Marjan Stoit - Seasoned Undutchable

1. How long have you been working for Undutchables?

I started working at Undutchables in 1999, way back 😉. I lived in England for 6 months but soon returned to the Netherlands and started to work for Undutchables again.

2. How did it all start? How did you get in contact with Undutchables?
I was looking for an administrative/sales office related job and I walked into a Dutch Recruitment Agency. A nice recruitment consultant there said “I know a very nice company who just called me and they are looking for an administrative employee for their Utrecht office. They are called Undutchables”. That is when I first heard about the company.

3. What function were you hired to do and how has that changed since you started working for Undutchables?
I was hired as an administrative assistant for the Utrecht team which consisted of 1 Branch Manager and 2 recruiters. After two weeks they asked me to become a recruiter as well. I was very happy, and I took the offer with open arms. Then, after almost 2 years working as a recruiter, I got the opportunity to become the branch manager of the Amstelveen branch, taking care of the greater Amsterdam area.

In the beginning the team was just me and a recruiter. In the end, we had a team of 8 people. It was great fun and successful. After 11 years, an extra branch next to the Amsterdam office was not needed anymore. The financial crisis was a tough one and we as a company had to downsize as well. For me I got the opportunity to become branch manager of the Utrecht office, the city I live so that was perfect. In February 2015 it was time for a change and a new role was created within Undutchables, the Sales & Recruitment Manager role, finding new clients to work for and finding new partnerships for Undutchables. I have been happily fulfilling this role for 6 years. It is great to represent Undutchables in my network and to build up a new and bigger clientele.

4. You have been working for Undutchables for many years now. What is one of the most memorable moments you have experienced working for the company?
All the special trips we have made throughout the years. When I just started, I straight away joined a trip to Island, that was wonderful. Then followed by Lapland, London, Kirchberg and Edinburg, all great.

5. 21 years is quite some time. What about the company made you decide to stay around for so many years?
Undutchables is like a warm nest with multicultural people who all have an inclusive look at the world. We have and are always working with great fun and drive towards our specialism, namely finding good job opportunities for Internationals in the Netherlands. It is great to learn everything about (flexible) labor law and work permit laws and become a specialist in that. The international labor force and multilingual recruitment is still evolving, and it stays interesting to me.

6. What is a challenge you had to overcome working at Undutchables?
Multitasking and time management. Especially as a beginning recruiter it is very tempting to have very long interviews with candidates and go in debt about the country of origin and enjoy the stories on how it is to live in such county.

7. Working for so many years for a company, you must have experienced a lot of ups and downs. What would you say was a moment where you feel that the company was forced to adapt due to external factors?
The financial crisis which started in 2008 was difficult for us as well. Many of our clients had to downsize and the request for multilingual personnel went down for all the branches. This meant that we had to downsize in 2013. This had a great impact on all of us and we had to let go good and dedicated people who meant a lot to Undutchables. This was a tough year. After that we climbed back up again, at full speed and we enjoyed this very successful time. Now we are facing new challenges, the COVID19 situation. We are working closely together remotely and are dealing with the challenges this brings. Luckily, we are a flexible organization and we can adapt quickly, and we are able to make the best out of this new situation

8. Where do you see Undutchables in 5 years?
In 5 years, I see that we are still on top in our field, being the expert in multilingual skilled international personnel for our clients in the Netherlands and abroad. We are now digitalizing a lot and I think we will embrace more digitalization/recruitment software tools next to our human interaction for the best results in multilingual recruitment and keep on focusing on being an all-round partner for our clients.

9. Do you have any advice for the younger Undutchables generation?
Make sure you absorb all the information there is about the business we are in. Make yourself an expert as soon as possible. Learn the Dutch (flexible) labor law and regulations for the work permits and embrace digitalization and new recruitment tools and make sure that you know exactly what you are doing while working for Undutchables. Also make sure that you use your talent and strength since we love to put people in their strength and help them further develop their career.

25 years of International Recruitment

A company's history tells it's story. For Undutchables, on our 25th anniversary we want to invite you to relive Undutchables' history by sharing a few glimpses of the past 25 years. Read about the history of Undutchables here.