Rapid growth as a result of acquisition
Charles started as a developer at The Fuel Company 11 years ago, and has since then climbed up to IT manager and now IT director. “We have about forty people working at The Fuel Company and the IT department consists of four people, with some additional developers working exclusively for us under contract. Our offices are in the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Poland.”
Earlier this year, the majority shares of the company were acquired by Anwim S.A., one of the largest private fuel companies in Poland, which is the largest transportation market in Europe. Because of this acquisition, the Fuel Company is looking at the challenge to add Anwim’s numerous international clients onto their platform and fuel card.
“Because of this rapid growth, there’s an increasing amount of requests coming in from all sides. And since we’re an IT centered company, everyone is dependent on the IT department being able to do their job”, Charles explains. “That’s why we were looking for an experienced PHP developer to help accommodate the growth and take on the extra work that’s coming our way.”
Searching for a local recruitment partner
When the search for a new PHP developer started, Charles posted the vacancy on job boards like Indeed and contacted three recruitment companies he’s previously worked with. “Unfortunately, Indeed wasn’t giving us many candidates and the ones that did apply weren’t qualified enough. When the recruitment agencies couldn’t provide us with candidates either, it was time to look further.”
The Fuel Company then went looking for a recruitment agency near Meer (Belgium) where their IT department is located. Since they’re Dutch oriented, they looked across the borders towards Breda. “What I’m looking for in a recruitment company,” Charles states, “is a long term partner that can get me qualified candidates quickly. Waiting eight to ten months for a position to be filled is a too big handicap on our growth.”
“Personnel Search IT Recruitment assured us they would find us a PHP developer”
“When we contacted Personnel Search IT Recruitment, the owner Marc Vermeulen was very confident they could bring us a new PHP developer. He made a good impression so I thought, let’s give this a shot”, Charles says.
After doing the technical intake and rewriting the vacancy, Personnel Search IT Recruitment started the search for an experienced PHP developer to join The Fuel Company. “Finding a developer turned out to be a challenge. We misinterpreted the current market a little bit. In the old days, you could take a week or two to internally discuss and evaluate candidates. However nowadays the decision needs to be made as soon as possible because if you wait too long you’ll lose the candidate”, Charles states.
Personnel Search IT Recruitment also provided useful advice to The Fuel Company when it came to secondary benefits for this position. “Our location is difficult to reach if you don’t own a car, since it’s not close to public transportation facilities. Therefore, they advised us to provide a lease car in the offer for this position. I think that’s what helped seal the deal with Martijn, the PHP developer they found us. We’re very happy to have him join our team.” Martijn started working for The Fuel Company in November.
Great communication and commitment
Charles expresses his satisfaction about the partnership with Personnel Search IT Recruitment and states that communication was excellent: “During the recruitment process I felt I was getting a good amount of commitment and attention from them. I didn’t have to chase them for new candidates, that all went smoothly. I would definitely recommend them to other companies. It’s a crazy market right now, and yet they did deliver as promised. That’s what’s most important.”