Jerôme Scherber

“You are Unisign’s ambassador when working as a service engineer at the customer.”

My Unisign story: Jerôme Scherber (52), he is one of our service engineers (officially: Field Service Engineer) at Unisign and a true globetrotter. Jerôme has spent his entire career in service and maintenance. After completing his military service and studying mechanical engineering at the MTS (Technical High School), he started at a company in the automotive industry. This was followed by jobs in various sectors, such as flat glass, glass manufacturing, industrial laundry, and machinery production. Jerôme also took additional training in maintenance, hydraulics, pneumatics, and welding. “As a service engineer, you need a broad skillset,” he says. He’s been working at Unisign for more than 9 years now.

A 4-hour interview

How did he end up at Unisign? Jerôme: “A recruitment agency approached me. Unisign was looking for a service engineer. I’ll never forget the first interview, which was with Paul Lennaerts, now our Operations Manager. It lasted four hours. My contact at the recruitment agency got nervous and even started calling me during the interview. The second interview also lasted about four hours. I was given several tests, like reading technical drawings, electrical diagrams, and pneumatic/hydraulic schematics. All to see what kind of person they were dealing with. It all went well, and I was hired on the spot.”

Freedom and independence

Being a service engineer gives you a lot of freedom, which is one of the things Jerôme finds most appealing. “I like working independently. That’s essential in this job. When you’re at a customer site abroad, you mostly have to rely on yourself. You also can’t be afraid to ask questions. Good communication is crucial. You’re there for the customer, and you have to work things out together with the people in the factory so the machine can be up and running again as soon as possible.”

Unpredictable

What does a typical workweek look like? “Usually, I call our Service Coordinator and right-hand man Marcel van Rens on Thursday or Friday. On Monday, I come into the office to go over the past week’s work. I record my hours and write service reports about what I’ve done and any remaining customer requests. I also make sure my service van is cleaned and restocked. Marcel then tells me where I’m going next. I get the briefing on my laptop. I really enjoy the surprising, unpredictable, and adventurous aspect of the job. Usually, I’m at a customer site for a week, but sometimes it’s two or three. Of course, that includes travel time too.”

World traveler

Our customers are located all over the world, so it’s no surprise that Jerôme and his colleagues travel the globe to provide service. Jerôme: “We drive up to 1,000 km with our service vans. If it’s further or not reachable by road, we fly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I sometimes drove more than 1,000 km, even up past Stockholm. Quite a trip. Solving the customer’s problem only took me three hours. That happens too.”

Anecdotes

Name a country and chances are Jerôme has been there. He has at least one story for most of his international assignments. Like the many times in China when people stopped him in the street to take pictures with him because of his height (1.96 m). Or in India, where people expected him to sit in a chair by the machine and direct others to fix the issue from there. (“That’s not how it works, of course.”) Jerôme: “In Mexico, I was once standing on a ladder when a staff member suddenly took me away for a blood pressure and urine test. He wanted to make sure I hadn’t used drugs and wasn’t going to do anything dangerous on that ladder.”

Flight simulator

Like many technical colleagues at Unisign, Jerôme has worked on cars. “I used to do all the maintenance on my cars myself, often with one of my daughters. She recently switched careers—from veterinary assistant to maintenance technician.” Jerôme laughs: “Apparently, it runs in the family.” In addition to tinkering, he’s also long enjoyed building computers. Nowadays, he mostly uses them for flight simulation. A clear sign of his love for travel. He enjoys making detailed flight plans and flying virtual routes to destinations around the world.

May 27, 2025