Judicial officers are not always men. More and more women are also finding their way to the profession. In 2017, the gender distribution between judicial officers appeared to be evolving positively. At that time, 60 percent of the interns, 45 percent of candidates and 16 percent of certified judicial officers were women. These figures give us hope for the future.
Our Modero network currently has 20 female colleagues, from certified judicial officers to interns. They are active in our sector for between 3 and 24 years. They will take the floor this week.
Always a listening ear and a helping hand
As judicial officers, we never had a moment of rest to catch our breath in the past year. We had to face new challenges every day and find ways to continue our work corona proof. Thanks to our passion for the profession and our heart for people, we keep looking for a customized solution time and time again, no matter what additional challenges arise on our path or that of the debtors. So, we are always ready to listen and help, corona crisis or not. Some people see us as the bad guy, but we mainly see our job as a mediator between two parties. We actively look for solutions with an eye for the situation of all involved. We have to ‘hold our own’, but an elephant skin is not necessary.
However, we do not deny that we have had to bite our teeth a little harder in recent months to keep going, but our incomparable working days and contact with everyone involved motivate us. In this way we manage to help people further and slow down the build-up of a mountain of debt.
Refine our skills as a team
With our passion and belief in a better future, we have come far, but not far enough yet. Even with empathy alone, we cannot make it. We need to continuously refine our skills to be able to offer the best possible service and guidance. As judicial officers, we must be adept at mediation, be able to correctly assess a situation in no time, be able to de-escalate a situation, provide legal advice in an understandable way, negotiate and, above all, display a lot of flexibility. Our days are therefore never predictable or boring, but we cannot cope with such a range of tasks on our own.
We have to refine our skills every day. No one can be the best at all aspects of our profession. That is why we must also learn from and work closely with other judicial officers, our staff and other stakeholders. If you want to properly fulfill the function of judicial officer, it is actually not a separate profession, but a team sport in the making.
9 dreams for the future of the profession
Although we are extremely proud of our team and all judicial officers, we still cherish a few dreams for the future of our profession. Do you help us to make them reality?
- Proactively come up with solutions for current challenges
- Focus on debt prevention instead of just collection
- More accessible communication to all parties involved
- To position the judicial officer in a more humane manner in public opinion
- Make an even stronger commitment to digitization based on customer friendliness and cost efficiency
- Adjust rates and procedures to make debt recovery cheaper for all parties involved
- Update the legal and ethical framework
- Less competition, more ‘confraternity’
- Uniformity (of writs and IT, for example) to facilitate knowledge sharing
- Enhance our image by talking openly about our challenges and achievements
We already have the resources to make these dreams come true. Now it comes down to putting them into practice. How we want to do this? By taking the time to adjust or reinvent them where necessary, and to enter into a dialogue with our professional group and other stakeholders involved. Our society is evolving, let’s work together to ensure we do not fall behind.
Modero wishes you a pleasant and inspiring International Women’s Day.