Reflection on 20 years of recruitment: connection always wins

Twenty years in the same profession. To some, that may sound long, maybe even a bit predictable. But for me, it feels more like a journey that is different every day. In 20 years of recruitment, I have had hundreds of interviews, seen the inside of countless organisations and built a network that is not about business cards, but real relationships.

Recruitment only really works when we want to understand each other. After 20 years, I know: connection always wins.

And honestly, there were times when I asked myself the question “Why have I been doing this for so long?” The answer has always remained the same and it is surprisingly simple.

I stay because it's about human beings

As a connector pur sang, I am genuinely interested in people and want to know what drives career choices. Yes, I look at the hard criteria, I have to. But the real magic is not in Excel sheets or job profiles. It lies in whether someone fits into an organisation's culture, whether a candidate can flourish, grow and learn there.

My strength lies in discovering those soft skills and in my gut feeling. After all, not everything can be captured by criteria. Sometimes intuition says more than a list of tick boxes. The match and the person, that's what I go for.

Community building as a foundation

Over the past 20 years, I have found that recruitment is much more than filling roles. It's about building communities, which for me are Finance, Risk, Compliance, Audit, Data and IT.

That is where my strength lies: building a network of professionals with whom I can maintain warm and professional relationships. Relationships in which commitment, honesty and mutual trust are key. For me, that connection has never been purely commercial. Of course results count, but it is the relationships that ensure that those results remain valuable. You can see that in the contact that remains, even when there is no direct assignment.

This is precisely why I feel so at home at IMPROVEN. There, improvement starts with connection, with clients and colleagues. From that same conviction, we guide organisations in transition at the interface of Finance, Risk and IT with attention to project and programme management, process improvement, information provision and digitalisation.

That way of working fits seamlessly with my own approach: building relationships that are sustainable rather than fleeting, and valuable rather than merely successful.

Twenty years of experience doesn't make you infallible, it makes you more realistic

Twenty years in the business also teaches you to remain critical. You know when to keep asking questions, when to wait and when to say just what someone might prefer not to hear. The work remains fascinating because people keep surprising you. Sometimes positive, sometimes challenging, but always human. And that is exactly why I have never come to see this work as routine.

The common thread: real connection

Whether I am looking for a corporate controller, coaching a risk manager or helping an IT manager think about his next step, the essence remains the same: I want to know what drives someone. What someone is really looking for. What someone needs to enjoy going to work. That curiosity has never disappeared. In fact: it has only increased.

For candidates and clients

This retrospective is not just my story. It is also an invitation to everyone I work with to reflect on what makes a real match now. For me, that revolves around honesty, clarity and curiosity on both sides. Recruitment only really works when we want to understand each other. After 20 years, I know: connection always wins.