A conversation with Joost van Dijk, managing director of Abilitec

'Stay wanted'

For some time now, the demand for technical staff has exceeded supply. Under the motto "stay wanted," Abilitec is trying to tilt the classic staffing and secondment landscape. An interview with Joost van Dijk, managing director of Abilitec, about the unique way in which they manage to attract (young) talent and how they place the right people in the right place.

By already offering young talent a study-oriented, part-time side job, they are already building the necessary experience during their studies. .

Abilitec specializes in the mediation of technical professionals with a focus on the disciplines of Construction Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. "From our Dordrecht office, we focus primarily on the 'Groot Rijnmond' region as far as Amsterdam, Utrecht and Den Bosch," says Van Dijk. "Currently we operate with about 90 employees, of which 15 fte are inside the office and the 75 fte are placed externally. Given the challenges facing the market, we expect to grow to about 120 FTE this year, 200 employees in 2021 and 250 employees by the end of 2022." An ambitious goal. The growth strategy is therefore based on both organic growth and acquisitions.

Good job pond

The job market really is changing, according to Van Dijk. "More and more technicians are considering doing something else," he says. "You have to know how to reach them on time and frequently. Reason for us to move away from the original and rather conservative model of staffing and secondment. Thanks to all kinds of innovative techniques, we can get in touch with these professionals in a very targeted way, the first steps of which are also fully automated. A method that is now starting to bear fruit and leads to a stock of availability. Technicians don't like calling, on the other hand, they like chatting. By giving them the right answers and providing a good job pool, they are more likely to make the move to a new challenge. Research shows that they need about thirty contact moments to switch jobs. As a company, we are explicitly making the move to surface earlier, more often and more relevant on the physical and digital timeline of technical professionals, through social media, but also already at colleges and universities."

Student-oriented side job

"Moreover, there is an incredible amount of talent running around at colleges and universities," Van Dijk says. "I am impressed how far they are already with digitalization in construction, for example. And they are genuinely interested in topics such as sustainability. Talent that, in their free hours and evening hours, often 'moonlights' at the pub or supermarket. Relevant work, but wouldn't it be great if they could swap this side job for a study-oriented side job with their future technical employers? We see huge opportunities here. The Netherlands has 130,000 technical students who, apart from an internship, hardly have any practical experience. Vacancies that are open all ask for experienced people. By offering young talent a part-time, study-oriented part-time job, they already build up the necessary experience during their studies. Moreover, it is much more relevant than those few weeks of internship they do every year."

Abilitec specializes in the mediation of technical professionals with a focus on the disciplines of Construction Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

Jobcarven

"Through job carving we support our clients," Van Dijk continues. "Repetitive, administrative and improper tasks we cut ('carve') off the experienced professional who is permanently employed by our clients. This allows him or her to concentrate on the core task, reduces the workload and increases depth and job satisfaction. Projects get completed again. A win-win, where the knife cuts both ways. At the moment, we have already helped a dozen students find study-oriented side jobs. For example, as a junior draughtsman, junior calculator or revision workers. Add them to an optimization or improvement project and see what happens in the team and the project when you add fresh enthusiasm."

"We are also in talks with colleges in the Drechtsteden region to see if we can modernize the curriculum. Dare to look differently at the practicals and internships, mention and see it as a real side job, already from year 1 about 12-16 hours per week. You will then deliver a much better equipped young professional and add over 48,000 FTE in innovation power. Incidentally, we are also jointly looking at soft skills to better equip technical professionals for changing practice."

"In more and more places we are succeeding in convincing clients of this, because the pool of 'seniors' and 'mediors' is now relatively sparse. We invest in guaranteed inflow and throughput. Our clients can try it with us almost for free."

'Stay wanted' applies to both clients and candidates, according to Van Dijk. "We spend a lot of money, time and effort to reach technical professionals and place them with the nicest and best client. And we help those clients with modern and good employment practices and strategic personnel planning so that additions to the permanent workforce, while flexible, remain more predictable." For more information, visit the website of Abilitec.