‘The Specialists Our Clients Need Are Ready to Go’
STAR Group is branching out further into the infrastructure markets. The objective first major objective is to be a reliable partner who always delivers in this sector, too. Thomas Wester and Laurens van Bemmel explain how STAR consistently puts the best specialists in the right place.
Good specialists are scarce. It’s a sad reality, and a sad reality that causes companies constant headaches. They can’t get their teams together in time, are forced to make concessions in terms of quality and waste precious time and money on dealings with half a dozen different employment agencies. Staffing can be the bottleneck that chokes entire projects.
Not if you do business with STAR, sales director Thomas Wester guarantees his customers. “We’re very confident about that at STAR, but we don’t like to blow our own trumpet, so the culture here is very much one of ‘show, don’t tell’.
“I previously worked for BAM Infra and Brunel for 15 years, so I know a little about infrastructure and I was taken on here for my knowledge of a market that STAR was only recently tapping into. We freely admit that we’re still very much finding our way and building our presence. At the same time, there’s no denying the achievements so far. We have specialists working on the most prestigious projects in the field in this country: the Afsluitdijk enclosure dam, the new sea lock at Terneuzen, the Rotterdamse Baan motorway and ViA15 at Arnhem to name but a few. We’re also dedicated partners of Gasunie, Tennet and Stedin, and just recently we launched a partnership initiative with Enexis. Another good example is Engie. We now supply staff for their infrastructure
Powerwheel
Everything started for STAR in the petrochemical industry. Since its inception in 2001, the Moerdijk-based contract employment agency has adopted the following strategy: to ensure that the best specialists are put on the groundbreaking projects at the best companies. And if you set that power wheel, as we call it, into motion, you get a multiplier effect that continuously reinforces itself. As a result, STAR is now by far market leader in the petrochemical and energy sectors, with an average of 1,500 specialists seconded to almost all the big industry players. Wester: “Clients such as Huntsman Corporation know that we have the cream of the cream on our books, and the cream of the cream know that we have companies like Huntsman among our clients. That’s how we offer everyone that ever-so-coveted continuity.”
“Our database may not be the biggest, but it’s the absolute best in terms of quality.”
The fact that the power wheel is spinning nicely doesn’t mean you can afford to rest on your laurels, as commercial manager Laurens from Bemmel goes on to explain. “We invest a lot of time in our network of specialists. We know them all personally, every single one. And we log in our systems where they are working at any given time, what they are doing, where they want to work and when they will be available again. We don’t wait for an order from a client. As soon as one comes in, we have people ready to go. Our database may not be the biggest, but it’s the absolute best in terms of quality. People who don’t meet our high standards, simply don’t make it into the database. To STAR, less is more in a very real sense. What’s the point in boasting about big, bigger, biggest databases if you never call most of the people in it?
“We deliver, that’s sacrosanct”, Wester adds. “It’s hardwired into our culture. If it’s what it takes, then we will be up all weekend to make sure that our clients have the specialists they need on Monday morning.”
Consultants for each specialism
The reason that STAR is so intimately acquainted with all the relevant specialists, according to Van Bommel, is to be found in the way the Delivery department is organised. “Almost all the other agencies employ consultants and account managers who source specialists from all the different disciplines. They’ll need a foreman one day, a planner the next and a safety officer the day after that. We don’t believe in that approach because you never truly get to know the various disciplines. Instead, we work with 35 consultants who each have their own specialism. They not only know the business for which they are responsible like an insider does, they also maintain close relationships with clients and specialists in their respective fields, enabling them to provide both with the perfect match in terms of skills and personality.”
Wester: “Everything at STAR is geared towards the client. If you look at the way we work, then you soon notice that it precisely mirrors the way in which our clients organise their projects. Our consultants fully understand the various roles in projects, enabling them to offer help on all fronts. Supply security is the most important in that respect, and we combine it with maximum quality. A large oil company, for example, recently needed 20 control and quality management specialists at short notice. We had 40 qualified professionals ready to go – all in Category A.”
“A large oil company needed 20 specialists; we introduced them to 40, all in Category A.”
Wester notes that STAR is in a position to offer such quality because it has a cast-iron network of specialists and provides staff on a project basis only. STAR is not a recruitment agency. “Our strength lies in projects. Clients have a project and in order to complete it, they temporarily need highly qualified staff. That’s the problem we solve for them. Each client has one key account manager, who monitors all the client’s projects and orders. Our niche consultants are subsequently tasked with finding the right people in our network for any given project – this is the real nitty-gritty groundwork that sets us apart – and eventually everything comes back to the key account manager who finalises details with the client. It’s an approach that really is quite unique.”
Conquering infrastructure
STAR is already a household name in the world of oil, gas and energy, and now it is taking the infrastructure market by storm. It’s a logical next step, according to Thomas Wester, considering the fact that the sectors overlap in so many ways. Many of the jobs in the petrochemical industry, like project leader, work planner, safety officer and engineer, are virtually the same as in infrastructure. So STAR now increasingly supplies staff for projects there. “We were already active in infrastructure, but the relative lull caused by corona gave us the opportunity to accelerate our efforts and seriously expand our network of specialists in the field. We’re reaping the benefits of that move already, as we can conclude that volumes are above expectation and clients are their expressing their delight about the supply security we give them, and our way of working in general.”
But STAR is not quite there yet, notes Wester. “Our power wheel is most definitely spinning, also in infrastructure, but not at full speed. We’re a reliable partner and more often than not we can deliver, but unlike in the petrochemical industry, we don’t know all the specialists. Another way we’re not yet at Champions League level is lead times. In our traditional sectors, we typically supply three suitable project specialists within 48 hours. But believe me, we will conquer the infrastructure market and you can expect to see us making a few significant advances in the coming months.”
