Do you already know our new colleague Carolien? Once she hired BrandPit for an assignment, later she was placed as a candidate by BrandPit and now she works there herself. “This step is right, I read back on LinkedIn. That’s what it feels like.”

where did you first hear about BrandPit?

“I was working as Head of Marketing Partnerships at Sanoma and we were looking for a creative strategist and a performance strategist. We didn’t have a recruitment department: as a manager, I had to look for new team members on my own in addition to my other duties, and it soon became clear that these were difficult positions to fill. I engaged BrandPit and Danne found the top talent for us. Later, I was approached by Danne as a candidate and I started to work at Wehkamp as a Brand Marketing Lead.”

actually, you were a recruiter as well

“Yes, at Sanoma we really had to do some hiring too. I enjoyed that very much. When you intuitively feel that something is right – the person, the personality, the job – then something special happens. Then it’s just right. It’s hard to explain, but I have a lot of fun finding the right people. When I announced on LinkedIn that I was quitting my current job and will work as a headhunter for BrandPit, I got a lot of feedback: “This step is right.” That’s how it feels: over the years I’ve helped many people find other places and make connections quickly. This is something I already do by nature.”

as a “newcomer,” how do you see this business?

“Headhunting goes beyond shuffling boxes – that’s the criticism headhunters often get. We think about what the client needs and, not unimportantly, we look beyond. For Wehkamp, I was not the dream candidate on paper. I had a ton of experience in marketing, but not in a similar role. At BrandPit, they had a rock-solid confidence that I was just right for this role. They knew that because BrandPit puts a lot of time and energy into relationships with people. Both the client and the candidates. They sensed very clearly that I would be a good fit there as a person. BrandPit supported both me and Wehkamp very well and intensively. So you see that this work goes much further than people think.”

now you work there yourself.

“I have been full on searching and placing since February 1 and I must say: it makes me very happy. A great match gives a kick and I’m already looking forward to forming teams. Then you build teams, make the bigger picture better and find people who are complementary to each other – that’s a really fun challenge where I hope to draw a lot from personal experience.”

how important are the right people?

“Someone can be a dream candidate professionally, but if it doesn’t match on a personal level, it’s not going to work. It’s all about three components: who someone is, what they bring and what their intrinsic motivation is. So that goes far beyond looking at a resume: a person can learn so much, but you don’t change who you are and what drives you. For me personally, working at BrandPit means working more from my heart and less with my head. I am incredibly looking forward to that.”