On the website werkenop.ipkw.nl, there is little sign of a shortage of technically trained staff. Every week, around 150 technicians apply to work at the Kleefse Waard Industrial Park (IPKW). The company behind the website is Kracht Recruitment, which is also based at IPKW. Director and founder Wieger Willems explains the secret behind this success and talks about his company’s ambitions for the rest of the region, including the Novio Tech Campus.
Our strength is also that we understand technicians very well. We know how they think and how they want to be approached." This appears to be catching on: Power Recruitment won the FD Gazellen Award for fastest-growing company in the eastern Netherlands four times in a row. It employs forty people.
Around 150 people apply via the site every week, and there have now been over 100 successful placements in total, Willems says proudly. This is despite there being a glaring shortage of staff, particularly technicians. “A technician could have five jobs for every finger on their hand,” Willems acknowledges. “Our success therefore surprises even us a little. But we know a lot about marketing and we understand the target audience very well,” he says, explaining the success.
He cites another reason. "Technicians are increasingly also looking at meaning. Especially the younger generation wants to contribute something to the energy transition, for example, from a social commitment. That's why they consciously choose IPKW."
Technicians understand
“We are a specialist recruitment agency that handles recruitment, selection and secondment for technical staff at middle and senior management level,” explains Willems, who originally trained as a civil engineer himself. “In addition, we have a separate agency specialising in executive search, again exclusively within the technical sector. Through a third company, we have recently started training technicians in their soft skills. That combination is what sets us apart.”Our strength is also that we understand technicians very well. We know how they think and how they want to be approached." This appears to be catching on: Power Recruitment won the FD Gazellen Award for fastest-growing company in the eastern Netherlands four times in a row. It employs forty people.
Socially involved
Kracht Recruitment has been based at the heart of IPKW for over four years. “We decided straight away that we wanted to make a difference to the park. We want to help the companies here that are accelerating the energy transition to find staff. That’s how the‘Working at IPKW’website came about. All companies at IPKW can participate free of charge; they only pay a fee if they hire someone who has applied via that platform.”Around 150 people apply via the site every week, and there have now been over 100 successful placements in total, Willems says proudly. This is despite there being a glaring shortage of staff, particularly technicians. “A technician could have five jobs for every finger on their hand,” Willems acknowledges. “Our success therefore surprises even us a little. But we know a lot about marketing and we understand the target audience very well,” he says, explaining the success.
He cites another reason. "Technicians are increasingly also looking at meaning. Especially the younger generation wants to contribute something to the energy transition, for example, from a social commitment. That's why they consciously choose IPKW."
Wieger and Sanne outside at IPKW
Human feeling
You can respond to specific job vacancies posted by companies on the website, or submit a speculative application. Even with a targeted application, consultants Fleur and Sanne look to see where someone would be a good fit, explains Willems. “By adding a human touch to the automated platform, we’re able to distribute people very effectively across the park. Companies might not immediately think of their neighbours. We do that for them. It works very well, both for the companies and for the technicians looking for work. By applying via this website, they increase their chances.”“It’s a really great partnership,” he continues. “It’s simply a lovely business park with a good atmosphere and wonderful, innovative companies. IPKW also deserves all the credit for being open to our ideas. Around eighty per cent of the companies at IPKW are taking part. The other twenty per cent are often worried that they’ll then have to let us handle all their recruitment and selection. But that’s not the case. It can also very well complement what they’re already doing themselves.”
"The costs for the companies are very low," he says. "We make less profit on this than on other activities. We have a deeper motive for this: we care about the environment and want to contribute to a better society."
Novio Tech Campus
Through Kracht Recruitment, he is committed not only to sustainability but also to the Arnhem-Nijmegen region. “There are lots of exciting developments happening here in the Lifeport region around the energy transition, but also at the intersection of Health and High Tech. We have an idea of how we can attract people from outside the region and how we can persuade career changers and young people to choose a career in technology. We’re very keen to make a contribution to that.”“The Economic Board is increasingly finding its way to us,” he says. “And we’re almost finalising an agreement with the NTC (the Novio Tech Campus in Nijmegen, ed.) on a concept similar to the one at IPKW. That could work very well, as the NTC would then be able to benefit from the database we’ve built up at IPKW. We can expand the ‘Working at IPKW’ initiative much further to make our mark on the entire region.”
