What economic outlook do you see for 2024? What are your expectations for the intellectual labour market?
With questions like these, the answer is always 'it depends'. Leaving aside geopolitical instability that could completely rock the entire labour market, similar to covid, the forecast for 2024 is for now ‘not bad’. Modest economic growth, mostly driven by a very tight labour market. Labour shortages, white and blue collar, limit economic growth, and limited entrepreneurship and business activity. For 2024, it is therefore for business as usual in a more difficult labour market where workers are demanding and hard to persuade, competition is high and recruiters increasingly expensive and ineffective.
Have you done any automation projects in the last 1 year? What results can you report?
Sure. We have been investing heavily in data in relation to automation and AI since 2023. The best product in this is recruitagent.ai in which you can start a recruitment campaign from scratch anywhere in the world within minutes. In practice, this mainly means that with unique data, you can write original vacancy texts and post them anywhere, mostly in your own local market, at the push of a button. It will quickly save you 3-4 hours of work per job posting. Much better than using ChatGPT. And it is free to use and cheaper to publish.
What are some effective strategies for recruiting across multiple countries in the region?
We are becoming increasingly dependent on Meta, Google, Indeed and LinkedIn when it comes to recruiting. We have been spoilt by value for money in the past, but increasingly disappointed by today's results. Local champions have lost ground, except for the local market leaders. Only they have not invested in mobile, and visual requirements of today's labour market. So there is ground open there for new entrants. Practically at the moment, it is best to optimise, master and exploit your current channels better than your competitors in the job market. Also, experiment with new recruitment techniques such as platform technology (Jobandtalent.com) and TikTok. Also, 'forgotten' recruitment channels are still very effective, such as campus recruitment, referral, internal mobility and employer branding. For those looking to recruit cheaply, these are tough times. For employers who want to invest decently in recruitment marketing and employer branding, the labour market is winning out
What aspects are essential when managing remote teams across different countries?
You need unique skills to do this well. Not only the right management and/or leadership skills, but also confidence, the ability to delegate, the ability to control and, above all, the ability to bridge cultural differences. Often, in-depth cultural knowledge is essential for managing other teams in other countries well.
What are some recruitment challenges you would highlight specifically in your country/region?
The biggest problem is too low unemployment and not being able to select enough on supply. Also, legislation protects workers, but these laws are from times when workers also needed protection. Who is protecting employers today? Employers have to deal with Ghosting of job applicants and even people who have been hired. Loyalty is low. Employees are demanding. AI, which is now massively embraced by job seekers and employees, amplifies these effects and employers cannot yet respond to it. In the process, recruiters are becoming more expensive, recruitment tools increasingly ineffective and recruitment productivity is declining. Change costs money, time and manpower. And that -as always- is precisely what is lacking right now. Budgets are under pressure and existing parties keep taking a bigger bite of the pie. And because of labour market shortages and demanding employees, there is less capacity available to invest in much-needed innovation. Only with guts and vision can you make a difference in this.
Thank you for the anwers Geert-Jan Waasdorp, CEO and Founder of Intelligence Group!
