Meet Janco Bons, Senior Consultant at iPS Powerful People at the Maritime department at our HQ in Capelle aan den IJssel. How does Janco experience his days and what is the best thing about being a Consultant? Read on to find out.
Can you describe your position as a Consultant?
During the day you spend a lot of time contacting clients, and also maintaining this contact. What are the needs of the client? How can we make sure to deliver what they are asking for? You also get better insights as a result of the conversations you had with the client. You know what the client is looking for and then I can start looking for a suitable candidate if we don’t have a candidate available in our database yet. It must be a match made in heaven. 😉
What do you like most about interacting with clients?
It’s nice that it’s something long-lasting. You build something in your professional circle. You know the people, sometimes you know their children’s names, when they get married, things like that, and that makes it personal. Of course, the connection needs to stay professional. But to bring that little bit of personal contact with you, you just feel a bit more of a click with a particular planner or Crew Manager.
You are in contact with clients, what are your contact moments with candidates?
We are quite often in contact with our candidates. As soon as I have spoken to a client and I am going to place a candidate. I make an intake to have a conversation with a suitable candidate. During this intake, I also take the time to discuss the do’s and don’ts with the candidate. It is always a good idea to let the candidate tell you what he or she can do. After the intake with the candidate, I make an assessment for a proposal to the client. For example, how long is a rotation, how is the journey going, etc.
We have three phases for this:
1. The preparation
2. During the job. We make sure we have contact with the candidate when they go on board. A thumbs up from the candidate is enough, then I know that he or she has stepped on board, then it is certain.
And 3. The aftermath, a bit of aftercare. We receive a notification when the candidate has disembarked. Then I contact the candidate to ask if it was fun and then of course there is also a part of the client who I will ask the same question. Via this way, we know if this was indeed a match and we can make the match again next time.
You’ve been working here for a while now, if you need to describe what you’re most proud of, what would it be?
That all of us, our colleagues, are true ambassadors of the company. I am still excited when I have a placement. I also like to see that my colleagues have this too. We have a lot of contact between the departments. We have Energy, Tunnelling, Select and Survey, we have one big mindset and that is one iPS or 1PS.
You work for the Maritime Department, if you need to describe your department, your team. How would you do that?
Literally, everyone has their own expertise. I am more active in the Towage, I know everything about it, all the ins and outs. Pim obviously has more knowledge of dredging, Rob is a commercial tiger, Fatima is very orderly. This actually makes a team that works, precisely because everyone has his or her expertise.
And of course, we can’t forget our super Recruiters. Sabine, Mariia, and Selene in The Netherlands and Anna, Jekaterina and Inga in the Baltics, and Maricel in Dubai, on whom we depend very much.