A beautiful product to work with!
Stijn Beckers has worked for ten years in the diamond industry at HRD Antwerp. He started out as an administrative employee in the diamond lab, then trained to be a grader and is now working in the Marketing & Sales Department.
Stijn ended up in the diamond industry rather by chance. He applied for job as an administrative employee at the former High Diamond Council and was hired immediately.
“Five years later, the lab had grown tremendously and they were looking for additional lab assistants, which really appealed to me,” says Stijn. “We received an internal theory and practice training program for three months, and then another three months of on-the-job training.” Working as a diamond grader demands great concentration and the ability to make quick decisions. “In the beginning, you might assess three stones per day, but an experienced grader processes maybe 50 in the same amount of time.
So it is a very intensive job, but you are working with a fantastic product. Diamond is a natural product that was formed deep in the earth under tremendous pressure, centuries ago. As a result, every cut diamond is unique. Being able to evaluate such a product makes it very special.”
Finally, Stijn has advanced even further at HRD Antwerp and is now working in the Marketing & Sales Department. “It’s a very different job than in the lab, but now I come into contact with many more people and am learning even more about this brilliant industry.”
