From Bahrain to India, to Singapore, and finally Oslo – Clayton Don Corda has found his place. He works as a Talent Acquisition Partner at Schibsted and has been working with recruitment, employer branding and HR for the last 14 years.
He is a valued and appreciated colleague among his peers and has had a quite unique journey to where he is now. But why Oslo? What’s the biggest cultural difference? And what are his secret tips for building your personal brand on LinkedIn?
Hi Clayton, please tell us about your background
I am an Indian who was born in Bahrain in the Middle East, then grew up and did my schooling in Mumbai, India. I moved to Singapore for my master’s, and worked there for 14 years before making my move to Oslo, Norway earlier this year.
How did you end up in Norway and in Schibsted specifically? Working for a German company for the last 7 years, I have had multiple opportunities to visit and work in Germany and that grew my interest in working in Europe.
As my Sister has been living in Norway for 4 years, it was one of the options I considered to be close to family and I happened to reconnect with a friend working at Schibsted and saw that they were hiring for a TA Partner, so I applied and gave it a shot.
What’s the biggest cultural difference from your previous residence?
For me, the biggest cultural difference was the work-life balance. People are focused when it comes to working but after work hours people don’t message or email you as compared to my previous residence.
From a personal perspective, I think learning the language would help to integrate a lot easier although English is widely spoken here, and learning the language will help you understand the nuance and culture better as compared to where I lived previously.
Clayton and some of his team members in the Talent Acquisition Team.
So you work as a Talent Acquisition Partner – can you describe your role and scope?
As a Talent Acquisition Partner, we partner with business leaders to attract the best talent out there in the market.
In my case, I support the Data & Tech area. We engage and advise hiring managers on their application and together we try to identify the best talent for their teams.
You work a lot with personal branding, especially on LinkedIn. Why is that important?
People follow People. I think I have overused this sentence now, but I think it’s really important to put yourself out there from a personal branding perspective, as people like to follow personal journeys and take inspiration from that. It could probably both help you land a new job and from a company perspective, it also allows people and talents to see the culture the company has.
Can you share your best tips when it comes to starting, and build, your presence on LinkedIn?
- Make sure you have a complete and updated LinkedIn profile, whether it is a basic or premium one.
- Post consistently. Don’t care too much about the likes on your posts, while it is important for engagement, you will create an audience sooner or later.
- Talk about your area of expertise, share your experiences and personal journey that people can relate to.
- Connect and engage by commenting or liking posts that you feel are relevant to you and help build your network.
