In 2007, Sharina Tedja took a recruitment role for six months. Sixteen years later, she’s still in the game, working as an account manager in our Netherlands office. Find out what drew Sharina into recruitment, her thoughts on the ways the sector is shifting and what’s on the horizon.
Building a career in recruitment
Like many recruiters, Sharina’s early days in recruitment started on the candidate side – preparing CVs, helping candidates get ready for interviews and negotiating rates. Now, as an account manager, Sharina’s work with candidates continues, but she also gets more involved with clients.
A typical work day starts on the phone or by answering emails – dealing with urgent business from both sides. A client requesting CVs for a role ready for advertisement. A contractor whose role has changed beyond the scope originally agreed. Working as a broker of sorts, it’s Sharina’s job to balance the needs of both. As she puts it, “Your candidate needs to be happy. And the client needs to be happy with them as well.”
Sharina made the decision to move to Orion in 2018 as she was eager to stay in the oil and gas industry, in which the bulk of her experience resides. She also saw this as a development opportunity. The Orion Netherlands team is smaller than her previous employer, so Sharina knew that she would learn a lot – and fast – by working directly with country manager Lesley Butter. Today, her development at Orion continues. Sharina took a Labour Law course in 2022 and she already looks forward to the next, which will be in Strategic Recruitment.
Chief job market changes
Over her years in the recruitment industry, Sharina has observed multiple changes in the job market. A catalyst for many of these: the pandemic.
She explains that candidates are now looking beyond the job description and asking about the benefits linked to roles.
“Work-life balance is so much more important to them than the work itself,” she says. “Candidates want to avoid burnout and stress. If there’s no working from home, for at least two days per week, they won’t even consider that job.”
Another is the high demand for roles in the burgeoning clean energy sector, for which Sharina has had a ring-side seat. Orion’s office in the Netherlands has historically focused on oil and gas, with the Dutch team primarily working with multinational energy majors. But now independent solar, wind and hydro companies comprise many of its clients. To meet increasing demand, Sharina has noticed oil and gas workers developing their renewables experience in parallel.
The desire for a career shake-up is a further change she has witnessed. In the past, candidates would have firmly been on one side of the onshore/offshore fence. Now she sees people hopping between the two.
Looking ahead
Sharina anticipates a slightly different month than usual. She explains that it is tradition in the Netherlands to send out gifts to contractors and clients before Christmas: a task that will keep the entire Netherlands team busy. That’s on top of recruiting one junior and one very senior person for a well plug and abandonment (P&A) project in the North Sea, and keeping in touch with all of her regular contractors and clients. Building those relationships is a big part of the role for Sharina.
But first Sharina’s got a week of holiday in the diary, during which she’ll be in Thailand. She loves travelling and has ticked off lots of locations in Europe, as well as much further afield. One of those being Suriname in South America, her family’s home country. She delights at the thought of an upcoming three-week visit she has planned there.
A career that continues to inspire
Despite her unexpected entry into the recruitment industry, Sharina has found a job that she loves. Its diversity continues to feed her interest. “It’s constantly developing. Labour market changes, rules around contracts, what clients want, and what candidates want.”
She is fulfilled by the process of getting to know candidates and matching them to their dream jobs – and doing it well.
“I really want to have someone starting on that job. And that makes me go out there and find them. Because I know that person exists. I just need to find them.”
Sharina Tedja works in The Hague, in our Netherlands Office. If you need support with your next role, you can contact Sharina and the rest of the Dutch team via our website orionjobs.com/branches/den-haag-office
