How Belgian Recruitment Agency Headcount got up to 5x as many candidates at 45% lower costs

Frederik van Lierde didn’t take what he saw in the recruiting industry for granted.

When van Lierde set up Headcount, a Talent Attraction Bureau based in Antwerpen and Gent, he knew one thing: If he wanted to achieve extraordinary success, he couldn’t rely only on the traditional methods of recruiting and Talent Acquisition much longer.

I was always interested in digital solutions for recruiting, and I started experimenting with job boards in the early 2000’s, when I was working as headhunter. - Frederik van Lierde, Managing Partner, Headcount

Right from the beginning, Frederik van Lierde was an early adopter of online recruitment – with big success. He suddenly outperformed his competitors.

But as the adoption of technology in recruitment increased, the channels became more complex – and crowded.

The Goal: Differentiate through  innovation and challenge the status quo

Headcount was set up in 2011 as part of the largest IT company in Belgium, Group Cronos.

What was hard in the context of a big organization was easy for Frederik and Headcount: The goal of the agency from day one was to focus on innovation in Talent Attraction and challenge the status quo.

Today, Headcount still recruits 20% of their positions for Cronos, while the rest is served to other clients. They help clients across all industries, with household names like Nationale Lotterij, Arcelor Mittal, and Unilin.

With Billboard Basics, they also created a subsidiary Recruitment Marketing Agency that supports the business functions within Cronos – especially in digital marketing solutions for recruiting.

Job ads on Facebook and Instagram: Easy to start, but hard to convert

Given their ambitions, Headcount started to experiment with Instagram and Facebook advertising early. They worked with an agency to create Social Media advertising for their job ads – and even gave seminars on how to use Social Media for recruitment.

But for their clients, it wasn’t always evident on why they should use Social Media at all. And on top of that, one question always remained: How could they set this up for their clients at scale? What are the right advertising tactics?

"We experimented a lot, but at the end, we never got the top results we wanted for our clients. That’s why there was an immediate match with our DNA when I heard about Wonderkind’s Talent Attraction Technology."

Frederik van Lierde, Managing Partner, Headcount

More candidates, faster – through Social Media

Recruitment Agencies like Headcount always need more candidates in the pipeline, faster – that’s the game of the business. And it becomes harder when everyone uses the same  traditional channels.

Since Headcount uses Wonderkind’s Talent Attraction Technology, they get results much faster  – they generate up to 5 times as many candidates for their clients in the same amount of time. 82% of vacancies are filled within 5 weeks – a top value in the industry.

"We rely on a combination of actions and channels for our Talent Attraction efforts. Wonderkind is critical for our cross-media approach." - Frederik van Lierde, Managing Partner, Headcount

Getting the talent that nobody else has

Only 20% of candidates are actively searching for a new job opportunity, for instance in job boards. The result: Especially in niche industries, many recruitment bureaus only have access to the same pool of candidates. Being able to stand out with different talent is a critical edge against competitors.

Thanks to Headcount’s efforts in Talent Attraction and their social media strategy, they have access to a much wider pool of talent. They can access 93% of candidates – and deliver better results to their clients, with quality talent that they haven’t been able to reach before.

How Headcount reduces sourcing costs by 45%

Recruitment always means risk: Customers only pay a limited amount for a candidate, and the longer it takes to find one, the more expensive it becomes for the Recruitment Agency. Reducing your own costs means growing more efficiently, while delivering better results for your clients.

Headcount’s advanced cross-media approach has reduced their cost per hire by up to 45% – a combined result of the fast sourcing, better candidate quality, and employer branding solutions they provide.

The age of Talent Attraction has just begun

Headcount is growing successfully and will open a new branch in Brussels. Frederik is sure that this is just the beginning of their journey.

"Social media will be a go-to-channel for any hiring and staffing effort, and the technology that Wonderkind offers will be the backbone of that in the future. But I’m not afraid of this: There will always be a human touch to recruiting, and know-how that is needed. But it’s critical to combine all these factors in order to be successful." - Frederik van Lierde, Managing Partner, Headcount

For Headcount, the candidate will be put in the center of the hiring process – and big data, retargeting and modern marketing solutions, will facilitate this process.

The age of Talent Attraction has just begun – and Headcount is on the forefront of it.