At CareerLunch, we want to put people at the center of modern recruitment. For talents, it’s a way to meet employers informally and learn about career opportunities, company culture and potential future colleagues authentically. For employers, it’s a way to connect with talents on a continuous basis. You can learn more about us, our ideas and our history here

Most of our companies look forward to meeting students, graduates and young professionals. Some of the companies would like to meet more senior professionals as well. For more information about what kind of profile and experience the company is looking for, read the description of the company profiles.

In the physical CareerLunch format, you visit the company representative in-person over lunch, which the company you are visiting is covering for you. The travel expenses to visit the company, you will need to cover yourself.

In the virtual CareerLunch format, you will meet over a video call and typically share a cup of coffee or tea and eat your actual lunch either before or after the meeting. The costs associated with your coffee, tea, or any other beverage you wish to drink during the video meeting have to be organized and paid by yourself.

No, CareerLunch is about having an informal exchange between you and a professional from the company you are meeting. It’s your chance to get to know more about the daily work life and the culture authentically. A formal job application could be a possible next step that you can initiate after the CareerLunch, but the CareerLunch itself is not a job interview.

To participate you have to create an account on CareerLunch and link it to your LinkedIn profile. Afterwards you can send lunch requests to the companies you would like to meet by visiting their profiles on CareerLunch. To increase your chances to be invited for a CareerLunch, check out our blog article on how to polish your LinkedIn profile and the quiz to verify if your profile is ready.

You will have your CareerLunch with a professional from the company you want to meet who has a background relevant to yours. The CareerLunch can take place 1-to-1 or with a small group of other talents. You will be introduced to your lunch buddy and potential other participants 1 day ahead of the CareerLunch via email.

The company will be able to look at your LinkedIn profile. So make sure that your profile is informative and up-to-date. We recommend to follow the guideline that we describe in our blog article and the quiz that we‘ve created to help you. If your profile is relevant to the company and enough lunch places are available, you will be invited for lunch. If a lunch invitation is not possible, you will be informed as well.

An informative LinkedIn profile increases your chances of success. Check out our blog article and the quiz to verify if your profile is complete and stands out. For more information about what kind of profiles the company is looking for, read the description of the company profiles.

The location is indicated in the company profile. Usually, the lunch takes place at the employee's location. This gives you the chance to get an insight into their working environment. If the location is indicated as virtual, you will receive a link to the virtual meeting a few days ahead of the CareerLunch.

You can choose a lunch day as soon as your request has been confirmed by the company. After your request is confirmed you can check the available dates either through the link in the confirmation email or in your profile if you go to “My Applications” and click on the company that confirmed your request.

The duration varies, but it is usually between 30min and 1.5h. Virtual CareerLunches tend to be shorter (more towards 30min) whereas in-person CareerLunches tend to be longer (up to 1.5h). It also varies between companies and the number of participants. When you select a date for your CareerLunch you can see the estimated duration of the CareerLunch and block the time in your calendar. In the end, it is up to the professional you are meeting and yourself how much time you can make available.

Yes, as soon as you have confirmed a time slot for a CareerLunch with a company, the appointment is binding. Respect the employee’s time and be punctual. “No-shows” are unacceptable.

Be curious. Don’t ask what a simple online search can answer. Use the opportunity to learn more about your lunch buddy, their company, and the job they are doing. Prepare a few questions that matter to you. You could ask how they got to where they are, their opinion on trends in the industry, what they enjoy about their work and also what things are not so great. This is not a job interview, but a unique opportunity for you to get to know a company and its employees authentically.

To prepare for a virtual CareerLunch, we also recommend to read our blog article about best video communications practices.

Some companies are offering CareerLunch in a virtual format. To see which companies offer this experience, check their profile. A virtual CareerLunch takes place in the same spirit as the physical CareerLunch with the main differences that you will meet in a video call instead of in-person and probably share a cup of coffee or tea instead of a proper lunch. You will receive the details to join the video call a few days ahead of the lunch.

For each CareerLunch you attend, we make a donation to The World Food Programme equivalent to a meal for a person in a vulnerable situation.

If you want to increase your impact, share your experience on LinkedIn (maybe with a photo from your upcoming CareerLunch?) and tag @careerlunch. The more talents learn about our platform, the more careers we can inspire, and the more donations we can make through the #lunchforlunch initiative.

The default language is the language in which the company profile is written in, which is most of the time either the language of the region the company is located in, or English. However, the conversation can still shift naturally to another language if all participants prefer to speak it (e.g. if the company profile is in English, but the participants are all native speakers of another language).

Share your feedback: After your CareerLunch, you receive an email and can share some optional feedback to HR of the company and also to the CareerLunch team. You could use the feedback to HR to say thanks for the time of their employee and to potentially express your interest in a position within the company. Use the feedback to the CareerLunch team to let us know about your experience and how we could improve it even further.

Expend your network: You could send your lunch buddy a request on LinkedIn and follow up if you have some specific questions regarding the company.

Apply for open positions: If you enjoyed the CareerLunch and think the company could be a good match, then you are encouraged to apply for open positions through the company career website. To add a personal touch to your application, you could mention the professional you met through a CareerLunch and thank them again for the opportunity.

Share your experience: Your CareerLunch was awesome and you want your friends to have the same experience? Share a story, a post or a selfie with your lunch buddy tagging @careerlunch via social media, and we will make a donation to the World Food Program on your behalf (check out the Social good: #lunchforlunch section in FAQ).

Contact us at support@careerlunch.com