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Abilitec is celebrating! The HR partner for technology has been providing the right match between technical professionals and business for 20 years. Founder Peter Gerlach looks back briefly on the last two decades and has a clear vision of Abilitec's future as a director of careers.
In the last 20 years, an awful lot has happened in our profession, and especially in the world around us, Gerlach begins. "Despite the various crises, we've managed to keep our beautiful company afloat and keep adapting to new realities. With corona as the absolute 'highlight.' It has caused a huge turn in our services and especially in the way we do business. We are anno 2022 primarily focused on making connections between professionals on the one hand and business on the other. Think of us as the spider in the web that ties the job market together with the right people."
Keeping employees motivated and thereby unburdening customers is what Abilitec stands for. "We are a real 'people company' with an eye for the development of 'our' people," states Gerlach. His colleague Niels Uit de Bulten adds: "That ensures that even in a tight labor market we are able to bind the right people to us, all of them professionals with a lot of experience. Our aim is therefore not to become the largest agency in the Netherlands, but rather the best in quality."
Looking to the future and the fact that working from home and varying working hours are now very common, Abilitec has moved to a modern and sustainable office building. "We will hold offices in Zwijndrecht from now on. It is more efficient, better accessible and close to the NS railway station (sustainable). This keeps us nice and agile. And that is necessary, given the changeable environment in which we operate." Gerlach is referring to the government's plans that make no distinction between staffing and secondment. "Incomprehensible" he thinks. "Together with the Vereniging van Detacheerders Nederland (VvDN) we are working on a solution. Regardless of which way it goes, from now on we will be so organized and agile that our clients will not feel any consequences."
Gerlach sees Abilitec as much more of a networking organization than sec a secondment agency. "Many professionals who made the transition to the corporate world years ago and are now ready for a new challenge give us a call. In the past it was not accepted if someone has had six employers in 20 years, anno 2022 it is quite normal. People no longer want to be dependent on the boss, but to be in control of their own time and happiness. That is the mindset of the current generation. And that is what we, as career directors, are constantly trying to balance, both for our professionals and for our clients."
