Conversations with Turkey's Career Pioneers - Yılmaz Yıldız

We had our 14th Career Pioneers Talk with Mr. Yılmaz Yıldız, CEO of Zurich Insurance Türkiye. Starting his talk by meeting each student attending the talk, Mr. Yıldız stated that after graduating from TED Ankara College, he attended Boston University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and upon his return started his career at the Chairmanships of Incentives and Implementation, Foreign Capital and Free Zones, Undersecretariat of Treasury. After this, he worked at various projects at the World Bank Projects Department, Directorate General of Foreign Economic Relations, Undersecretariat of Treasury. After completing his Master's degree at Harvard Business School, he worked as the department head and deputy director general of sales and marketing at Garanti Bank/Insurance. He also mentioned that, upon an offer from a foreign company, he became the CEO of two French companies despite not knowing any French.

Yıldız who continued his talk by answering student questions, said that if you are good at what you do management comes naturally, and that experiences at institutions such as the Undersecretariat of Treasury and the Central Bank contribute a lot to a person. He said that people will have different reasons for being happy in different stages of their life, and that instead of staying in their comfort zone, they should take risks to achieve greater success. He gave an example from his life stating that he was the first to structure unemployment insurance in Turkey, achieving great success. He told students that they need to read newspapers, follow weekly magazines and foreign newspapers on economy to see what the trends are. 

He suggested that students find what's special about themselves, and evaluate themselves as if they were a trademark ,and understand what the trademark represents, and how it is perceived by others. He advised that they advance in their career by adding things to their CVs that will be of brand value. He also talked about the importance of introducing oneself in 15 seconds in a way that makes a lasting impression. Mr. Yıldız ended his talk by stating that putting their decisions into effect is one of the most important steps, which will also be reflected in the numbers. He also offered an internship at Zurich Insurance to one of our students.