A vessel full of enthusiasm is the best way to describe recruiter Nele. With fifteen years of IMPACT under her belt, she knows better than anyone what does and does not work. The job market has no more secrets for Nele: the ideal person to help you find a job in engineering or construction.

The importance of warm and personal contact with candidates: Nele has been hugely engaged with it since her studies in corporate communications. Although the calling for a job as a recruiter always sounded loud and clear, Nele started her career at Telenet. There she quickly progressed to a job in the sales department. When a colleague of hers started working at IMPACT, Nele followed in her wake. Fifteen years later, Nele is still on board and a real guide for experts looking for a job.

Since her first day at IMPACT, Nele has been working as a recruiter. She is partly responsible for the various vacancies in the Leuven office, but her main focus is on Materialise, the company for which she became an in-house consultant over the years. “I am in charge of the entire vacancy management of Materialise. The recruitment and follow-up of all their workers is done through IMPACT, so my time is mainly filled by the search for suitable candidates.”

If you want to succeed in that task, you have to know the company inside out. “Absolutely, I consequently work on-site at Materialise from time to time. Moreover, our IMPACT office is barely 200 meters away. So I can literally pop in quickly. That way our bond becomes much stronger and the knowledge greater. The fact that Materialise has been an IMPACT customer for a long time and that the contract is renewed every year shows that they are satisfied and that I represent added value for them. This also radiates to the candidates, for whom we can perfectly determine whether or not a job is something for them.”

A perfect match, can you estimate that in advance? “Of course, you can never be 100% sure how something will turn out and whether the job offered is that dream job a candidate has always been looking for. But we do everything we can to be 99% sure. It may sound cliché, but we really make a lot of effort to get to know candidates better, to understand their wishes and ambitions, to build a relationship with them in order to establish a long-term partnership with them.”

In short, knowledge and humanity as a golden combination. “Without a doubt. Both IMPACT and I have years of expertise within construction and engineering. We know the labor market and the companies, and for each candidate we take the time to discover their story. That experience gives you a kind of sensor that indicates what works and what doesn’t work. We also always go to extremes, because we realize all too well the impact a job has on someone’s life.”

After fifteen years, you know the ropes. Still, Nele saw a lot of things change. “Fifteen years ago, everything was still on paper, we were right in town as an office and candidates just walked into our office to register. Now you have so many options online, so many processes have been digitized: convenient, but often more impersonal. A combination of both is the right mix: the personal contact should not be missing in an important choice such as a job.”

That human approach resonates. “I hear from candidates and temps that I come across as very enthusiastic and friendly: that’s nice to hear. And it gets even better when they stand across from you and thank you because they are happy with their new job. That’s what I do it for and that still includes a dance of joy. You know what has also changed, by the way: the enormous appreciation of temporary workers is still there, but we used to get chocolate and champagne from them every week as a thank you. That may well return,” Nele concludes jokingly.

“By raising the bar every day, with a smile. By showing genuine interest in each candidate’s story and building a familial contact rather than a cold, businesslike business conversation. I’m not an actress putting on a stage: I always look at life positively and I try to convey that to candidates. With the combination of that attitude and my experience, I am convinced that I can guide them excellently.”