Edwin Wendrich on being a good employer: 'Be proud of your company and show it'

How do we retain our people within our organization? How do we make sure we attract the right new people who won't be gone again within a year? These are questions that Edwin Wendrich, sales manager Civil Engineering at Eminent, hears almost daily from his clients. In this article, he elaborates on how you can make a difference with being a good employer. 

"Many employers still focus too much on diplomas, required work experience and skills," Wendrich believes. "While the greatest added value of people comes from their ambition and motivation. If, as an employer, you look into this and ask (potential) employees this, the right match may just be closer than you think." Wendrich knows what he's talking about. "With over twenty years of experience in the profession, I still work with an awful lot of passion within the civil sector. Every day at Eminent, we recruit civil engineering talent for contractors, engineering and consulting firms, municipalities and government. But our work goes beyond recruitment. It is also about how to keep people in, about being a good employer. Working together and sparring with clients has become all the more important."

Celebrate successes

According to Wendrich, being a good employer is a must if you want to grow as a company. This means, among other things, that people can develop within your company, that you pay attention to the person behind the employee, and that you discuss your ambitions for growth. Working hard but also celebrating successes together. "Personnel are your organization's capital. During a job application, don't look at what someone can't do but rather what they can do. Be sparing with the ambassadors of your company and let inspired employees be a warm welcome for the new professionals."

From food to civil engineering

A great example of how ambition and motivation can make a difference is a candidate Wendrich recently successfully placed. "Peter, a Versmanager at a catering wholesaler for many years, really wanted to switch to civil engineering to become a contractor. He had the right leadership skills, and thanks to his tremendous motivation and willingness to invest, he is now happily and successfully working at a technical company where he is on a Traineeship to become a superintendent. A great example of how you can achieve your ambition even without the required experience in an industry, but with the right skills and motivation."