Frequently asked questions

Personnel Search IT Recruitment offers both recruitment for temporary assignments and for permanent employment. We offer Recruitment & Selection, Contract-to-hire, Executive Search and Interim/Freelance. We can also recruit worldwide through Expat Recruitment.

Personnel Search IT Recruitment was founded in 2002. Our recruiters have more than 35 years of experience in recruiting experienced and specialized IT professionals within and outside the Netherlands. Over the years, we have helped hundreds of companies find new IT colleagues.

We mediate ambitious medior and senior IT professionals in positions such as Back End Developer, Front End Developer Software Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Network Engineer, Application Manager, Business Intelligence Specialist, Full Stack Developer, .NET Developer, PHP Developer and Software Tester, and many more IT functions.

Certainly, Personnel Search has years of experience in recruiting C-level candidates for (IT) companies. For example, we can headhunt Chief Technology Officers (CTO), Chief Information Officers (CIO), IT managers and board for your organization. Read more about headhunting / executive search.

Personnel Search does not provide advice on employer branding and does not offer training itself. However, based on our many years of experience and knowledge of IT, we provide advice on appropriate and market-based salaries for IT professionals. This way we can help you set up a good salary house for your IT department. Contact us for more information.

Personnel Search uses a distinctive working method. We work exclusively for clients and can therefore invest more time and attention in both the technical intake and vacancy text. This makes the actual recruitment many times more efficient. With an online assessment we test the technical skills of candidates to ensure that they have sufficient knowledge to perform the job properly. Plus, to find the best match, we look beyond just technical skills of candidates. What drives someone? What does the person find important in his work (giver)? We are therefore looking for a match on company culture and character. If that fits well, it almost always ensures long-term staff retention.

Personnel Search works with several leading organizations. Click here for an overview of recent clients.

Sure! For example, read the references of our satisfied clients Netaspect Software, WebElephant or The Fuel Company. Or read our many positive Google reviews. Would you like to speak to someone personally about their collaboration with Personnel Search? Please contact us and we will put you in touch with a recent client.

No, Personnel Search only works retained. 

Working with a retainer or mediation fee means that a client pays a fixed amount for the services still to be provided. One part, usually half, is paid prior to the start of the assignment, the second part after placement of a candidate and signing of the employment contract. Instead of a non-binding success fee, as with no cure no pay, you pay for a best efforts obligation with a high chance of success and guaranteed personal attention and commitment.

Good recruitment takes time, and therefore money. In order to deliver the quality that clients expect from us, we only work retained.
Personnel Search intensively examines your organization and the vacancy, and recruits candidates exclusively for your organization. There is more control and control over the recruitment and selection process and you regularly stay informed of the progress. Because of the fixed fee you have paid, you can count on commitment and personal attention from your recruiter.
Because Personnel Search works retained, we can also give you independent and reliable advice on the feasibility of the vacancy and salary. Unlike no cure no pay agencies, which base their commission on the annual salary of the placed candidate.

No. Personnel Search chooses to only recruit exclusively for the vacancies outsourced to us. This means that no other recruitment agency recruits for the same vacancies.

Exclusive recruitment means that we recruit candidates for specifically your vacancy and your organization. When we introduce a candidate to you, we have informed them extensively about your organization, what you stand for, and what the actual activities of the position are. The IT specialist therefore clearly knows for which organization we are recruiting and also wants to work for your organization. This is at odds with the no cure no pay approach, where CVs are forwarded to dozens of companies both requested and unsolicited. As a result, both candidate and company do not know whether they fit together, or companies have to bid against each other to get the candidate on board. This often quickly leads to a mismatch – a waste of valuable time for everyone involved. That is why we only recruit exclusively, so that we can recruit with personal attention and commitment for your organization and your IT vacancies.

No. The exclusive recruitment only applies to the specific vacancies that you have outsourced to Personnel Search. All other vacancies of your organization can simply be searched by other recruiters and / or agencies.

One of the core values of Personnel Search is sustainable cooperation. We enter into long-term partnerships with our clients. That is why we would like to know more about you and your organization. Then we can also make a well-considered choice to start a collaboration. In addition, we like it if we can explain our working method in a personal conversation, so that you have a good idea of what you can expect.

Personnel Search can recruit regionally as well as nationally and globally. We are experts in recruiting expats and offer support around the relocation process, if desired. Do you only want to hire Dutch-speaking IT professionals? Then we naturally look for Dutch-speaking candidates with the right knowledge and experience in the Netherlands.

No. Personnel Search has been recruiting IT staff for organizations for more than 20 years. We have a lot of experience with this and therefore also have a large network and database with more than 100,000 CVs. As a result, we focus purely on the recruitment of IT professionals.

Personnel Search specializes in recruiting hbo and wo-trained IT staff. We have a large network in this. Only in exceptional situations do we take on vacancies for MBO-trained IT professionals.

Recruiters unfortunately have a bad reputation in the market. Candidates who are called by multiple organizations about the same vacancy, send unsolicited CVs, such things are still common at unprofessional 'cowboy' recruitment agencies.
Fortunately, Personnel Search has a good reputation among IT professionals, because of our personal approach and honest working method. Precisely because we only recruit exclusively for clients, we can approach candidates with concrete vacancies that are really interesting for them. It gives candidates confidence if we can mention the name of the client. Then they know that it is a real vacancy, and not a lure to steal data. We also have more than 250+ Google reviews from both candidates and clients to show that we mediate candidates in an honest and pleasant way.

We have an extensive database with >100,000 CVs. In addition, our recruiters use various channels to find suitable candidates and to enter into interviews.

We think it is important that there is a good match between the client and candidate, both on technical knowledge and on character. We speak to each candidate several times, by telephone and via video call, before we introduce them to the client. The technical skills of the candidate are also tested. Based on the test result and the various interviews, we decide to introduce the candidate to the client, or not

The most suitable candidates are technically tested. We do this to ensure that they indeed have the necessary technical skills and knowledge. The tests are always tailor-made for the candidate, matching the required seniority level and the required techniques, systems or software.
Only when candidates pass their technical test we introduce them to the client. They may then assume that the candidates have sufficient technical knowledge in-house to properly fulfill the open role.

For Executive Search, our service where we look for CTOs, CIOs, IT managers and directors for clients, a Personal Profile Analysis (PPA Thomas International) is included in the recruitment process. This online profile analysis provides good insight into the core qualities of an applicant. It quickly identifies the strengths and weaknesses, as well as character traits, motivation and behavior in the workplace. In addition, the Personal Profile Analysis provides insight into the social and communication skills of the candidate and how they perform under pressure.

On this page you can read more about the various steps that are taken during the recruitment process.

Personnel Search starts the recruitment process after the client has agreed to the rewritten vacancy text following the technical intake.

The technical intake aims to get 100% clear what the open position entails and what is expected with regard to knowledge, experience and soft skills. We also discuss salary indication and secondary employment conditions. Because of our many years of experience, we can also advise you on this, for example when it comes to the required technical knowledge or the market conformity of the employment conditions offered.
Thanks to the technical intake, we gain more insight into the vacancy and urgency and importance of this vacancy. This way we recruit as efficiently as possible for your vacancy.

We write the vacancy text based on the technical intake. It often happens that in the technical intake something comes up, which is not mentioned in the original vacancy. In this way we ensure that the vacancy text is as complete as possible when it comes to requested IT knowledge, experience and soft skills.
Our recruiters and Marketing Manager are very experienced in writing promotional vacancy texts that fit the target group and score well in the various search engines.

After the technical intake, we (re)write the vacancy text. We always submit these to you for review, so that you can check whether all discussed matters are in it and everything is correct. After your agreement, the vacancy will be published on our website and the recruitment process will start.

Personnel Search does not offer a 'fixed' number of candidates. If a suitable candidate is found, we will introduce it to you as soon as possible.

Certainly, we even offer seperate services for this: contract-to-hire. The candidate will then be seconded to you for one year. After that, you can take over the candidate as a permanent employee free of charge.

No. If you do not consider the proposed candidate to be good enough, we will continue to search for a suitable candidate.

If the candidate does not fit and leaves your organization within 1-3 months after placement, we will look for a suitable replacement free of charge.

No, due to the applicable privacy rules, our CV database is only available to employees of Personnel Search IT Recruitment.

During the recruitment process, we will keep you regularly informed of the progress. We agree on a frequency prior to the recruitment process. Do you want to stay informed of updates every week, every two weeks or every month?
We also plan an evaluation with you in between, to discuss how the search for suitable candidates is going. If certain challenges arise with regard to the recruitment process, we will discuss them with you during the evaluation.

This is highly dependent on various factors, from required seniority and technical skills to work location and employment conditions offered. Personnel Search strives to be able to place a candidate with clients within a maximum of 13 weeks after starting.

Our rates depend on the type of position, desired technical skills and seniority level. After an inductory meeting, we can send you a free quote. You will then know more about who we are, how we work and what the specific costs are for finding IT staff for your open vacancies.

Personnel Search has a success rate or success rate of 98%. For us, a placement is only successful if the placed candidate is still working for the organization after one year. We only measure this after 1 year, and not after 3 months as many other recruitment agencies do.