Blue Beaver has the foundation in order thanks to OTYS

Only when your database and workflows are in order can you successfully run a flex business. Jeffrey van Oostrum draws this lesson from 25 years of experience in temporary employment and recruitment in the installation industry. OTYS' recruitment software has helped him all these years to effectively and efficiently execute his vision of recruiting and selecting flexible professionals. Jeffrey is now again using the software for his new startup Blue Beaver to help freelancers and technical professionals find great assignments and jobs. "With the support of OTYS, I can devote 80% of my time to my profession and network," states Van Oostrum.

Intermediary in the installation industry

Jeffrey's loyalty to the installation business is by no means accidental. As the grandchild of grandparents who owned both an electrical and installation company, he grew up with electrical engineering. He also chose that direction when he went to the Secondary Technical School (MTS). How did he end up in the staffing world? That is a separate story. When Jeffrey applied to a temp agency for the position of cooperating foreman at an installation company, the temp agency there preferred to see him directly in the chair of intercedent. "Many parents think a good career for their children is very important. At that time, that usually meant an office job. My parents thought exactly the same, and I didn't want to disappoint them," says Jeffrey.

Professional knowledge and jargon

The fact that he has installation work in his genes doesn't hurt Jeffrey as an intermediary. "The essence of that job is that you have sufficient expert knowledge of the profile you are recruiting. In order to be able to advise and coach job seekers. I speak the language of electrical and installation engineering. As a result, I understand the technical terms in the installation industry and can put them in the right context." Thanks to his contribution, within 25 years the then young employment agency with 30 employees grew into a major player with 11 branches and 650 staff.

Our clients hire good temporary workers themselves, while other temporary workers become self-employed. By serving both groups together with their employers and clients, we are capitalizing on that development. This is more interesting than just temping.

Jeffrey van Oostrum
Owner Blue Beaver

ZZP-market offers new opportunities

Together with his associate, Jeffrey succeeded in launching a startup for the mediation of self-employed workers in construction and engineering in addition to the employment agency with great success: BouwPeople. He signals a shift in the flex market from temporary workers to self-employed workers. "Our clients hire good temporary workers themselves, while other temporary workers become self-employed. By serving both groups together with their employers and clients, we are capitalizing on that development. This is more interesting than just temping, because as a temp, all you are doing is planning to prevent your permanent employees from being temporarily out of work. To manage that regulatory and planning pressure, more and more administrative support is needed. This puts a lot of pressure on the revenue model of temporary employment agencies," Van Oostrum explains about his switch to the zzp-market and recruitment and selection. 

Lower costs due to automation

As the child of an entrepreneur - his father ran a software company - Jeffrey inherently knows that indirect (office) costs depress margins. Therefore, he pursued a very tight and low cost model with BouwPeople. From this objective, Jeffrey searched the market for a software package that could help him to get BouwPeople on the right track from the get-go. That's when he came across OTYS. "They were able to link their Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to our website and our sales channels through their software. Being able to do so was golden." 

But OTYS had even more to offer BouwPeople. The recruitment software allowed for customized connectors with Exact, so that data exchange between front office and back office suddenly became a lot more efficient and accurate. OTYS also provides all kinds of smart applications and tools that optimize workflows, including mail and calendar functions. By using more and more OTYS features, BouwPeople was able to keep the office costs low. The result is sufficient ROI on the mediation of freelancers to continue to grow.

Entrepreneurial blood

Jeffrey's entrepreneurial side does not seem to be tempered. After parting ways with the first companies he built, he is now starting a new company named Blue Beaver. With this organization, he aims to provide quality, affordable services to the EW installation industry in the rapidly changing world of staffing and job placement. "I now know how to use OTYS to customize my database of candidates and clients and my work processes. I will continue that line with Blue Beaver. Once again I will focus on the mediation of independent installers as well as the recruitment and selection of technical professionals. We are also responding to the trend that independent professionals (zzp'ers) want to make the transition to a permanent office position at an installation company after years of operational work. As a network organization, we can help them find a job as a chief engineer, draftsman or work planner, for example."

OTYS' ATS offers you all possibilities and freedom to structure your bookcase according to your own taste and insights. But to make the right choices in this, you must have the right vision about your specific market.

Jeffrey van Oostrum
Owner Blue Beaver

An ATS as a structured bookcase

Van Oostrum sees an ATS as a bookcase that you have to structure and set up with vision, care and accuracy: "OTYS' ATS offers you all possibilities and freedom to do that according to your own taste and insights. But to make the right choices in this, you must have the right vision about your specific market. In OTYS' ATS, you can optimally combine two search processes: a first broad search process using hard search criteria and a second in-depth search process using semantic search terms. OTYS' software supports both processes with smart tools. For example, there is Automatch for algorithms that combine search criteria to produce successful matches. Van Oostrum says: "It is up to me to choose the right search criteria, but also to enter clients and candidates with appropriate labels in the database. Because those labels must correspond to the search criteria; only then do the Automatch algorithms work. If you do this well, you will find a suitable freelancer or candidate as easily as a book in a bookcase where the books are arranged in alphabetical order of their author."

Advice for OTYS

Using OTYS, entrepreneurs in the flex market can fully customize the recruitment, selection and placement of (flexible) staff. Moreover, with this program they can do so independently after some training. According to Jeffrey, that is the great strength of the recruitment software from Veenendaal. "OTYS' ATS is teeming with possibilities. This freedom of choice only requires discipline when setting up the ATS. Otherwise you can't see the forest for the trees. Here lies an opportunity for OTYS: supporting staffing and secondment agencies and recruiters by advising and guiding them in optimizing their processes. With my successful experience with OTYS, I would be happy to think along with you on this", entrepreneur Jeffrey van Oostrum offers his partners in business at OTYS.

If, like Blue Beaver, you'd like to make the best use of an applicant tracking system (ATS) and if you'd like to see if OTYS could be the best fit for your company, do not hesitate to contact us for an informal conversation. You can do so by filling out this form, or send an email to customersales@otys.nl.