Geert-Jan Waasdorp, Rotterdam native and entrepreneur at heart, is founder and owner of labor market data specialist Intelligence Group (IG). IG and HeadFirst Group work together in the field of data exchange and providing unique data insights to the market. In addition, IG guides us in the path to an optimal data-driven organization.
In addition to his role within IG, Waasdorp is (co-)responsible for many other companies and brands, including Werf&, Academie voor Arbeidsmarktcommunicatie and SkillsCV. "The common thread is always labor market and data," Waasdorp says. "Everyone with a professional recruitment team, comes to a point where they need our data. The ambition is to make data really indispensable for organizations. In addition, we want to further expand and stimulate data exchange in Europe." This makes Intelligence Group a perfect growth partner for HeadFirst Group on the road to becoming an international and optimal data-driven organization.
Predicting with data
Every year at Werf&, Waasdorp traditionally presents his recruitment trends for the new year. "Embrace platform technology," was one of Waasdorp's advice to organizations in late 2021. "Candidates are a consumer of labor. They want to be able to compare easily. Platforms make comparison possible." A second piece of advice reads, "Give the candidate the choice of contract type. The role is the same, so don't limit that on the front end in this scarce labor market by putting out a job posting with one contract type as a focal point." The role of trend watcher that Waasdorp takes shows his knowledge of the labor market, but also his ambition to be predictive with data. And that is precisely where HeadFirst Group's ambition lies as well.
"We started building a house, the foundation is there and now we are building the floors."
Growth Partners
Trust is the most important foundation for Waasdorp to build on. "With HeadFirst Group we have built the trust that allows us to develop together in the role of data in the organization and beyond," says Waasdorp. With the partnership launched in 2021, the foundation has been laid and the first successes have been achieved immediately: the exchange of data on the permanent and flexible labor market has been started, we presented the first editions of the Talent Monitor, which from now on will appear quarterly, and we presented - to a long-cherished wish - a rate forecast for 2022. In 2022 we will continue on this footing. We are taking a step towards further data maturity, which we are going to see reflected in, for example, next level client reports, and more predictive power based on data.
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