Welcome to Sharp Talk, the regular podcast of Esharb magazine.

Go to eSharp.u for free access to all the podcasts to date.

This is Paul Adamson and I'm in conversation with Jason DeCont.

Jason is the founder of European Affairs Recruitment Specialist.

He's an executive search guy, a head hunter. The first question I'd like to ask you, Jason,

is it kind of maybe give some free advice, people out there looking at the job market in Brussels

in broad definition of public affairs. It seems to me that it's quite difficult to stand out from the crowd these days

of your young professional arriving in Brussels.

Everybody has at least two degrees.

They've lived and studied in many countries.

They speak many languages. They present well.

So how does a relative young professional in Brussels stand out from the competition?

Well, this is true. It's a very observable trend in the patterns in Brussels.

The market is getting even more competitive at the entry level.

Right.

When you speak to a number of hiring managers in Brussels, they seem to have already expectations that those

people know other people, although they have no experience.

The network, you mean?

The network.

So I think, obviously, there is a market that you can see in touch from your Brussels,

LinkedIn, you're active, and the other job boards are somehow touching this bubble.

But in a way, already at the entrance level, you have to know other people that can recommend

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