When Undutchables started matching multilingual talent with Dutch employers back in 1996, candidates were still mailing paper CVs in envelopes, and recruiters archived them in filing cabinets.
Three decades and one AI revolution later, one thing hasn’t budged: recruitment is still about people.
That might sound like a sentimental line to end on, rather than start with. But it’s the thread running through everything that’s changed in Dutch recruitment over the past 30 years that Undutchables has been on the scene, and there’s been plenty of change to keep up with.
How do we know this? We asked Undutchables’ experts to tell us themselves. So let’s take a walk through three decades, from fax machines to algorithms, and figure out what’s changed, and what hasn’t.
From 50 envelopes a morning to a database of 60,000
Picture a recruiter’s morning in the late 1990s. More than 50 envelopes would land in the mailbox, each containing a printed CV and cover letter. Entire office walls were dedicated to candidate archives.
Email was once considered a revolutionary step forward. Candidate introductions happened by phone or, yes, by fax.
Today, that same recruiter can search a database of over 60,000 multilingual candidates in seconds, alongside professional networks and communities across social media.
READ MORE | Tips for getting a job in the Netherlands (from Undutchables recruiters)
Sourcing, screening, interview scheduling and most interviews themselves now happen online.
AI is the latest big shift, helping with everything from admin to initial sourcing.
Undutchables’ approach here is what they call “high tech, high touch.” In other words, let the technology handle the repetitive tasks, so recruiters have more time for the personal side of the work.
International recruitment went from being niche to a necessity
Believe it or not, hiring international talent used to be unusual.
When Undutchables began, recruiting internationals was mostly limited to call centres and other direct customer-contact roles. It was a niche specialism, not a business strategy.
Now? Many Dutch employers actively rely on international professionals to solve talent shortages and to bring in expertise and perspectives they simply couldn’t find otherwise.
International recruitment has moved from a “nice-to-have” to business-critical.
That’s good news if you’re an international reading this. The multilingual skills and cultural adaptability you bring aren’t a footnote on your CV anymore.
If you’re ready to put them to work, it’s worth browsing the latest international job vacancies to see what’s out there.
The labour market never sits still
If there’s one constant in recruitment, it’s that nothing stays the same for long.
The market keeps swinging between employer-driven and candidate-driven conditions.
What people expected five years ago already looks different today, and what they expected 30 years ago is practically unrecognisable — from communication styles to the types of contracts companies want to use.
One of the biggest shifts, however, has been the move from local hiring to a fully global market. The Netherlands has always been a natural hub connecting continents and hosting EMEA headquarters, but early on, there was still a lot of local searching and hiring.
Now, companies are willing to hire remote workers in entirely different time zones. That opens up possibilities, but it also ramps up competition.
Candidates hold more cards than they used to
The relationship between employers and candidates has become far more balanced, which is a polite way of saying candidates can (and should) expect more these days.
In the past, candidates largely adapted themselves to employers. Now they expect transparency and quick feedback, and both sides have to prove themselves.
READ MORE | How to read your Dutch employment contract: the easy guide
Speed matters enormously. Where perfection used to be the priority, instant feedback can now make or break a process for either party.
Employer branding, company culture, flexibility and purpose have also become real decision factors. The newer working generation cares about values and personality fit, not just the practical stuff like salary and job title.
Recruiters became advisors, not just vacancy-fillers
Somewhere along the way, good recruiters stopped being people who simply fill empty chairs.
They’ve become labour market advisors and genuine partners. Clients now lean on them for salary benchmarking, advice on talent availability, and help understanding what candidates actually expect.
Skills-based hiring is increasingly replacing purely CV-based hiring, which is a win for anyone with transferable skills and a slightly unconventional path.
And more companies now treat diversity and inclusion as a business strategy, not a box-ticking exercise.
For Undutchables, that consultative approach and international focus have been part of their DNA since day one. It’s nice when the rest of the market catches up.
The rules changed a lot (and mostly for the better)
Warning: we’re about to talk about Dutch labour law. Stay with us, because this affects your rights.
Over 30 years, temporary agency work has transformed from a lightly regulated, ultra-flexible arrangement into a formally recognised employment relationship. Much stricter rules now cover contracts, equal treatment, illness, pensions, and job security.
A few of the bigger developments:
- The Waadi (the law governing the provision of labour) and the Flexibility and Security Act laid early foundations for fair working conditions, and have been built on ever since.
- Temporary workers gained stronger rights to the same pay and conditions as direct staff. The most recent step is equivalent remuneration in the new CAO (collective labour agreement), which requires the total employment package to be at least equivalent to that of comparable direct employees.
- The flexible phases of agency employment were shortened, so workers build up security sooner.
- Protection during illness improved dramatically. Getting sick used to end a temporary contract with an agency clause automatically. Today, agency workers have far more comprehensive income and employment protection.
- Stricter rules now cover pensions, migrant-worker protection, housing, wage deductions, and transparent employment information.
As an ABU member, Undutchables stays on top of all this, which matters when you’re explaining Dutch regulations to someone who’s never encountered them before.
Marketing went from word-of-mouth to a whole team
Recruitment advertising once meant newspapers, magazines, directories, phone calls and word of mouth.
Then the internet arrived and changed everything. LinkedIn transformed professional networking, online reviews started shaping candidate decisions, and employer branding became a strategic priority.
At Undutchables, marketing grew from something individual recruiters handled on the side into a dedicated three-person team covering events, social media, job boards, email, and website content.
Turns out staying visible in a crowded market is a full-time job.
What three decades couldn’t change
For all the technology, legislation, and market swings, the fundamentals have stayed put.
International recruitment is still an essential bridge between companies and talent, especially as remote and cross-border work keeps growing. Personal contact still matters, arguably more than ever.
As long-time Undutchie Nick, now General Manager, puts it: “However impressive and capable AI, bots and automation become, I believe people will always seek out the realness and warmth of personal contact. People as the starting point for everything we do will, I think — and truly fervently hope — never disappear from our industry.”
As for the constant changes, Marjan, who’s been with the company since 1999, sees them as the best part of the job: “Recruitment remains a wonderful profession to me, precisely because it never stands still. The market constantly moves between a client market and a candidate market, and laws and regulations change continuously too.”
Thirty years in, Undutchables’ four values still do the heavy lifting: Personal, Partner, Enterprising, Expertise. The tools keep changing. The point of the work doesn’t.
Whether you’re an international hunting for your next role or an employer trying to hire across borders, you can explore three decades of experience over at Undutchables. Check them out.
Are you an international navigating the Dutch job market, or an employer trying to hire across borders? Tell us about your recruitment experiences in the Netherlands in the comments — we’d love to hear how it’s gone.