Nadia van den Heuvel: 'You all have a Nadia in your file'
The Divosa Spring Congress is all about people distant from the labour market, people in vulnerable situations, the precariat even. At the end of the first congress day, Nadia van den Heuvel rolls her wheelchair onto the stage and attracts the full attention of the audience with one sentence: ‘That target group? That’s me.’
In short
- Don’t focus too much on what someone ‘has’.
- Look at what someone can do
- Ask yourself: what do I wish for this person?
She once worked as a change management consultant in large public organisations, working on inclusive organisations.’I have frizzy hair and a multicultural background, I’m in a wheelchair. I fit the bill. That I was married to a man was at best a bit of a shame.’ Van den Heuvel worked hard. ‘I was earning 5,000 euros net a month, but there came a moment when I asked myself: what am I really here to change?’
Van den Heuvel ging op zoek naar een andere baan en kwam bij een groot recruitmentbureau voor een sollicitatiegesprek binnen waarop de recruiter verbaasd uitriep: ‘Maar jouw cv leek zo goed …’. Het was voor Nadia geen verrassing dat de baan niet doorging. Maar het leverde haar wél iets op. Na het gesprek trof ze op de gang een man aan die onbedaarlijk hard huilde. Het bleek dat hij maar niet ergens werd aangenomen omdat hij maar 40% kon zien. Van den Heuvel luisterde naar hem en regelde ter plekke een baan voor hem. ‘En ik wist niets over arbeidsparticipatie, of over voorliggende voorzieningen.’
She got excited and decided: this is what I am going to do. ‘I thought: I’m going to help other Nadias. It was a very noble idea. In no time, I had 70 CVs in my mik. I scheduled all 70 interviews at a nearby hotel and thought: I’m going to mediate them. But that didn’t go anywhere. And I had still put ‘talent pioneer’ on my business card.’
Ooit zei iemand tegen me: 'Nadia, je hoeft niet tevreden met het minimale te zijn, als je het maximale uit het leven wilt halen.'
Solve it
It took Van den Heuvel two months of worrying and then her husband gave her a choice: quit or fix it. And he lent a hand and invested in her business. That push gave her the flying start she needed.
The multimedia company Ictoria, an IT company where people with physical and mental disabilities work, is now running well. She has been able to give, as she calls it, over two hundred Nadias the opportunity she herself has been given.
In this, she works closely with the municipality. And then she occasionally picks up a point of criticism. ‘Quite frankly, I still sometimes hear: I would like to get rid of my consultant at the municipality.’ And sometimes she understands. ‘A course may cost a maximum of 2,700 euros, which is just too little.’
What also doesn’t help: too much focus on what ails people. Rather, ask them: what would I wish for this person? She herself wishes everyone the consultant she once had herself. ‘I once had a consultant who said to me: ‘Nadia, you don’t have to be satisfied with the minimum if you want to get the most out of life. Be that person for your target audience. You all have a Nadia in your file.’
