Ample opportunity for (euro)regional talent in the Customer Service city: Maastricht
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, a large part of the working population of the Netherlands has been working from home. This has also been noticed by the customer service employers of Maastricht, such as VodafoneZiggo, H&M and faciliatory contact centres like Majorel and CallExcell. Each of these employers has implemented working from home within their own organisation at a rapid pace, and raised it to a new standard. With Dutch citizens ordering or managing their business online from the comfort of their own homes more and more, the number of vacancies in this sector has risen sharply as well.
Cooperating with Podium24
To fill these available jobs, Customer Service Valley can count on the support of, among others, mobility and recruitment partner Podium24. Late 2019 they already worked together to prepare for a shrinking labour market. “That was a smart move,” says Ramona Corsius, Project Lead Sectoral Approach Customer Service at Podium24. “The corona measures have been dealing heavy blows to various sectors since this past spring. For us this means we now have access to a pool of candidates rapidly deployable for both the partners of Customer Service Valley and other contact centres in the region. This doesn’t just include local candidates, but also Euroregional and international talent.”
Call to action
Thanks to the cooperation between Customer Service Valley and Podium24 it is possible to attract not only local candidates, but also frontier workers and expats. That’s an important step forward, because multilingual candidates are in high demand with employers in Maastricht. By now we’ve launched a promo video as a call to action for candidates from the entire Euroregion to come work in Maastricht: https://youtu.be/TIOfhPqcjps
One-stop Shop for a Warm Welcome
Formalities are often a hindrance for attracting talent across the border, but that’s in the past. Thanks to the cooperation with partners such as the Servicepunten Grensoverschrijdende Arbeidsbemiddeling (Cross-border Job Placement Service Points), the Grensinfopunten (Border Information Points) and the Expat Centre Maastricht Region, a single government office suffices. Here, all formalities for frontier workers and expats are handled within a day. Customer oriented service that guarantees a warm welcome!
“Cooperation pays. In the good times and the bad,” says Vivianne Heijen, councillor for economy and labour for the city of Maastricht. “With this firm bond between education, entrepreneurs and government we can strengthen the customer service sector further in the coming years. But the contacts we build also put us in a position to respond quickly to changing circumstances.”
Results Cooperation with Podium24
• Since June/July, Podium24 has suggested 160 candidates for positions in the customer service sector.
• Of these candidates, 60 people have been hired as of this moment. Half of them by Customer Service Valley partners, the other half by other contact centres.
• Of the candidates proposed by Podium24, 1/3 was on welfare, and 1/3 lived just across the border (primarily Belgium).
• Of the candidates that received a labour contract:
- 40% was on welfare beforehand
- 20% lives across the border
- The remaining candidates received unemployment benefits or were looking for a new job (no benefits, job-to-job);
With no less than 100 vacancies – with 50 vacancies within Customer Service Valley itself – the search for new talent continues for Podium24.
