Recruit Group is in the midst of celebrating its 65th anniversary. What challenges do its leaders face, what are their visions, and what future are they striving to create? We spoke with RGF Staffing CEO Rob Zandbergen to find out.

RGF Staffing CEO Rob Zandbergen

Going Beyond Job Placement to Enrich Lives

For decades, Recruit Group’s staffing business has contributed to society by creating various employment opportunities and has built strong relationships with stakeholders across 11 countries on four continents, supported by approximately 14,000 employees. Initially, we expanded globally through acquisitions in Australia, Europe and the U.S., but since mid-2016, we have grown organically, solely through our own management resources. We provide job seekers with flexible and varied employment opportunities and career development opportunities, while also supporting client companies to ensure they can continually secure the human resources they need. Rather than simply helping people find jobs, we focus on empowering individuals to go further, play active roles, build good careers and enrich their lives.

Accelerating Productivity and Efficiency Through Tech Collaboration Across SBUs

The staffing business is labor-intensive, involving numerous manual tasks and complex processes across teams. While we have been implementing initiatives to improve productivity on our own, we are now advancing by leveraging technology developed across Recruit Group. Staffing SBU and HR Technology SBU have already taken the first step toward collaboration. The first initiative, in collaboration with Indeed, was the development of Indeed Flex, a digital staffing marketplace launched in the U.S. in 2019. Building on this, we are now rolling out region-specific initiatives to enable faster, high-quality matching for staffing jobs as well by utilizing the matching technology and know-how of HR Technology SBU. We are working together to automate workflows, with the ultimate goal of using data and AI to improve job-matching quality and help job seekers find appealing jobs. This collaborative approach with other SBUs is a strength we have as part of Recruit Group, and will be a great force in advancing the digitalization of business processes.

Balancing Productivity Improvement with Social Responsibility

As a global company that significantly impacts each region, our goal is to connect 1.5 million individuals to meaningful employment through our business and RGF Connect program by 2030. We strive to foster inclusivity, empowerment and long-term growth. Our challenge is how we can balance our social responsibilities with the need to improve productivity. Leveraging Recruit Group’s technology, we aim to improve productivity and to create a world where more people can find jobs. This vision also includes our aspiration to support those who may be disadvantaged in competitive markets, struggling to find work. We are in a position to change this situation, and believe it is our role to do so. Achieving this goal requires us to see our work not as routine tasks, but as a path to continuous learning and growth through daily challenges. We will keep exploring new possibilities so that we can wow the world.

Rob Zandbergen

Executive Vice President, Head of Staffing Business of Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. and CEO of RGF Staffing B.V.

Rob majored in economics at the University of Amsterdam and graduated from The Royal Military Academy. After serving in the Royal Dutch Army and Ministry of Defense, he held various management positions at listed companies, and has been involved in the staffing business since 2003. He was appointed CEO and Chairman of the Board of USG People in 2010. He has held his current position since 2018.