Why BAM and Schiphol decided not to be competitors

‍Scarcity. Competition. Shortage of technicians.

‍It's a familiar song by now. But instead of pressing repeat, BAM and Schiphol decided to do something new.

After all, why compete only for talent when you can attract it together?

One problem, two organizations, one joint solution

Schiphol and BAM have been working together for years on major utility projects. From terminals to baggage areas - the collaboration in execution is strong. But in the area of recruitment? There was still profit there. Both teams faced the same problem:

• Not enough good technicians, especially in electrical engineering
• Promising candidates who drop out after only a phone call
• And far too little space to really show how impressive the work is

‍Sowhy not a tour? A real one, on location. No talk. No PowerPoint. But an experience.

The Electro Tour

‍Withthe leadership of interim recruiters Robbert van der Vorst and Danilo Fabrie - both working for BAM - an initiative arose that redefined recruitment.
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Together with Anneke den Haan, interim recruiter at Schiphol Airport and one of the driving forces from their recruitment team, they set up the very first Electro Tour: a recruitment afternoon for technical professionals in which experience was central.

What it entailed:

• Presentations with content on technology, projects and impact
• A tour of the construction sites, past the E pier and baggage area, among others
• Q&As with professional colleagues from BAM and Schiphol
• A communal meal, where informal discussions took place
• And then: a joint evaluation with Schiphol's recruitment team to see for each candidate where he or she would do best

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Recruitment without blinkers

What can you get out of this?

"We are not each other's competitors, we are each other's extensions."

- Robbert van der Vorst, Interim Corporate Recruiter at BAM

Robbert and Danilo show what interim recruitment can also be:
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Not just filling vacancies, but building bridges.

Not thinking in "my candidate or yours" - but in what is best for both the project and the candidate.

And that takes guts. Collaboration. And the guts to do things just a little differently than usual.

What this shows

Recruitment = experience.
Especially in engineering. Especially when things get exciting.

You win candidates' hearts not with coffee and small talk, but with context and confidence.
By taking them into the world behind the work. And that is exactly what Robbert, Danilo and Anneke did.

And People&?

We were allowed to bring Robbert and Danilo on board.
We saw the idea emerge, and the energy grow.
But the result? That's not ours.
That's from two teams who decided to do things differently - and move forward together.

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