“You never see them but they are indispensable.”
An interview with Maaike Agricola HR Manager at Intercel.
HR manager at Intercel, a great job! With what background did you get there?
“I studied Psychology and Business Administration and specializing in human resources attracted me immediately. In the last year of my studies, I started my own company, linking young professionals to interesting SMEs. I sold the company after 5 years and started to help organizations with their recruitment issues on an interim basis. Intercel came to me about 2 years ago with a request for help and I immediately felt more than welcome! For me, batteries and the technology behind them were fairly new, but as colleagues took me through the Intercel story, I now find it to be truly wonderful products with smart solutions. Batteries have so many applications, you never see them but they are indispensable. In addition, our organization is growing rapidly and that offers many opportunities in my new role as HR Manager. Building a super team and contributing to our common goal gives energy. The fact that we are really contributing something to the world with Intercel gives me extra satisfaction.”
“The most important thing is a person’s personal ambition and interest.”
How do you recruit new people?
“Above all, we try to respond quickly and accurately to candidate applications. We are also immediately honest about whether someone could be a good fit for us. It’s a challenging market and a fast-paced world. I think honesty and transparency are essential. We are a fast-growing company and that has advantages and disadvantages. It is important that candidates are aware of what kind of environment they are entering and what to expect. Together with our HR team, we make sure that our vacancies are filled properly. But in addition to our team, other colleagues are also important recruiters. They play an important role and concretely help to recruit new colleagues. The most important thing is that everything we do fits together and reinforces each other. Recruiting new colleagues is high on everyone’s agenda. We really do it together!”
What positions are currently central to recruitment?
“We are looking for people for different positions in the company. Good mechanics for our Custom Battery Department are always welcome. Mechanics with a positive attitude and who can work accurately. Awareness of working safely is always very important. Not everyone needs to have an exact matching background, but they should have a natural technical understanding. Intercel is keen to train new colleagues, but technical understanding and passion for our products are the foundation in this role. Smart engineers are also welcome to drive further innovation of our custom batteries. Intercel also offers cool internship and training positions. Open applications are also always welcome, if we see a match, we are sure to find a suitable position!”
What is your funniest recruitment story of the past year?
“We are really thinking out-of-the-box, of course mechanics are hard to find now. We have recently hired some new colleagues who were already retired, they help us fantastically in assembly. This older group is often overlooked, but they are very motivated and an asset to the company. We are now finding that other older people are also signing up easily. By being creative, we are succeeding well in recruiting enough people in this challenging market.”
How does Intercel distinguish itself as an employer?
“You get a lot of opportunities with us and you can actually grow with the organization , my own story is a great example of this. There are career opportunities aplenty! We offer employees to be part of a committed, diverse and helpful team where you can ask anything and really be yourself. Even when things go a little worse for you we are there for each other.”
What extra do you have to bring to this challenging market?
“Working in a fast-growing company with plenty of opportunities, with committed colleagues who put their shoulders to the wheel together. We also offer many extras such as, for example: boot camp once a week, drinks every Friday, many different outings and once a year we go on a winter sports trip, with Intercel covering almost all costs.”
What do you think is important when a new colleague starts?
“The most important thing is that someone feels welcome. We have a lot of extra attention to the person and their questions in the first weeks. We offer a clear familiarisation program to land calmly. There is also a lot of information about our batteries and our markets. We like to make someone well versed in our world.”
And existing colleagues, what do you do for that?
“Most important is a person’s personal ambition and interest. From there we take it on a customized basis. We want to facilitate extensively and train colleagues further, internally or externally. How someone can best add value within Intercel. That’s in small things. During a growth phase, it is also important that we as employees continue to have a good conversation with each other. Where do we want to go as Intercel, what do we expect from each other and how do we ensure that we become and remain successful together? Good communication and sharing of ambitions is essential in this regard.”
In the next 3 years you want to more than double, what is your role in that?
“Our biggest challenge is to maintain the strong family culture. That is a task when you are growing so fast. Communication is the key word here to bring everyone along and give people opportunities so that everyone who wants to can continue to grow.”
What is the nicest feedback you have received from a new colleague?
“We just hired two German colleagues for our Custom Battery department, for the German market. Coincidentally, at the second interview of one of the candidates there was a birthday of another colleague. As usual, this was celebrated grandly in the canteen. This colleague was immediately involved in the celebration and felt so welcome that he chose Intercel partly because of this.”