We were treated to a slice of pie at our editorial meeting this week. Our junior editor DV had brought strawberry vlaai to celebrate the fact that he will soon be dropping the word “junior” from his title. From the end of June, he’ll be able to call himself an editor. Well done!
DV had emerged as the best candidate during last year’s recruitment process. If I remember correctly, we’d received about fifteen applications. Not a lot, no, but we’re used to it by now. Even though the job market for journalists has been poor for years, moving to South Limburg has turned out to be a deal-breaker for many. Maastricht and its environs are great for a weekend, people will say, but actually living there? No thank you.
I fear the day that we will have another vacancy, because the job market is tighter than ever. It’s so tight that the university’s HR department has decided to resort to unorthodox methods. Any employee who successfully refers a candidate will receive a referral bonus of 500 euros. “We have 5000 employees here at UM, so we have an extensive network. Surely people have friends or acquaintances who are suitable for jobs at UM”, explained HR director Nieke Guillory to our journalist WD.
One time, we were looking for a new editor when I got a call from a friend and former Observant colleague. They wanted to know if a certain person had applied for the job. Keep an eye out for her application letter, they said; she’s worth inviting for an interview. Our curiosity was piqued. The letter was good and the interview went even better. We ended up hiring her, a young and highly competent journalist who was a good fit for the team. Moving to South Limburg was not a problem for her. By now, she has been at the helm of Psychologie Magazine for years, and she, in turn, recommended a candidate to us for another vacancy. Yet another successful referral.
I like receiving referrals for job openings. They always come from people who know Observant, how things work around here and what we expect from our colleagues. But we’ve never rewarded them with a bonus before. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure we rewarded them with a bottle of wine. We’ll have to do better next time.
Riki Janssen