Helping Companies to Find the Right Talent: Ivan Jimenez

In the current competitive world, talent management has become more than just a simple HR term that could be tossed around easily. Talent management is a never-ending process that often involves attracting great talents, providing the needed training for their skill development, and constantly motivating talents to improve their performances. Talent management’s primary motto is to build a highly trained workforce who can take their company ahead.

Many talent management firms provide excellent services by finding and training new talents. However, Bizkaia Talent stands out from the other talent management organizations with its innovative approach. Founded in 2005, Bizkaia Talent is a nonprofit organization promoted by the Provincial Government of Biscay along with Basque Universities, research and technology centers, and companies that plans to create an environment where the best talents of Basque Country would find the necessary opportunities to thrive and showcase their skills and unique abilities in the global arena.

The Steadfast Leader

Meet Ivan Jimenez Aira, the Managing Director of Bizkaia Talent, who has been leading the company for over a decade. He holds a double degree in Law and Economics from the University of Deusto, an MBA from Deusto Business School, and a Master Executive in Business Analytics from ESADE Business School.

Additionally, he has a certificate in Employer Brand Leadership from Employer Branding College and quite a few new technologies and artificial intelligence programs from MIT Professional Education. Prior to joining Bizkaia Talent, Ivan worked in the insurance sector as a risk underwriter in various positions for more than 10 years.

Ivan always wanted a change in his professional career and looked for a job that could help him to serve his country. At that point of time, talent attraction was slowly becoming an essential strategy for Northern European countries. However, that was not the case in Southern Europe, so in the beginning, talking about it was like preaching in the desert. So, he tried to explain that with data and trends, showing examples of other territories where the demographic problems started much earlier.

A Nonprofit Organization

Bizkaia Talent is a nonprofit organization promoted by the Provincial Government of Biscay, along with Basque Universities, Technology and Research Centers, and the industries of Basque county, with a plan to attract, connect and retain highly qualified professionals to the country irrespective of their origin.

Bizkaia Talent also has a digital platform with data-based tools like Basque Talent Observatory, where the nonprofit uses Natural Language Processing and Big Data to analyze the job market condition of Basque for various highly qualified individuals.

Intending to connect job seekers and employers, the firm has a network the “Be Basque Talent Network”, where you can find over 500 Basque companies and almost 18.000 professionals living in more than 100 Countries who already have expressed their intention to work in the Basque Country or for Basque Companies.

Additionally, the network can use various tools to help people in their professional journey and provide useful information about the job market in Basque.

The organization also has a job platform and a Relocation and Dual Career Centre to help qualified professionals during their initial days in Basque. Bizkaia Talent helps local and international students through various programs to help them develop soft skills and put in contact with different Basque companies.

Key Factors to Success

“The integrative claim “Be Basque,” by which we invite every professional to be part of our country, has been a key factor for the success of our initiatives both in a personal contact way or in a digital way.”– says Ivan. Additionally, the client-focused strategy keeps the organization at the frontline of territorial talent management.

Also, collaboration with other players, both locally and internationally, with different regions and areas working intensively in their respective territories has helped the firm succeed. “For example, we are one of the founder members of the European Talent Mobility Forum, where we collaborate and interchange knowledge with different European regions that are working in the frontline of the Talent attraction.”– adds Ivan.

Picture of the Future

Ivan hopes more companies will rely on Bizkaia to design their employer branding strategy and use the organization as a part of the strategy. It also plans to innovate constantly, create various new services, or improve the existing ones and be the contact point of every highly qualified professional who wants to work in the Basque Country.

Currently, the nonprofit is eyeing Latin America as its next market, which will help it with the re-attraction strategy focused on Europe and the attraction strategy focused on Latin America.