It is finally allowed to take a photo on the Tata Steel site in one place. All afternoon, eight Groningen chemistry students have been guided past coal heaps and blast furnaces, through gigantic halls with molds for steel plates and pipelines the size of a truck. But only in the hot strip mill, where the manufactured steel is flattened, is it allowed to take a photo – the rest is business sensitive.
In a few seconds the students have their cell phones out from under their red safety overalls. They shoot selfies with the glowing steel plate that just passes by. A single photo goes instantly on social media app BeReal. “Your new bike actually passes by here,” says tour guide Timo Rijnbeek through his headset.
How do you entice young techies to come and work for you if you are the most controversial factory in the Netherlands? Steel factory Tata Steel (9,000 employees) has 650 vacancies, including for the department that must design and build a new, green factory in the coming years. Research by the environmental and health institute RIVM showed in 2021 that the factory emits dangerous amounts of lead and PAHs. Environmental organizations and local residents are strongly against the company, which is the largest CO2 emitter of the Netherlands. It is regularly at odds with the environmental service that supervises.
They notice this at the recruitment department, says Dorothe Alfrink of Tata Steel. It is more difficult for the company to find staff. A few years ago it typically had around 200 job openings. This is partly due to the tight labor market. But we also hear: I don’t want to work for Tata Steel.” Alfrink has to stop some digital recruitment campaigns. In comments on social media as Facebook is swearing at the employees in those campaigns.
In order to still get enough staff, Tata Steel has started recruiting much more – from advertisements and introductory evenings to contact with refugee organisations. Due to all the discussion about the company, the approach is somewhat different than before: less focus on how great the company is, more on ‘come by and ask your questions’. Alfrink: “Sell less, show more what you do.” Last year, for example, Tata Steel organized a festival where everyone could come. “We recruited fifty new people from that.”
Another thing: visits from study associations of technical studies. Tata Steel is in contact with associations and regularly invites them, says Alfrink. “We then reimburse, for example, travel costs.”
Accountability at parties
This Tuesday afternoon, four boys and four girls from De Chemische Binding from Groningen are visiting. The Bachelor’s students, aged around 20, tour the country for two days visiting potential employers. They also go to chemical company Covestro in Waalwijk. Student Jelke van den Eijnden: “The program does not talk much about companies. You learn little about what options there are, except for a PhD.”
The inclusion of Tata in the planning was not entirely without controversy. “Two people said they didn’t want to come because we were going here.” They didn’t go either. Curiosity dominated the rest.
The afternoon will start with two presentations, first by ‘campus recruitment manager’ Dewi de Lange about Tata Steel itself. She explains that the steel from the factory, for example, is in almost every car headrest. Then 26-year-old trainee Olivier van der Weiden – who graduated in Groningen – explains his work. He tells how he has worked on projects where the CO2emissions went down, or gas consumption was reduced. He has the feeling that he can really do something here. But, he also says, it can be difficult that your company receives a lot of negative attention. A slide shows headlines about Tata Steel, including the recent news that environmental organization Greenpeace and local residents are aiming cameras at the factory. Sometimes you have to answer for that at parties.
After a sandwich, the students go onto the grounds in a bus. They concentrate on the enormous installations; for many it is the first encounter with a large factory. “Jesus…”, someone says at the sight of another mega tube. In the raw materials port, the bus passes a mountain landscape of coal and iron ore.
Read alsoTata tacks and stops polluting coal
When everyone gets out to visit the oxygen steel factory, which makes plates from liquid steel, a student tells Rijnbeek that she was a bit shocked by how dirty some of the employees in the port were. “That was like a movie.” The tour guide explains that this is sometimes part of the job. “And it can be washed.” He occupies the group’s two factories, the basic oxygen plant and the hot strip mill. The students look around attentively for more than an hour. They see how a thick slab of steel gradually changes into a shiny roll that can be sent to the customer.
Insight
Back at the main building, everyone can recover from the production noise. “It’s all bigger than I thought,” says Emiel Broekman. And more streamlined. Real roll after roll.” Does he see himself working here? “If you can really work on sustainability… that seems attractive.” There is caution in his answer. “The negative image ensures that you approach such a company more critically.”
Fellow student Jelke van den Eijnden joins in: she found it interesting that trainee Olivier wanted to work here in order to make things better. But she doesn’t see herself walking around there right away. “I especially like organic chemistry.” That is more in the direction of biochemistry.
Perhaps the research department will consider this, suggests Ruth van Doorn. “This is such a big company, today we mainly saw the production.”
As far as she is concerned, it is especially important that Tata Steel continues to invest in improvement. “Then I would like it. That is also good about these days: these visits also give you insight into what you find important.”
Great day, concludes Dorothe Alfrink of the recruitment department. The purpose of the visits is not that the Bachelor’s students will apply tomorrow. “It’s about planting a seed.”
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