“Data strengthens my position as an interlocutor within the organisation”
ZorgSpectrum has approximately 1,500 employees. Every year, the organisation has to find dozens of new employees to work at the various locations in Utrecht. In recent years, much has changed within the organisation in terms of recruitment. When Nicky Huizinga, HR Director, started at ZorgSpectrum in 2017, there was no recruiter on staff. They now have a team of about five people working on recruitment and selection on a daily basis. In 2018, the Target Group Dashboard (DoelgroepenDashboard) was purchased. Carmen Janssen (recruiter) and Nicky explain that this product is very important in order to keep abreast of what is going on in the labour market.
The data is used, for instance, to see whether it will be easier or harder to recruit people in the future. In addition, they consider it a great advantage that it is also possible to see how scarce a target group is on a regional level. Perhaps more importantly, the dashboard also strengthens the position of recruiters. Carmen explains that she uses the data from the dashboard in discussions with managers. “Sometimes there is some disagreement from within the organisation about whether it is really impossible to find people. If I then show the data from the dashboard and I see, for instance, that a general care function is scarce and then that a specialist function is even scarcer, then this is also more obvious to the managers. This also creates understanding within the organisation.”
Data provides insight into different generations
Many different generations work in the organisation, which has an impact on the way we work. Jan Groenendaal (HR business partner) says the following about it: “It is obvious that the new generation expects something different from what we are used to. At school, for example, they learn many new things and techniques. When they join us just after graduation, they find that the older employees still do some things differently, and that they are not really open to new ways. This can be difficult, because on the one hand, you want to cherish that expertise, but on the other hand… some have grown up by the proverbial candlelight and do not yet know that electricity has been invented. Finding common ground between generations is paramount. You also want to encourage the new ideas and insights of the new generation.”
In health care, both the experienced employee and the starter are badly needed. However, this requires a different recruitment strategy. For each target group, you must have a clear understanding of the right ways to approach people. The Target Groups Dashboard provides insight into this by, among other things, applying the work experience filter. Carmen explains that they adapt their vacancy texts to the target group: “We are really in storytelling mode, we put the applicant first. Young people naturally have a different appeal than people who have been doing this work for a long time, so we really try to adapt our texts to that.” The Target Group Dashboard provides insight into the employment conditions, pull factors and interests of each target group.
Intelligence Group as a sparring partner
“We are very happy with the cooperation with Intelligence Group,” says Nicky. Carmen adds “When we spoke earlier this year, it came up that we actually needed some more specific information on lateral employees, so it was very nice that you were open to doing additional research on this.”
The data confirmed that lateral employees are an interesting target group to recruit. In addition, the study also revealed that there are differences between lateral employees and the current target group of carers from individual health care and nurses in terms of employment conditions and pull factors. “In our vacancy texts, we certainly take into account the differences between these target groups,” Carmen says.
Always room for improvement
Carmen, Nicky and Jan all agree that the cooperation with Intelligence Group has given ZorgSpectrum a boost in the field of recruitment and selection. Internally, they also continue to see improvement in applying the data even more in practice. “You notice that in the busyness of daily tasks we sometimes forget to use the data from the dashboard for long-term goals. A conversation with Intelligence Group, among other things, ensures we get right to it.” Part of the practical application was to hire someone to focus on labour market communication. They hope that the new specialist will also work a lot with the Target Groups Dashboard in order to better appeal to ZorgSpectrum’s target groups.