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10 years of building brands: Visser & Van Baars
Vibe Group is an international IT staffing specialist. In 2021, we celebrated the milestone of 10 years of brand building. Together with our four brands, we looked back on this special period. Visser & Van Baars Netherlands has been your partner in finding the best data specialist for your organisation since 2011.
Our match
What has made us able to match you with the professional your organisation has been looking for for 10 years, faster and better than others? We talked to Yoram Zijtregtop of Visser & Van Baars about this.
Successful working method and culture
- We offer added value because each consultant maintains a triple focus: on 1 IT expertise, 1 region and 1 type of employment.
- 'Greed' can make you lose focus and even miss - big - opportunities.
- In times of crisis, you can keep team spirit high/atmosphere good through clear and open communication.
- Synergy is essential for a multinational like us. 'Teamwork makes the dream work.'
- To remain the market leader in a competitive market, we can never be completely satisfied.
Interesting? Then read on. In this interview with Yoram - which took place in 2021 - he shares his insights on Visser & Van Baars. Vibe Group's 'OB' (original brand), which started shaping our successful way of working back in 2011.
Yoram, what is the secret of Visser & Van Baars' success?
Visser & Van Baars was the first to realise that the lack of recruitment agencies specialising in one IT expertise presented opportunities. This allowed us to start pioneering in Amsterdam and the surrounding area with the method we still use today: the triple focus. Before we knew it, we had a team of seven top specialists in recruitment, with primary focus on Business Intelligence. All aware of the ins & outs of the industry and therefore perfectly capable of matching the high demand from the market with the best professionals.
How do you explain that a pioneer like Visser & Van Baars became so good at what it does, before others followed?
I think because of lack of focus by other recruitment agencies. It is quite natural for sales professionals to see opportunities everywhere and try to bring in everything they can. But this greed can also blind you to other, even bigger opportunities.
At Visser & Van Baars, we learned the principle of quality over quantity at the right time and integrated it into our core business, without losing our focus on the market. Demand was already very high, but our triple focus meant we were the ones saying no to parties that did not fully match our expertise. This way, we could concentrate on what we mastered well and be of real value to both clients and IT professionals.
What does Visser & Van Baars specialize in?
In a nutshell, we help organisations and professionals within various data areas. We connect the right data professionals with the right organisations. We now focus solely on the following areas of expertise within Visser & Van Baars: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Engineering, Data Governance, Data Science, Databases, Marketing Intelligence.
For example, there is no recruiter who knows all the ins and outs of the Data Governance market as well as Laura Reijn. She is truly the best of the best within her IT niche."
Can you tell us about the biggest lessons you have learnt in terms of setbacks?
For the 2-3 years before the corona pandemic, we only experienced success purely because our team was so strong and dominant, outperforming every competitor. When the crisis hit, our winning team faced losses for the first time and we did not achieve our goals. That was difficult.
To turn the tide, we convened the entire team for a much-needed meeting. Thanks to team effort, input from all of us and by keeping a good atmosphere, we managed to achieve the targeted results for 2020.
With the market reopening and the crisis seemingly over, we are back on track for success. Last May we even had our best month ever. Ultimately, you only reap the rewards if you are really determined to make the climb and support each other as a team.
What impact is Visser & Van Baars currently making?
Visser & Van Baars' recruitment team is in a class of its own. We have an unparalleled market share in vacancies for data professionals. This year, we placed 400 data professionals with 200 companies, the same as in the previous 2 years. Because we are such a dominant player, our network is growing at the same rate as our success. You could say that everyone in the industry knows our name and knows what we stand for.
Why do you think that is?
Because we are just absolute winners, always on top of our game. We like to win with honesty and integrity. By wanting to win and persistently doing our best, we set off a wave of success. Synergy within Visser & Van Baars is essential as we share leads and candidates by geography. We do it together, teamwork makes the dream work'.
How do you envision the future of Visser & Van Baars?
Well, big things are obviously about to happen. Data is a hot topic and there is a scarcity of specialists. Within that tight labour market, all companies are making the switch to data-driven work.
As the most dominant party with our future in our own hands, we always have a competitive edge. Yet we can never be completely satisfied. We should never forget that we too were once a small player, with the big recruitment agencies in our sights. Just as we have taken over the industry, others are now in the hunt.
Really, we are now the party to beat, so we have to stay keen on all the details, always look for opportunities, and must not become complacent. This way, we will not only remain the market leader, but also continue to grow in all IT niches."
In conclusion, is there any goal you would like to add?
The goal is to be as dominant in all our areas of expertise as we are now in Business Intelligence. For example, we now have 12 people in BI, while we currently have only 3 people with a focus on Data Science. But even in BI, there is still room for improvement. You know, there is always room for growth and improvement, further building our brands.
Looking for the best data specialists?
We have the data specialist you are looking for in our network. On the Visser & Van Baars website, we will tell you more about our areas of expertise and services.