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In late 2023, Mehdi made the move from Morocco to Belgium to join Select Projects as an engineer. The integration went very smoothly, and in April, he celebrated a major milestone: six months at Select Projects, but also six months in Belgium.
How are you doing?
“Everything is good. I've been in Belgium for almost seven months now, my wife and kid are here too, and I'm starting to get used to living here. The weather is quite unpredictable though.”
What are you doing at Select Projects now?
“I'm working on two projects. For the second project, we are currently conducting a feasibility study. The client wants to aseptically upgrade an existing conventional filling line.”
How do these projects compare to the work you did in Morocco?
“It's all new to me. There are similarities, but it's definitely a challenge. The pharmaceutical aspect is also new to me. That means a lot of documentation, new terms and new requirements to learn.
I saw it as a great opportunity to work on this project. It allows me to learn more about pharmaceutical policies. In the beginning, it was very difficult, but now I'm getting more used to it.
The difference with my previous experience (As a process and continuous improvement engineer) is that before in the two positions I held, the majority of the tasks I had were more on an operational scale : If there were problems, I would solve them as quickly as possible. It was very operational. Now, as a project engineer, you think at a higher level, more strategically. We take our time to think strategically about changes or potential problems. It's not an operational position, This is why it is new for me which will enrich my career.”
How is your Dutch coming along?
“I've started the course and I really want to be able to speak Dutch fluently, or at least understand it. For now, I can speak a little bit of Dutch. But I am practicing.
The team I work with on my project is also very international: Canadians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians people from Qatar, Lebanon and Iran. So, we often speak English (or French with some of them).”
How did you experience the cultural difference? What do you think of us Belgians? Are we very different from Moroccan people?
“I find Belgians to be very open people. For example, I can easily talk to my neighbors, my colleagues. Belgians are very nice. They're not as open as people in Morocco, but I expected them to be much more closed. In the cafeteria at work, during lunch, I'm never alone. There's always someone to chat with.
Select Projects also organizes a lot of afterwork activities that I enjoy participating in. I couldn't attend the last one because it coincided with my Dutch class. But you'll definitely see me at an afterwork activity in the future.”
Thank you, Mehdi. We wish you continued success at Select Projects and lots of fun in Belgium!
Want to know more about international recruitment for your company? Reach out to us!
When filling open job vacancies, foreign candidates are increasingly being considered due to the shortage of labor in the Belgian or Dutch market. Select Group can provide support for international recruitment, both within and outside Europe. Recently, the Moroccan project engineer Mehdi started at Select Projects.
Are you looking for an engineer, a technician, or an IT professional? Then you have surely experienced how difficult they are to find. The list of bottleneck professions is getting longer, and the labor market is becoming tighter. The talent pool in Belgium or the Netherlands is quite limited, which is why international recruitment is becoming more and more valuable for these types of profiles. Select Group can help with that.
"To strengthen our team of engineers, we were looking for a project engineer," says HR Business Partner at Select Projects, Bénédicte Joret. "A profile that is increasingly difficult to find in Belgium. The demand from our clients to deploy these experts on their projects is also rising rapidly. We see that the need is high, and we want to continue supporting clients with the right expertise."
Of course, international engineers cannot be deployed on every project. This requires flexibility from the client. "Today, more and more companies realize that the labor market in Europe is becoming too tight. We also notice that more of our clients are open to professionals with a foreign background."
For this international recruitment, Select Projects once again turned to Xpertize. The organization is also a member of Select Group and has previously collaborated with Select Projects. "Just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, we recruited about 30 engineers from Morocco for a major project in Ghent. Everything went very smoothly at that time," says Bénédicte. "It was clear to us that we would turn to Xpertize again for the search for a project engineer."
Thanks to the assistance of colleagues at Xpertize, Select Projects was able to screen several interesting profiles. The first screening took place in Morocco, conducted by Xpertize. In a second and third round, the candidates were introduced to their future employer, Select Projects, through video interviews. "Even though everything was done online, we could still assess which profiles would be suitable. With Mehdi, we immediately noticed that his attitude was good, and his English was excellent. Of course, he also had the right experience and industry-specific skills to offer."
"Mehdi was also willing to relocate to Belgium, along with his family," says Bénédicte. "As soon as his employment contract was signed, we started all the administrative procedures in cooperation with our local partner in Belgium. This included arranging a visa and necessary permits, booking flights, and finding a place to live. They also assisted Mehdi with his registration."
Once in Belgium, our partner, along with Mehdi, looked for a permanent place for him and his family to settle. Other tasks such as opening a bank account and obtaining health insurance were also taken care of together. Select Projects places a lot of emphasis on proper integration and, as a result, found a few short Dutch lessons for Mehdi to start before he began his integration course.
"We went to welcome Mehdi at the airport. We want to ensure that he feels at home immediately, that he doesn't have to worry too much about the administrative and practical aspects, and can focus on his work," says Bénédicte. "Two weeks after his arrival in Belgium, Mehdi was able to start on one of our Life Sciences projects within engineering. His project focuses on the development of new filling lines."
The first few days went smoothly, and we wish Mehdi a lot of success in his career in Belgium!
Want to learn more about international recruitment? Don't hesitate to contact us.
Select Projects is a member of Select Group and operates in Belgium and the Netherlands. Employees of Select Projects support clients in the Life Sciences industry on a project basis, including project engineering, validation/qualification, quality assurance & QC projects, and other fields. Select Projects employs professionals looking for interesting and innovative projects while seeking to grow in their expertise. Here, they can become the best version of themselves.
Visit the Select Projects website: https://www.select-projects.be/en-GB
