Jettine tipped off her father for a job at Sioux
Fathers and sons who both work for Sioux are more common - Corporate Recruiter Jettine van Dongen knows there are at least five sets walking around. But fathers and daughters? That only happened once before, besides Jettine and her father Ad. Also special: it was Jettine who held the door open for her father - not the other way around. ‘I noticed he was missing things in his work and was sure he would find them at Sioux,’ she says. Thanks to her job tip, Ad made a career switch at age 59.
It was not so long ago that Jettine left her parental home to live together in Weert (a DIY house in which Ad spent the necessary hours, by the way, but more on that later). And that was for the better, because otherwise her father might never have ended up at Sioux Technologies. Ad had been working for several years as Senior Business Unit Manager High Tech at a technical company in the region; ASML was one of his main customers. It was a job with a lot of responsibility, but it gave Ad less and less satisfaction. 'At home we regularly talked about our work,' he says. 'Jettine was always very enthusiastic about her job, but I became increasingly irritated with mine. I had been stuck in spreadsheets too much. Everything revolved around numbers, while I wanted to be involved with people and projects. As a board member of the High Tech Software Cluster, I had already noticed that Sioux has a different focus; Jettine's stories confirmed that image. So, when she pointed me to the vacancy for Senior Group Lead, my interest was quickly sparked.'
Explain
At the time, Jettine had been working as Corporate Recruiter at Sioux for two years. Several years before that, she had done an internship at Sioux, followed by some vacation work. ‘I had always said: if I can come back, I will. I really appreciated the openness and helpfulness of my colleagues and the trust I already received from them as an intern. So when the question arose, I immediately said yes. When the vacancy for Senior Group Lead came up, she immediately thought of her father. 'I knew that this position was exactly what would make him happy, so I sent him the vacancy straight away. But I didn't want to be involved in the application process. The only tip I gave my father was that he should explain why he was applying for a position where he would have less people under his wing. After all, in terms of span of control, it was a step backwards.’
Ad was able to give that explanation. 'I had already decided what was important to me: what I do, with whom I do it, and what I get in return for it - in that order. If I had gone for the money, I should have applied at ASML. But that doesn't drive me. I want to be able to have impact as a manager; that's what makes me happy. In addition, the people I work with are really important to me. I like working in teams, on an equal basis. These things were missing in my former job. I was thinking more and more about retirement, even though I didn't really want to do that yet. I just needed to do something else. I expected to find that at Sioux. I think I convinced Sioux of that in the job interview'. Although Jettine was not formally involved in anything, she soon heard in the corridors that the interview had indeed gone positively. 'I really enjoyed hearing that. Within a month it was a done deal. Since then, we regularly drive to the office together.'
Renovating together
Last year, father and daughter continued to see each other daily even after work hours: Jettine had bought a DIY house with scraps, single glass and a blue floral bathroom. It had to be completely gutted. 'During the renovation we worked really intensively together for the first time. That went really well,’ she thinks. 'We are both calm and think before we say anything. And I have to admit that thanks to dad-the-project manager, we stayed within budget. I sometimes had to swallow when he said: we're not going to do it like this. But most of the time he was right. Ad starts laughing: 'You can manage projects on time, quality and money. I was willing to concede on time, but not on quality and money. When Jettine and her boyfriend Bryann found it difficult to make choices in that, I would make the decision. Then all that spreadsheet experience proved useful after all.'
