, it's connections that linger long after the booths have been packed away.

An insider’s view of the ESMT Career Fair

In this article, Liza Tabliashvili, an Employer Relations and Event Manager from our Career Development Center (CDC), takes us behind the scenes of the Fair, and explains how the CDC helps ESMT students accelerate their professional futures.

Hi Liza, could you please explain the role of the Career Development Center at ESMT?

The Career Development Center is a team of six people dedicated to supporting every student throughout their career journey at ESMT. That journey starts early – practically from the first weeks of a program – and continues well beyond graduation.

We work closely with students during their studies, helping them identify their strengths, clarify their career direction, and make informed decisions about internships and long-term career strategy.

How do you support students in their career journeys?

“Our goal is not just to help students land a job, it's to build long-term career readiness and confidence.”

Our support spans a wide range of touchpoints: CV and LinkedIn reviews, interview preparation, one-on-one advising sessions, workshops, weekly Career Cafés, and both on- and off-campus company events. We help students stand out as strong candidates in competitive markets.

Our goal is not just to help students land a first (or better) job, it's to build long-term career readiness and confidence.

Beyond individual advising, we organize a rich calendar of events throughout the year that connect students with companies in Germany and beyond. This includes visits to Berlin-based companies, an annual trip to Munich with our MBAs, case study sessions organized in partnership with companies, and panel discussions with industry professionals and alumni. There is always something happening.

And of course, we have our annual ESMT Career Fair.

Can you please give us a brief overview of what the Career Fair is all about?

“For many students, the Career Fair is a pivotal moment, the day they meet the company they'll go on to work for, or the conversation that helps them finally clarify what they're looking for.”

At its core, it's about creating meaningful connections between our students and the companies that are looking for exactly the kind of talent ESMT has. But it's more than just a recruitment event. It's a space where students can explore industries, test their instincts, practice their pitch, and start building professional relationships that can shape the direction of their careers. In that sense, it reflects what we try to do every day, not rush students toward a first offer, but help them develop the confidence and clarity to build careers they'll be proud of long-term. 

For many students, the Career Fair is a pivotal moment, the day they meet the company they'll go on to work for, or the conversation that helps them finally clarify what they're looking for.

For companies, it's an opportunity to engage with a highly international, academically rigorous, and professionally diverse talent pool in one focused setting. We design the day to make those interactions as genuine and productive as possible for everyone in the room.

Which ESMT students can attend the Career Fair?

We invite the entire ESMT student community to our annual Career Fair. All MSc students, as well as Full-Time, Part-Time, and Global Online MBA participants are welcome to attend. We also open the doors to alumni from all programs.

How about recruiters: what kind of companies attend and how do they come on board?

“We actively cultivate new partnerships every year, guided by student interests, industry trends, and the evolving landscape of the job market”

Our team works year-round to build and nurture partnerships with companies across Germany and Europe, connecting them with ESMT talent through a variety of touchpoints. The Career Fair is undoubtedly the highlight of that effort.

Each year, we welcome back our trusted long-term partners, who return to meet our newest cohort of students, present their brand and career opportunities, and invest in building relationships with emerging talent, whether for immediate openings or future pipelines.

Alongside these familiar faces, we actively cultivate new partnerships every year, guided by student interests, industry trends, and the evolving landscape of the job market. This might mean reaching out to exciting new market entrants, fast-growing scale-ups, or companies in sectors that are gaining particular relevance for our current cohorts.

The result is a deliberately diverse mix of organizations, from global corporations to new startups, spanning industries from tech and consulting to finance, and beyond. Our goal is to make sure that every student walks into the Fair and finds companies that speak to where they want to go.

How can students interact with recruiters at the Career Fair?

One of the things we're most proud of about our Career Fair is that it offers multiple layers of engagement so students can connect with companies in ways that suit their personality and goals.

1.      Start with a classic job fair set up

The day begins with a classic job fair set up, where each company has a dedicated booth. Students can drop by at any point throughout the afternoon, meet the people behind the brand, and have genuine conversations about career paths, company culture, new initiatives, or future plans. These informal chats are often where the most authentic connections are made.

2.      Explore a more focused format

We also offer a more focused format: one-on-one conversations arranged in a speed-dating style in our main auditorium. Companies that choose to participate select students in advance based on their CVs for a dedicated 15-minute conversation. These sessions are designed to put the right people face to face, and we very much see them as the first step in a longer dialogue. We actively encourage companies to follow up with students who spark their interest, turning that first conversation into something more.

3.      Close with an evening networking reception

Finally, we wrap up the day with an informal evening networking reception, where students and company representatives can unwind, celebrate the day, and connect over a drink in a relaxed setting. Some of the most memorable and meaningful connections happen in exactly these moments, when the pressure is off and people can simply talk.

What is your best tip for a student interested in getting better at this type of networking?

“The most effective networkers are the ones who ask genuine questions and show real interest in the people across from them.”

My biggest tip is to come with curiosity, not just ambition. Students sometimes walk into a career fair focused solely on impressing recruiters, but the most effective networkers are the ones who ask genuine questions and show real interest in the people across from them. Recruiters meet hundreds of candidates and what they remember is someone who made the conversation feel like a real exchange, not a pitch.

Practically speaking, do your homework beforehand. Know which companies will be there, identify two or three that genuinely excite you, and think about what you actually want to learn from them. This kind of preparation is something we try to build throughout the year, in advising sessions, workshops, and Career Cafés, so that by the time the Fair comes around, students walk in with confidence, not just a CV.

And finally, don't underestimate the power of following up. A short, thoughtful message after the Fair can be the difference between a conversation that fades and one that turns into an opportunity. That long-term thinking, treating each interaction as the beginning of a relationship, not a transaction, is at the heart of the ESMT Career Fair.

Can you tell us a bit more about the panel discussions at the fair?

Panel discussions are a format we introduced more recently, and they've quickly become one of the most valued parts of the day. They offer something the booth conversations and one-on-ones can't quite replicate: a space for deeper, more reflective dialogue in front of a wider audience.

We typically run two panels. The HR panel brings together three or four HR leaders or talent acquisition professionals to share the latest insights on hiring trends, what they're looking for in candidates, and how students can position themselves most effectively in today's market. It's essentially an inside look at what happens on the other side of the recruitment process.

The Alumni panel is something particularly close to our hearts. It gives our graduates, who are now further along in their careers, the opportunity to come back and share their journeys with current students. They speak honestly about navigating life after ESMT, the choices they made, the lessons they learned, and the advice they wish they'd had.

Because they've sat in the same seats as the students in the audience, their words carry a special kind of weight. It's always a powerful reminder of just how far our community reaches, and how much ESMT alumni are willing to give back.

Do you have any favorite stories or moments from the Career Fair that you would like to share?

It's genuinely hard to pick just one, every Career Fair brings its own memorable moments. But if I had to point to a recurring and impactful theme, it's seeing alumni return to the Fair as company representatives.

When a graduate comes back to ESMT, not as a student, but as a representative for their organization, it says something profound about the strength of this community. It means that companies valued our alumni so much that they chose to come back here to find the next generation of talent. And it means that our alumni care enough about ESMT to invest their time and their company's resources in giving that same opportunity to someone else.

There's something powerful about watching that circle close; a former student, now a professional, sitting across from a current student who is exactly where they were a few years ago. That, to me, is what the Career Fair is really about.