Building a Purpose-Driven Talent Ecosystem with ASML

Submitted by Kerry Summers on 11 June 2025 - 8:15am

In a world where microchips power everything from smartphones to AI supercomputers, ASML is a key partner to chip makers. But behind this technological powerhouse lies a deep investment in people. Caroline Vanovermeire, Global Head of Talent Management, Learning, and Knowledge Management at ASML, is leading a fresh approach to building an adaptive, inclusive, and purpose-led workforce.

In this blog taken from an exclusive interview with Caroline ahead of iventiv Learning Futures Eindhoven at the ASML Academy, She shared her insights into how ASML is preparing its talent strategy for a rapidly changing world, where human curiosity, personal growth, and AI-powered enablement converge to build not just careers, but enduring purpose.

A Mission Beyond Jobs: Creating a Career Culture

At ASML, onboarding talent isn’t just about filling roles – it’s about building long-term careers. With some roles taking over two years to reach full competence, the company prioritises cultural fit, mission alignment, and purpose, “we want people not just going to join us for a job, but absolutely for a career,” Caroline explains.

This culture-first mindset translates into an adaptive, values-driven workforce that supports ASML’s mission of high innovation and operational excellence.

Caroline highlights the company’s three core values – Challenge, Collaboration, and Care – as the foundation for this culture:

“I’ve never felt as much part of a large family than with ASML. There’s challenge – but always with care.”

Unlocking Potential Through Experience

ASML encourages employees to stay in roles long enough to “accomplish the mission” and extract meaningful development.

“We should not be asking whether someone has high or low potential. We must ask: what do you have potential for?”

ASML believes that supporting talent to grow through stretch experiences is the way to deeper skill acquisition and greater career satisfaction.

Further, the company’s internal talent marketplace allows employees to explore new roles at the right time.

“When they’ve completed their mission, they’re change-ready – and that’s when they explore what’s next,” says Caroline. With around 90% of roles openly posted, transparency and opportunity go hand in hand.

“We encourage people not to move prematurely,” she explains, because career-defining growth comes from navigating stretch experiences whether managing a team, working abroad, or recovering from setbacks.

Designing for Every Career Stage

ASML’s talent philosophy is deliberately inclusive. Whether it’s someone just starting out, transitioning mid-career, or sunsetting their corporate chapter -- there should be pathways for everyone.

“No one can always be at their absolute best for 40 years straight. We need to build-in renewal – moments to reskill, upskill, or just rethink what we want from life and work.”

Learning and Knowledge as Strategic Levers

In an organisation where deep expertise is mission-critical, Knowledge Management isn’t an afterthought – it’s a cornerstone. “We thrive on the unique expertise of our people,” Caroline says.

ASML’s learning efforts are designed not only to keep employees skilled and engaged but also to safeguard and scale the institutional knowledge that underpins its technological leadership.

Learning, in this context, is both a privilege and a responsibility. “Our colleagues deserve the best,” Caroline emphasises, underscoring the need for high-quality learning that reflects the significance of ASML’s societal contributions.

For Caroline, Learning is a privilege and Knowledge Management a business imperative.

“You tap into everyone’s curiosity. You help them stay current, engaged, and relevant. It’s about making people feel that what they do matters.”

With its deep technical expertise and societal impact, ASML can’t afford knowledge loss. That’s why preserving and sharing it is central to the talent strategy.

“We thrive on that deep expertise. Learning and Knowledge Management is how we protect it and scale it.”

AI, Organisational Enablement, and Human Augmentation

ASML doesn’t view AI as a threat, but as a tool for enabling balance and purpose in work.

Caroline is clear: “I personally think people should only be afraid of other people knowing AI better than they do.”

Rather than replace jobs, Caroline says that AI should reduce friction and organisational stress, freeing people to focus on meaningful work. This thinking reflects her broader concern around workforce wellbeing, especially in a fast-moving, high-pressure world:

“Sometimes work gets in the way of work. Organisational enablement is high on my radar–how do we keep people skilful, well, and fulfilled?”

Purpose-Driven Talent: For the Business, and Beyond

Ultimately, Caroline believes that alignment between personal purpose and organisational mission is key to long-term performance:

“When people make conscious career choices and we match them well, they feel lucky, and give discretionary effort.”

This discretionary effort, she adds, creates a ripple effect: positive energy, engagement, and purpose throughout the business.

And the impact doesn’t stop there:

“What we do really matters – not just to our company, but to society. All major chip makers around the world use our machines, and chips power the world.”

Final Thought: Keep Learning, Stay Curious

ASML’s approach offers an inspiring blueprint for Learning leaders navigating transformation. It’s not just about scaling talent for growth – it’s about building a culture of growth, where every employee, at every stage, has the opportunity to thrive.

Caroline’s vision is one where human and technological potential evolve together, and where careers are crafted not just around jobs, but around purpose, contribution, and care.

As Caroline reflects on her role, she leaves her peers with a simple but powerful message:

“Curiosity is the new currency. You’ll never feel like you’re working if you stay open to learning something new.”

In a world where industries are evolving at record pace, ASML reminds us that at the heart of transformation is a deep respect for people, purpose, and lifelong learning.

As Global Head of Talent Management, Learning, and Knowledge Management at ASML, Caroline takes full global accountability for the Talent Management function, overseeing Talent Management, Performance Management, Career Management, Assessment and Succession and Executive Recruitment for ASML’s global workforce of 42,000 employees.

Thumbnail:

Feature on Homepage:

News category:

Talent Management

More Insights

Building a Skills-Based Organisation: Insights from Zurich Insurance

In an age of constant change, Zurich Insurance has embraced a skills-based approach as a core strategy to future-proof its workforce and drive business success.

In an interview with iVentiv, Adrian Stäubli, former Group Head of Skills Development Solutions at Zurich Insurance, highlighted Zurich’s commitment to identifying, developing, and deploying skills across its global workforce.

This model isn’t just a tool— to Adrian it’s a "secret ingredient" that touches every aspect of employee development, from career progression to job design, setting Zurich apart as a truly agile and resilient organisation.

Watch our interview now to see how Adrian embraced skills, and how it’s transformed Zurich’s employee experience.

The power of partnership: how iVentiv and HEC Paris drive Executive Development together

In the ever-evolving world of executive education and corporate learning, partnerships are key to success. iVentiv has nurtured a long-standing relationship with HEC Paris, a prestigious European business school that was founded in 1888, since 2010 and has become a leading institution in Executive Development. Through this collaboration, HEC Paris has not only elevated its presence within the corporate learning community but has also provided valuable insights and support to iVentiv’s events worldwide.

Join us as we dive into the partnership between iVentiv and HEC Paris, how it's bloomed over the years, and where it will go next.

What Makes an Effective Learning and Development Team Event?

In today’s complex global landscape, even the most experienced L&D executives face a persistent challenge: ensuring alignment and collaboration within large Learning & Development teams spread across geographies, business units, and time zones.

Too often, L&D functions in multinational companies operate in silos. Teams set objectives independently, repeat each other’s work unknowingly, or miss opportunities to scale successful initiatives. Despite good intentions, the lack of structured knowledge-sharing and alignment can hinder progress, dilute impact, and ultimately affect how well organisations respond to change.

So, how do you create an event designed to build a strong, connected L&D team that learns from each other and works towards a shared vision? Read on to find out.

10 Questions to Ask Before Planning an Internal Event

Whether you’re launching a new initiative, or planning a team-building day, internal corporate events need more than just good food and a decent venue. Without the right strategic groundwork, even the most beautifully executed event can fall flat.

Instead, before diving into logistics, you should pause and ask the foundational questions that shape a purposeful, effective experience.

This guide explores the key questions to ask before you start planning an internal event to help you clarify objectives, understand your audience, and align the event with your broader organisational goals. Read more.

Why Customer Education Matters

In today’s competitive, hyper-informed market, you can’t win customer loyalty with a strong product or slick branding alone. Instead, you need trust, relevance, and a consistent demonstration that you understand your customers' needs.

That’s where customer education events come in.

These aren’t just glorified sales pitches. They’re strategic opportunities to deliver value, deepen relationships, and build communities around your offering.
When done well, these events don’t just teach; they transform customers into advocates. They help your business stay front-of-mind while giving your clients the tools and insights to succeed with your product or service at the centre of their strategy.

Curious to learn more? Read now.

The Difference Between Team Building and Team Learning

Large, global Learning and Talent teams are both a strategic advantage and a serious leadership challenge. They stretch across regions, time zones, and business units, and are expected to deliver transformation while operating in a constant state of change themselves.

For many Chief Learning Officers, the only regular opportunity to bring their teams together is the annual offsite or occasional away day.

The result often defaults into “team building”. Although icebreakers, marshmallow toothpick towers, and trust falls are activities that might boost morale, they rarely help a learning professional facing the practical pressures of AI adoption, skills taxonomies, or strategic workforce planning.

Global teams need more than a bonding experience. They need shared language, shared strategy, and shared confidence to deliver.

They need knowledge transfer, not just camaraderie.

They need team learning.

This is where the distinction matters, and this is exactly what our blog discusses. Read it now.

A Framework for Running L&D Events with Global Teams

Leading a global Learning and Development function is both a privilege and a puzzle. You have talent in every corner of the world—people who understand local markets, cultures, and business needs—who often work in silos, separated by time zones, priorities, and communication styles.

The irony is clear: the very people responsible for enabling learning across the business often struggle to learn from each other. When global L&D teams rarely connect, knowledge gets trapped, duplication creeps in, and alignment suffers.

That’s where a well-designed team event comes in. Whether virtual or in-person, a thoughtfully structured gathering can do more than boost morale—it can create alignment, build capability, and spark collaboration that carries through the rest of the year.

This blog offers a practical framework for running effective L&D events for global teams—one that transforms an annual offsite or virtual workshop into a shared learning experience with measurable business impact. Read it now.

Solving the Knowledge Silo in Global Learning Teams

In many large learning organisations, global L&D teams face a recurring challenge: knowledge silos.

Why?

Regional groups or functional departments often operate in isolation, creating, developing, and executing learning programmes with little visibility into what their peers are doing elsewhere. That isolation leads to duplicated effort, inconsistent practices, and lost opportunities for synergy.

In this blog, we’ll explore how thoughtfully designed events—virtual or in-person—can break down silos, strengthen global L&D collaboration, and foster sustained knowledge sharing across your organisation. Read it now.

Designing Events for Knowledge Sharing: Practical Techniques

In today’s workplace, knowledge is your most valuable asset, but it’s also the easiest to lose. As staff turnover rises, careers become more fluid, and hybrid work scatters teams across time zones, keeping that knowledge alive and connected has never been harder.

For anyone running a large global L&D operation, it can feel like trying to keep dozens of spinning plates in the air at once.

Yet when knowledge sharing breaks down, the costs are high: duplication of effort, inconsistent experiences, and ideas that never reach beyond the local team. The solution lies in intentionally designed knowledge sharing workshops and internal knowledge sharing events that make collaboration systematic, not accidental.

This blog explores how to design those events effectively, turning conversation into impact and connecting the dots across your global Learning organisation. Read it now.

Planning Corporate Events For Small Groups: A Complete Guide

When done right, events designed for small groups (typically between 20 and 50 participants) can lead to deeper connections, richer conversations, and more meaningful outcomes. In a world full of overstimulated conferences and overcrowded rooms, intimate gatherings offer a refreshing opportunity to slow down and engage in real dialogue.

In this guide, you’ll find out how to plan powerful small-group events with intention, from designing sessions that spark genuine collaboration, to nailing the logistics that make all the difference. Read more here.