‘A match made in heaven’

90 seconds of excitement - it was definitely worth it for Maria Potapova. As soon as the young Belarusian stepped off the Talent Stage at the InnoTrans Campus after her pitch, three companies approached her to get to know her better. ‘I was very surprised,’ said the business graduate, who has already worked as a project buyer in her home country for five years. She has been living in Germany with her husband since January 2024. She is now looking for a job here in a company in the rail industry, for which she wants to ‘improve supply chains and develop cost-effective procurement solutions’, as she explained in her short presentation - in fluent German, by the way, even though she has only been learning the language for eight months.

Candidates from India, China, Great Britain and Zimbabwe

Potapova was one of 21 candidates who presented themselves on stage at the Eurailpress Career Boost at InnoTrans 2024. The live format premiered in 2022 and was so successful that it has now entered its second round. The selected applicants have 90 seconds to tell us who they are, what they can do, what they want and why they are interested in the mobility sector in particular. Qualifications across the industry are in demand: engineers and IT specialists as well as technical and operational professions and the commercial sector.

Half the world was represented at the Talent Stage - the Netherlands, Italy, Cyprus, Spain, Germany, Austria, Great Britain; some applicants came from India, China or Ukraine, but are currently studying in Europe or are already working here. One candidate had travelled all the way from India. Several have already founded their own start-ups during their studies, while many are working on future technologies in their Master's theses. What they all have in common is an impressive CV, their enthusiasm for the railway and a great deal of ambition.

‘China or America - I'll be there’

‘When I turn 18 next year, I would love to go somewhere in the world to work in the railway sector,’ said Rajveer Honroa, the youngest participant at the Career Boost, born in India, perfect English, who is currently studying in the UK. ‘China, Australia, South America - if you get in touch with me, I'll be there.’

Tawonga Tsokodayi may only have to travel as far as Linz. The young Zimbabwean has been living in Frankfurt since 2018, where he completed his degree in Mechatronic Systems Engineering. Anna Kuraja, HR Manager at Plasser & Theurer, was so impressed that she invited Tsokodayi for an interview straight away. ‘He told me that he wanted to gain a foothold in Europe and gather as much relevant knowledge as possible so that he could then initiate change in his country - that really impressed me,’ says Kuraja. ‘Someone who thinks that far ahead!’

She thinks the applicants are great anyway. ‘You realise that they want to be part of the system and its solutions, and that's exactly the kind of people we're looking for in our innovation department.’ At the first Career Boost, Plasser & Theurer had already hired a candidate virtually from the stage. ‘We are totally open,’ says Kuraja. ‘When someone comes to our location in Linz, it's like a match made in heaven.’