Oleum+

Oleum+ handles the werving en selectie, the recruitment and selection, of interim and permanent bestuurssecretarissen for organisations in the semi-public domain. The business is run from Eikstraat 41 in Tilburg and the founder writes in the first person throughout the site. The name is explained on the page: oleum is Latin for lubricating oil, a term used to describe what the bestuurssecretaris does inside an organisation, overseeing all processes from the wings of power, guarding governance hygiene, progress and the correct routing of decision making, and giving advice both when asked and unasked in the interest of the organisation.

The focus is a single profession within a single domain. Oleum+ works with organisations that carry a societal task, and quotes governance adviser Theo Schraven on how the role of the bestuurssecretaris is shifting from guardian of rules and procedures to guardian of values. Where twenty years ago the job was mostly done by lawyers, the site notes, there is now a palette of secretaries with varied HBO and university backgrounds, the profession is professionalising alongside governance generally, and the advisory part of the role is growing. How the free and delicate role is filled depends on the complexity and size of the organisation and on what the board needs.

Oleum+ operates from Tilburg and serves two audiences. Bestuurssecretarissen with an affinity for organisations with a societal task are offered permanent and temporary assignments, help in working out a next career step, and conversations for those who want to enter the profession. Boards and HR looking for a permanent or interim bestuurssecretaris are supported in finding the right candidate for this guardian of governance, with the site stressing that chemistry between board and secretary matters and that no ready-made profile exists. The company points to a very large and daily growing network of more than 2000 bestuurssecretarissen as the reason to entrust the search to it.