The Vendôm Company, expert in international luxury recruiting, settles in Mauritius to expand into the Indian Ocean market. CEO, Laetitia Girard, tells us more.
Introduce us to The Vendôm Company.
It is an ecosystem designed to tackle the current challenges of luxury recruiting. Based on a set of cross-functional tools, it aims at identifying market expectations and developments. Therefore, The Vendôm Company is, first and foremost, a group of luxury experts with many years of experience, along with several people in the field who, located in our Vendôm Premium agencies, position themselves as closely as possible to the different realities of the industry. These agencies are located in Europe (France, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom) and now in the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, The Vendôm Company is a platform that puts the greatest professionals in the sector directly in touch with highly qualified candidates, specially selected by us. Finally, we offer complete support at all stages of recruitment: communication, coaching, specialist conferences… Our DNA: putting people at the forefront of the recruitment process in order to bring together individuals, not functions.
How was it born?
The Vendôm Company was first born after noticing that pre-existing recruitment firms do not adopt luxury codes: their processes are impersonal and above all, they do not follow-up with candidates. Another factor: certain luxury sectors are often seen as extremely rigorous. Recruiters have to change their attitude in order to attract more talented people. It is a very common trend nowadays: companies mainly focus on the experience of employees. We now deal with qualified candidates who are given many opportunities and want to know which direction they want to go. We must therefore offer them a clear vision of what their evolution may be. Especially with the extremely mobile younger generations, which makes it difficult to retain employees.
All sectors combined, the luxury industry shares the same values of high standards, excellence and passion. There is great transversality in this environment. One only has to observe the career of young graduates of major luxury management schools or hotel schools: their careers can develop in almost any luxury sector.
In a context of crisis, how is this market evolving?
Agile and inventive, the luxury sector is one of the markets that has held up the best. Its major brands have always known how to adapt to hardships. This is the secret of their longevity. Their leaders remained alert during the crisis and found new ways to stay present, but also to support their employees. Even if uncertainty remains, the future of the luxury market is flourishing because it understands that it is a requisite to fully consider the major issues in which we live: ecology, culture, society, economy…
It responds to current difficulties while anticipating the next ones.
How is your offer an asset in this unprecedented context?
We have been witnessing several virtual solutions since the start of the crisis. This includes the recruitment sector too – but without our global and transversal vision of luxury. We have chosen the formula of meeting and exchanging between recruiters and candidates to compensate for this lack of humanity, pertaining to the current circumstances. Humanity and benevolence are in our DNA. We, therefore, imagined a flexible exhibition over three days (editor’s note: the International Luxury Recruitment Fair, which was held from the 7th to the 9th of October 2021). It offered one-to-one meetings, allowing candidates to express their talent to potential recruiters, as well as conferences and workshops to give brands the opportunity to present their work environment and their universe.
Why did you choose Mauritius?
My husband and I settled there for one main reason: we were looking for a well-balanced life – which the island offered us. A serene environment along with caring people. For Vendôm, I wanted to develop opportunities in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius’ situation fits itself perfectly to this new endeavour, with its low jet lag with Europe and its proximity to the Middle East and Asia. I was also very interested in its multicultural aspect and the talents that are born there. I am happy to have made this choice. Everything we start in Mauritius is thriving beautifully.
