As Senior Recruitment Advisor at KH Engineering in Schiedam, Renée Berkhuizen ensures that the right person is recruited for a vacancy. ‘Incredibly fun work, because since the beginning of my career I have enjoyed making sure there is a good match between the candidate and the position.’
Renée once started as an intermediary at an employment agency. ‘From there, I developed into a secondment manager and branch manager of a large employment agency. More or less by coincidence, I specialised in recruiting for technical vacancies. That is how I got to know the field very well. I have been working at KH Engineering since 2022. Now I am looking for colleagues for the longer term.’
‘How it works? The vacancy holder comes to me, or to one of my two colleagues, with a vacancy. We then discuss all the information and requirements and draft the vacancy text together. We post it on LinkedIn and on the website. I also approach interesting candidates via the LinkedIn Recruiter Seat, a functionality within LinkedIn for recruiting people. I screen the applications and contact the interested candidates. I then make a selection and introduce candidates to the vacancy holder. In addition, I advise on employment conditions and make appointments for the job interviews, during which I am also present. After the interview, I make an offer to the candidate. I also serve as an intermediary when the wishes from KH Engineering and those of the candidate differ, if I am convinced that the match would be perfect. I managed to do that last year with a very nice colleague for the Communications department. And once the contract is signed, I make sure that everything is arranged so that the new colleague is employed on the agreed date and can start working immediately.’
Renée really likes the variety in her work. ‘No day is the same. In busy periods, my department of three people handles as many as thirty vacancies at the same time. Every day I learn something new: one day you are looking for a QA/QC Inspector or an Electrical Engineer, the next for an Authority Engineer. I then have to study carefully what exactly such a role entails, which makes the work incredibly fascinating. Because the technical world fascinates me so much, I am now even considering an associate degree in Engineering. But I still have to see whether that fits in with my busy job and a young family.’
‘What I like about working at KH Engineering is that it is an open company with a flat organisation structure, where you can easily drop in on the CEO’s office for a meeting. This approachability is reflected in all parts of the organisation. There is a hierarchy of roles, but you don’t notice that at all in the interaction between the people who work here. Everyone is focused on cooperation and helping each other. The working atmosphere is very nice at KH Engineering. We also meet each other outside work, for instance at a joint picnic. And I regularly go for a drink with a colleague after working hours.’