Little did I know when I was 18 years of age and starting my law enforcement career in the Netherlands what the future held? Initially, it was great making it through training and becoming a police officer and thought I would be doing this the rest of my life!
However, life changes, and getting older, wiser and getting married (and having children) I changed my view on my career and future. I started to look for information on careers outside the government. In doing so, I got in contact with smaller private investigation firms and yes, I learnt there many opportunities outside than my then current government job. I realised that I needed to step out of the, sometimes ridged, government organization, where I had worked for over 16 years, and find a different, commercial professional environment to work in.
In 2008 I was approached by Interpolis/Achmea, the biggest insurance company in the Netherlands, to join their SIU and it was only a matter of weeks before I joined. A few months into my new job, one of my colleagues told me about the IASIU, which I joined in 2009 and attended my first seminar in 2010 in Bad Kreuznach Germany. This was to become the new foundation for my current career.
At the Bad Kreuznach seminar, I met several interesting people from different parts of the world, whom I stayed in contact with on both a personal and professional basis. As a result of this networking, I was able to help them with information and conversely, I could reach out to them for assistance.
Moreover, membership of IASIU, has also enabled me to be able to reach out to people that I do not know but are IASIU members.
For example, while conducting an investigation I needed to determine if certain information was correct. The challenge was that the information needed to be verified in another country. However, through the contact list of IASIU, I reached out to an IASIU member in that specific country and introduced myself as a fellow IASIU member. Within 30 minutes I received a response together with the information I needed! At that time, I had left Interpolis and the company that I was then working for (a small private firm), was both surprised and impressed by the value of my IASIU membership in assisting with investigations. It was seen as really added value.
Over the years I stayed in touch with my IASIU friends and sometime in 2013 I was approached by one of them. He was working for a company and ask me to start working for them. And from then things quickly progressed. In 2014 I founded my own company and from 2016 I’m now fully self-employed and am currently working for three different companies. I met all of these companies through IASIU.
In my opinion, my experience demonstrates the true value of IASIU. It’s about sharing knowledge, helping each other and making great friends all over the world. I’ve only attended IASIU seminars from the Europe chapter up until now, but I’m exploring the possibilities to join the 2017 seminar in New Orleans. I’m hoping to meet you there.
Best regards,
Joost Kersten
