“Five years ago, I would never have believed I would be standing here. This proves the potential for growth within Stroom.”

In this testimonial, you will follow Gala’s path within Stroom. Her journey within Stroom has been anything but predictable, but absolutely fascinating and multifaceted. A punishing madam, if we do say so ourselves.

Gala’s story is one of growth, challenge and innovation. Five years ago, she started as a Business Consultant. She has since built her own division within Stroom: Production/Manufacturing.

First work experience

With a Bachelor of Accountancy-Taxation and a Master of International Relations & Diplomacy, Gala started a management traineeship at a well-known port operator, where she immersed herself in logistics. Instructive? Absolutely! Yet she felt something was missing. The variety between different projects made her miss the strong team feeling, something she values. That’s why she kept an eye open for a new challenge.

‘Is recruitment even for me?’

When a friend tipped Gala off about a vacancy at Stroom, she was reluctant:

“As a graduate, my LinkedIn was inundated with posts from recruiters, so I had a bias toward the industry.”

Still, it intrigued her that Stroom was a specialist in logistics, which was in line with her previous experience. So she decided to go for an interview and with success.

Foot in the door in the recruitment world

With a passion for logistics and curiosity about recruitment, Gala started as a Business Consultant.

“I knew the logistics industry, but the commercial side of recruitment was new to me.”

Her bias quickly disappeared. She learned to build long-term client relationships and become familiar with the technical aspects of profiles. Thanks to colleagues with backgrounds in business psychology, her work gained additional depth and she fully embraced recruitment.

As Gala grew as a professional, Stroom grew with her, from start-up to a full-fledged company with multiple divisions.

“I have seen many people come and few go. Now Stroom is much bigger and the team feeling remains intact. This is the result of constantly striving for the cultural fit.”

Position switch: Business support manager wanted

As Stroom grew, centralizing support functions became necessary. Whereas previously the tasks were scattered among the three Managing Partners, Stroom decided to create a new role: Business Support Manager. This allows Managing Partners to remain focused on their operational tasks while support is efficiently and centrally managed. This business support role includes such diverse responsibilities as payroll processing, onboarding, fleet management, facility, billing, office management and answering day-to-day socio-legal questions.

Gala saw an opportunity here to broaden her horizons and contribute even more to Stroom’s vision.

Yet she did not want to let go of her passion for recruitment. That’s why she got the unique opportunity to combine the best of both worlds: 50% as a Business Support Manager and 50% as a Business Consultant.

A fantastic experience, but also challenging. Indeed, it requires careful consideration to balance the priorities of both roles. During this period, Stroom also launched two new divisions: Procurement and Engineering.

Due to increased responsibilities, combining the two positions no longer proved feasible. Gala was faced with a choice, and her decision was clear: her heart was still in recruitment.

A new branch within Stroom: Production / Manufacturing

With nearly 4 years of experience as a Business Consultant in Logistics, Gala discovered a lot of potential with Production/Manufacturing clients. Stroom lacked specific focus here, which she saw as a missed opportunity. After many company visits and an in-depth market analysis, the project was discussed and approved, leading to the creation of the new division.

“We are now making a full-fledged division of Production/Manufacturing to really impact our customers.”

Gala works hard to grow this branch into a leading expert in Belgium and the Netherlands, for positions from specialist to senior management, both on a permanent and freelance basis.

Do you also doubt whether recruitment is for you?

“If you have doubts, then jump. If it’s really not for you, you’ll notice it soon enough. And then you can’t blame yourself for not trying.”

One important note she makes: Choose an organization with a specialization. There you really choose a field of interest. This often gives you a continuation of your education as well.