Moving overseas to make dreams come true

Matthew Grundill about his experience with Xelvin: 

“The first time I encountered Xelvin was through a vacancy advertised on the internet. I saw the vacancy during the weekend and decided to apply on Monday. However, by Monday, it had already disappeared. I googled the company Xelvin and came across Bram Boogers. I emailed him and got a response back almost straight away. By coincidence, Bram was coming to Cape town for a Xelvin recruitment session. He invited me to join the session so we could introduce ourselves. The meeting with Xelvin was very casual. A kind of meet and greet, so I could put a face to the name. It was all very friendly and the people from Xelvin were very nice.

The recruitment session took place in July. In the meantime, Bram had been very busy arranging a job interview for me at the company where I now work. I trusted Bram completely because he kept me constantly informed. “It’s coming, it’s coming” he reassured me time and time again. After about a month, I had a skype conversation with the company I’m going to start on January 2020. I was pretty nervous, but it wasn’t too bad in the end. Bram phoned me in between and made me feel at ease. I was mostly worried that the skype connection would be interrupted or that I’d have to ask them to repeat their questions.

I was over the moon when Bram called to tell me that I had been hired! I was literally running around the house while he was on the phone. Bram is very friendly and insanely helpful. Throughout the whole process, he did everything he said he was going to do. I never lost faith in Xelvin, because Bram kept me informed and I knew he was doing his best for me. It’s my first time going through the international process and Bram is helping to make it run as smoothly as possible. I can’t wait to get to the other side (the Netherlands), shake his hand and thank him for everything.

It’s bittersweet to leave family and friends behind. I’m going to miss them immensely, but I’m also super excited about the adventures to come. It’s something I’ve dreamt of my whole life. I am now busy arranging my “Dutch citizenship”. Xelvin takes care of everything from A to Z. I don’t have to worry about anything. For engineers like me, it’s purely a case of getting in touch with Xelvin. They’ll do the rest. They also give you excellent advice. For example, I originally applied for a completely different position than the one for which I was hired. Bram looked at who I am and what my work experience is and advised me to apply for the vacancy for which I have now been hired. That works brilliantly. They really managed to make the right match.

I’m moving to the Netherlands in a while. I think it is a beautiful country and I am literally itching to leave. The first thing I’m going to do is buy a bike and do some sightseeing. I don’t have to worry about things like housing and integration.  Xelvin is arranging that too. They have suggested several houses to me and asked if I’d like to share a house with other expat colleagues. I find this very reassuring. Hopefully, we can help each other on the road and support one another where necessary. Xelvin has given this a lot of thought. Bram and I are also looking into the possibility of establishing a kind of ‘South African community’ to make integration easier in the Netherlands. I had two dreams: 1. Moving abroad for work and 2. Establishing a South African community abroad. Thanks to Xelvin, all my dreams are coming true!

Share this article