Ab Jakobs - Project Manager

We continue the interesting series of interviews that provide more insight into the work and the people who together form De Haan Relocation:

This time a conversation with Ab Jakobs, our knowledge beacon for project relocations for whom no company relocation is too crazy.

"Every day there is a new situation. Working is therefore still my hobby”.

Hello Ab, from which special workplace do you give this interview?

I now work from my home where I am surrounded by my loving wife and the animal family consisting of four dogs, two cats and a horse. Normally I spend a lot of work time driving in my car to various locations

You and De Haan relocation go back a long time, can you tell us something about that time?

That's right, we've been going back for 43 years! Times change. When I started in 1977, Wim de Haan was CEO. At that time there were still two separate warehoused.  I started in the small warehouse in Alblasserdam with four or five employees in the office and another 20 to 25 people always on the road moving clients.

Do you have an anecdote from that time?

What has stayed with me most of all is that the office and the warehouse were once burned to the ground. That was awful! A brand new moving truck had just arrived that has been completely lost. From an emergency office we then bravely continued. From that time, only mover Jannes Zijlstra and I still work at De Haan relocation, so not many people will probably know this.
It seems weird now that we did everything without computers or internet at that time. I always took a writing pad with me for national moves. There was an appraisal, a price was agreed upon and customers signed a receipt on the spot.

What activities did you do then?

I worked for De Haan relocation at KPN - then PTT - for 25 years. As an Account Manager I had my own workplace with them, I made the weekly schedule and took care of the internal PTT relocations. For all those offices throughout the Netherlands, there was always something to move, order or store on a daily basis. It's hard to imagine how incredibly big that was at the time.
For years I was also a mover. At the time, De Haan mainly did private household relocations within the Netherlands. After that, European relocations were gradually added, especially Spain.

How did you end up at the Project Relocations department?

Unfortunately, my European relocations came to an abrupt end when I had a serious work accident that left me with a neck and back hernia. After that, I only did national relocations for a while. When my brother, who also worked at De Haan at the time, indicated that he wanted early retirement, I took over his work as Project Manager as surveyor in the specialized Project Relocations department. I was happy with that work. The one thing that I am absolutely not allowed to do anymore is lifting.  Up to today I still do this work.

What makes Project Relocations so special?

Going to the customers, I see a new situation within Project Relocations every day that requires my assessment as surveyor. I enjoy that challenge in my work. Working is therefore still my hobby. I talk normally and walk in my regular clothes instead of a three-piece suit. But I do have a dose of experience and with that calmness and a helicopter overview, which others may miss.

I prepare every project move as well as possible by first visiting the organization that is planning to move. A large organizational relocation that must be completed quickly, or, for example, a smaller, intensive company relocation where everything must first be disassembled because there are no elevators, each requires a specific approach. So I discuss the wishes with the customer, I assess the situation and I come up with a plan of action to relocate an organization, large or small, without loss of productivity. That is a specialty, my profession and I am quite proud of it!