Online marketeer Pieter de Wit

Pieter de Wit has been working at SURF since 2017. “The diversity of work appeals to me greatly.”

“During the last phase of my study International Relations & Diplomacy, I was looking for a side job. Via an employment agency I ended up at SURFspot, the IT webstore for study, work and research. There I worked for over a year in Customer Service and Content. SURFspot offered me a permanent contract in 2018, after which I started to get more involved with online marketing. I now work for both SURFspot, as well as for SURF’s Online Marketing and Communications team.”

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The family

“Because SURFspot is our only service that directly targets consumers - in this case, primarily students and employees of institutions - the team occupies a special place within the organization. Several colleagues work for multiple teams, so there is now a good connection with the rest of the company. I really like the colleagues here. At SURFspot we know each other through thick and thin. I haven’t known the colleagues in the Online team for as long, but I’m enjoying myself there, as well. I also like the fact that people form different teams and disciplines can work together on a single product. In general, you can say that SURFspot is a group of friends, SURF the family.”

In motion

“Online marketing is on the move. That translates into a broad scope of changing work. Filling content calendars, creating banners, producing themes for our newsletters, analyzing target group and revenue figures; no day is the same. I also develop internal workshops to take colleagues along in topics like SEO and SEA, how to roll out social media campaigns and to set up dashboards. We think carefully about how to produce great and fitting content for our channels. Fortunately, we are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of that content. And of the tools that we ideally use for that purpose. The diversity of these activities appeals to me enormously. I also really like the location of our office, right in the center of Utrecht, because that way I can ride my bike to work.”

Open configuration options

“It strikes me that SURF is a socially engaged employer. We have a great deal of consideration for each other and are not quick to dismiss colleagues. We have a heart for the business because we share the passion for IT. Most of our colleagues also have wide-ranging interests, so it’s easy to chat about other subjects than work. SURF has a positive and safe working climate. Because we focus on many different services, projects and forms of innovation, internal coordination could sometimes be a little better. It takes a while to find out what everyone is doing in this company.”

Gatekeeper

“I see SURF as a bit of a ‘gatekeeper’ of IT within our society. We ensure that the Googles, Microsofts and Amazons of this world don’t gain too much power within education and research in the Netherlands. We keep an eye on safe, accessible, and affordable alternatives. Even if this means that we sometimes have to develop these alternatives ourselves, in close cooperation with our members of course.”