Varun Dadlani

BA Global Economics and Management | 2013

Nationality: Chilean/Indian

Current Position: Talent Acquisition EMEA, Netflix, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Position at time of interview: Senior Recruiting Lead, Uber HQ, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
I lead recruitment for the central marketing and operations department at the Uber HQ in Amsterdam. We are located in 45 different markets across Europe, Middle East, and Africa and I would definitely say that working with candidates and colleagues from all those regions is my favorite part of my role (sounds a bit like Jacobs. :-)) One minute I'm interviewing someone in Stockholm, the next in Kiev, and the next Nairobi.

Tell us a bit about your path

I grew up in Santiago, Chile before moving to Bremen and starting my life in Europe. I graduated in the summer of 2013.
Then I did a traineeship at Anheuser Busch (ABinBev) at the Beck’s headquarter in Bremen. Then I had this desire to get into technology and work at a technology company. So I did a second traineeship at Dropbox. I moved from Germany to Ireland. I was in Dublin for a year and a half where I did a mix of sales and recruitment and that is where I found my passion for human resources and recruiting. I got contacted by Uber, moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and started my career there. Now I have been 3 years at Uber, I lead a small team and focus on recruiting operations and marketing roles in our headquarters.

What do your days look like currently?

My days are part strategy, part execution. I spend a lot of time planning headcount for the departments of Uber that I support and consequently understanding what our capacity model looks like to reach our hiring targets for that quarter/semester/year. At the same time, I support the team with senior-level hiring across Operations and Marketing.

“I think my education at Jacobs did prepare me for my career in a couple of ways.“
Varun Dadlani

How did your Jacobs education prepare you for your professional life?

There are obviously the academic aspects and the more theoretical stuff that we were learning in classes around my major, which was Global Economics and Management. I think it is super relevant to what I do today, which is management as well. I think what prepared me even more than the academics is just the environment here, being able to study with people from more than 100 different countries, live together and kind of grow together. I think that is where my most learning happened and where I really felt “Wow I have so much to give back to the world” and I am really excited to do that.

What attracted you to Jacobs out of all the other possibilities you were considering?

I always wanted the full campus experience - something not very common in Europe. Jacobs did offer it, paired with an English-taught program and in a progressive country like Germany.

What did Jacobs do for you that you were not expecting?

Probably not a surprise but there was a huge cultural learning for me - I feel so privileged to have lived 3 years in close quarters with 100+ nationalities. That was absolutely beautiful.

“ I know that this University produces high-caliber talent.“
Varun Dadlani

You graduated 5 years ago – do you see any professional advantages of being part of the Jacobs alumni community?

I think there is a huge benefit to stay in touch with my old classmates, just because we are all growing in our careers now. We are five years in into the adult’s life and I keep seeing opportunities for us to work together, to do projects together. I have myself hired five alumni from Jacobs into Uber. I know that this University produces high-caliber talent. From a professional point of view, I am never planning to lose touch with the people from the university and the alumni.