Richelle Somefun-van der Schoor runs recruitment and selection agency Your Exclusive Solutions.

 ‘It’s always a matter of finding the right balance between parenthood and entrepreneurship.’

 Eindhoven entrepreneur Richelle Somefun-van der Schoor founded recruitment and selection agency Your Exclusive Solutions in 2006. She now has four employees. She is driven, ambitious, and does everything she can to find the best match between clients and job seekers. She is also a mother of three and is searching for the right balance between work and family life.

Text: Aïda Jaber

Photos: Eddie Mol

These are busy times for recruitment and selection agency Your Exclusive Solutions, or YES for short. Director Richelle Somefun-van der Schoor and her team have also noticed that the economy is picking up on all fronts. On the day of the interview, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported that the regions around Eindhoven and Almere showed the strongest economic growth in 2017. "The biggest change we have noticed ourselves is that since the end of last year, more vacancies have become available at clients. Previously, there were one or two assignments that were posted simultaneously. Since last year, we have indeed seen an increasing demand in the labor market and a significant upturn in activity around Eindhoven. There is a shortage of technical personnel. It is now becoming really scarce, so we have to be creative," explains Richelle Somefun. Incidentally, she predicts that the shortage will only increase in the coming years. How does YES plan to tackle this? "We and employers need to be critical in how we set up the selection process: full-time or part-time, internal training, retraining, and showing commitment to universities/training programs to guide the needs. We also need to take a good look at how we are going to retain our employees."

Perfect match

Richelle Somefun started her recruitment and selection agency with the aim of connecting clients and job seekers. "When I started my own business, I already had a network within the industry. I also really enjoy cold calling. I started simply: by making targeted calls to clients and candidates. I went out to bring in new business. That's what I still love about my work: creating something from nothing. Once you have good candidates in your portfolio, it's better not to focus on one client, but to look at what alternatives you have. It's a continuous process. You have to keep generating workload, because standing still is going backwards."

YES specializes in permanent and interim staffing issues at a higher academic level. In addition, the firm mediates for starters and professionals. Its client base consists of national and international employers and job seekers. "We have to make the right match. Sometimes you can do it after just one interview. Other times it takes more effort and you need five interviews to convince one of the parties involved that he or she is really suited to a particular position. It's a really fun challenge to get both the client and the candidate excited. When you finally make the perfect match, where both the business side and the feeling are right, you've come full circle. It's a win-win situation for both parties. That's why we do it. It's very satisfying. You have a hard copy of the resume or job profile, but we know the candidate and the client behind it. We have a complete picture of both parties, and therefore the whole picture, which helps us make the right match. This really offers added value, enabling us to advise and guide both parties effectively in the recruitment and selection process, and this is what makes us exclusive, as our name suggests.

She continues: "Ideally, the five-legged sheep is the starting point. But in today's rapidly changing market, you have excellent candidates who just don't quite meet the requirements. You discuss this together. If I have a candidate who doesn't quite fit the profile, I communicate this to the client. I am open and fair in this regard. My clients know this and appreciate it. The most important thing is that we go for the very best candidate."

Richelle Somefun and her team mainly work in the Brabant region. "Our focus and our network are here. We are too small to cover the whole of the Netherlands. Ultimately, I would like to expand further, but that is not the focus right now. The priority now is to further expand the current team. But I realize that the world is open, and I am entrepreneurial enough to dare to take steps."

Au pair

At the age of 12, Richelle Somefun already proclaimed: "When I grow up, I'm going to start my own business. And I would like to have three children." "A lot of people told me: three children and a full-time business, that's not possible. I always thought: I'm just going to do it." She has to laugh at her own determination back then. Now she knows that her ignorance about having (healthy) children is not always self-evident.

The YES founder, who grew up in Mierlo, studied business administration at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Over a cup of tea, she explains that she ended up in the temporary employment sector through an acquaintance. "After working in temporary employment, I set up a commercial business unit at a recruitment and selection agency. I set up and expanded everything from scratch. Once the unit had been successfully developed, I wanted more of a challenge. I had seen the whole package and wanted to do it myself from A to Z.  I took the plunge and started my own business."

In 2006, Richelle Somefun quit her job and had her 15-square-meter storage room converted into a small office. "A phone and a computer were all I needed. But because I didn't think it was professional to receive people there, I used the business corner at Novotel. I had several appointments there every day and tried to combine them as best I could. In the beginning, I didn't always tell people that it was my company. I didn't think that was appropriate."

Twelve years later, Richelle Somefun employs four people and has plans to expand her workforce. And she still works from home. She has considered moving her office elsewhere, but as a full-time working mother, she particularly likes being close to her children. Because, yes, she has three children!

Both Richelle and her husband currently work full-time. Together, they manage their busy family life with children aged 10, 8, and 6, and their dog Juno (who can often be found at the office, providing distraction and interesting conversation). They do this with the help of an au pair. During the week, she picks up the children from school, cooks, and makes sure the children go to their sports activities. All the au pairs that the Somefun family has had over the years are Spanish-speaking, because the children go to an international school and are being raised trilingually: Dutch, English, and Spanish. "Under the motto: what is learned young is done old," says Richelle Somefun. "This is our life. We are both very driven, enterprising, and work hard. Our au pair brings peace to our lives; I couldn't do without her."

During the week, Somefun invariably opens her mailbox at six o'clock, and she also works during the holidays. "I find it very difficult to let go and I realize that this is not ideal. Last year, I came up against this myself. I worked a lot and got stuck on certain things: I wanted to be a good mother and run the business, everything at once. I had to change something about that. I'm a go-getter; I see opportunities everywhere. My husband held up a mirror to me, and that made me realize that I can't do everything and that I need rest from time to time. I changed a number of work processes at the office. It took some getting used to at first, but now it gives me a certain structure. The weekends are for my family, with just an hour or so when I turn on my laptop. I'm constantly looking for the right balance between work and family. Nowadays, my calendar is clear from 3 p.m. on Fridays. That's when I pick up the children from school myself. Ideally, I would like to finish work at 5:30 p.m. every day, but I feel that I can't always allow myself to do that yet. That Friday afternoon is really sacred to me. As soon as I see my children, the stress ebbs away. Then love smiles at me, I feel complete, and my circle is complete.”

Source:https://www.frits.nl/Jaargang11nummer3juni/juli2018