Wherever your career takes you, we’re there with you. As a house of seven specialist brands across 14 countries, there’s a world of opportunities to elevate your career. We strongly believe that you are the driver of your own success, across brands, across countries and through different phases of your life. Stefanie Kolks is a great example of seizing the opportunity to accelerate her career while working abroad. She shared her experience in this month's issue of the Hello Zuidas and RCD magazine.
A career without limits
That’s what defines working at SThree. In early March, the company’s efforts to be the best employer for their staff was rewarded with a Great Place to Work certification. As a house of brands, SThree consists of seven specialised brands, and offers plenty of opportunities for its people to grow both from brand to brand and across borders. Stefanie Kolks joined the company in 2016, starting as a recruitment consultant at Real Staffing. “I studied hospitality management and then worked on cruise ships for seven years. One criterion when I started looking for a job in the Netherlands was that I wanted the company to be active globally. That’s why I started at Real Staffing, part of SThree”, Stefanie recalls. She had no experience in recruitment at the time, but learned through their dedicated on-the-job training programme. “What I love about recruitment is that you’re always working with two sides. It’s not ordinary sales. You connect companies and specialists, both with their own views and needs.”
Learning and high performance culture
When an account manager role opened up at SThree, Stefanie seizes this opportunity to develop her career. This also gave her the chance to enrol in a MSC programme, next to her new role. SThree expressly encourages her employees to accelerate their careers and invests in an optimal learning and performance culture. For example, through the SThree Academy, an online platform with 16,000 training modules, and Elements, a digital onboarding programme that helps new employees to get up to speed as quickly as possible. SThree believes strongly in the power of interaction and therefore has multiple classroom trainings, peer-learning opportunities and a partnership programme with Nyenrode Business University. “SThree believes that you are the driver of your own success. You have to be clear about what you want, but then the options are endless.” For Stefanie, that meant working abroad after completing her MSC.
A world of opportunities
Operating across 46 locations in fourteen countries, SThree has plenty of international career options. Stefanie chose Dubai, where she started as Head of Real Staffing in November, with the objective to make it a key player in the STEM sector in this part of the world as well. “I’m grateful for this opportunity and for SThree’s encouragement. The job really suits me and the location is ideal. There’s only a slight time difference with the Netherlands, and with multiple daily flights from Dubai to Amsterdam, I can be back at a moment’s notice.” Although Stefanie’s employer hasn’t changed, working in Dubai is a world of difference. “I’ve acclimated now, but it took longer than expected. What I miss most is walking, bicycling and riding my scooter. All perfectly normal in Amsterdam, but here you do everything by car”, Stefanie explains. “What I like about Dubai is how open the people are. There are loads of different cultures living side by side, particularly expats, and the fact that most people didn’t grow up here means we all understand each other and connect more easily.”
Stefanie is working hard to establish Real Staffing in Dubai and is focused on the further development of this brand. “SThree offers so many opportunities. My mum is German, and I was raised bilingual. So, in the long run, being a large open market, Germany may be next on my bucket list.
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