While we all are hoping that the worst of the pandemic has passed, at the same time experts believe that the repercussions are yet to come.
Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, however since the coronavirus outbreak, and lockdown situation across the world, the global recession has been crushing the tulip city’s economy. Although the lockdown has started to ease in the city, the Dutch economy shrinked by 1.7% in the first quarter of 2020, when the coronavirus outbreak began to bite.
Unemployment fell by 39,000 to 2,77,000 in Q1. This means that 3 percent of the labour force were unemployed.
Do follow our special coverage on coronavirus over here.
Further, as per a report by talent.io, the volume of tech job positions being advertised on job boards for the Amsterdam market has been hit hardest than other main European cities, with a 70% decrease in new creations of tech positions.
Concerned about the situation, we spoke to Rebecca Clarke, Talent Manager of Amsterdam-based startup – Recruitee – on how startups and scaleups can continue effective hiring with a tight budget? On this she opines, “Understandably, right now many companies are being more conscious about spending at this time, but there are still multiple ways of continuing to hire even on a tight or non-existent budget. From personal experience, I have found that during these times, people are more willing to help each other out. So now is a great time to ask for referrals internally and also externally. For example, asking your network for recommendations/referrals on LinkedIn, Facebook groups, slack communities, etc., can prove very effective.”
As our last article on hiring in Amsterdam during the pandemic helped lots of our readers, we have now come out with the second version where we are going to tell you what’s happening in the Amsterdam tech job market during the pandemic right now? And which all new tech startups are hiring?
But before digging into some recent hirings taking place in the tech startup scene of Amsterdam, we also asked Clarke to share some tips for those seeking job openings. On this she says, “Be active online and maintain your LinkedIn profile, ensuring that it’s up to date and that you are visible to recruiters. It is always worth going through your profile, making sure it is relevant for the role that you’re looking for and clear for recruiters to see your skills.
“Research employers that are actively hiring and develop your own target list from these companies that appeal to you. For example, you can follow them on social media so you are the first to know about new roles available.”
“Now is the perfect time to upskill, demonstrating that you are keen to keep learning and improving. There are plenty of online courses that can be completed for free, just don’t forget to add them to your CV and LinkedIn profile.”
Want to know who all are hiring in Amsterdam? Take a look over here.
SkinVision
Founder/s: Erik de Heus, Mircea Popa, Victor Anastasiu
Founded year: 2012
Funding: €10 million
SkinVision, an Amsterdam based medtech startup has informed Silicon Canals that they’re still hiring. They have developed a mobile app that lets users understand the risk factors of developing skin cancer. Recently the company also announced partnership with Netherland-based UV-Fashions, the largest importer and supplier of UV clothing in Europe. Under the partnership, SkinVision’s customers will have access to UV-Fashions offering at a discounted price. If you are interested in a career at SkinVision you can email [email protected].
The Next Closet
Founder/s: Lieke Pijpers, Thalita van Ogtrop
Founded year: 2013
Funding: €3 million
The Dutch online peer-to-peer marketplace for secondhand design clothes as well as accessories is also hiring and you can apply for vacancies over here.
The Amsterdam-based startup focuses specifically on women looking for affordable high-end designer fashion. In fact, The Next Closet also allows users to ‘follow’ each other’s closets and share items on social media. The female-founded brand has a mission is to change the textile industry by inspiring people to invest in quality and reuse what they already have. It aims to minimise the environmental harm caused by the textile industry.
Rodeo
Founder/s: NA
Founded year: 2014
Funding: NA
Rodeo, an easy-to-use, agile, and clean project admin tool designed for the creative industry is also looking out for fresh talents and you can visit the company website for their tonnes of job listings.
The intuitive and clean project management app for the creative industry provides the tools that will help tame projects. It operates with the intention to create easy-to-use online project management platform for small and medium creative companies. The app is believed to help make life easier and features a clean and clever design. As it has been developed in collaboration with creative agencies and designed in Amsterdam, it is relatively affordable.
Wizenoze
Founder/s: Diane Janknegt
Founded year: 2013
Funding: €3.9 million
Wizenoze, the Dutch startup based in Amsterdam was established in 2013 for learners of all ages. A simple Google search leads to a wide range of results that are not relevant for learning, not reliable and certainly not tailored to their reading level, Wizenoze uses AI to create a clean and clear ‘internet for learning’, where students can easily find reliable, relevant and comprehensive information from the best that the internet has to offer.
In these unprecedented times, the startup with a team of around 20-25 people, is all gushed to cruise through the challenges along the way. In fact, Diane Janknegt, founder of Amsterdam-based edtech platform revealed that they’re currently “hiring instead of firing.”
Janknegt says, “I’m not planning any layoffs at all, not even salary reductions. I’m doing my best to avoid that. And I’m also opening up a beautiful position that I might be able even to fill up soon.” You can check out the positions over here.
Miro
Founder/s: Andrey Khusid, Oleg Shardin
Founded year: 2011
Funding: €68.2 million
Miro, an online platform for teams to collaborate, plan, and share information easily is looking for fresh talent at its Amsterdam office and they also have a product development office in TQ, Amsterdam. You can check out their official website for more details regarding job opportunities.
Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard platform that has been built to suit modern work culture letting collocated, distributed and remote teams to collaborate and communicate across tools, formats, channels, and time zones. It has powerful collaborative features that eliminates the constraints of meeting space, physical location, and whiteboard. It works with the mission to empower teams to come up with the next big thing.
Kaizo
Founder/s: Christoph Auer-Welsbach, Dominik Blattner
Founded year: 2018
Funding: €3 million
Amsterdam’s another leading tech startup Kaizo, previously known as Ticketless, is also hiring right now. Infact, the company recently secured €2.7 million funding in a seed round led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused venture fund, and Partech, with participation from several angel investors.
Also, entrepreneur and investor Christoph Auer-Welsbach, a former partner at IBM Ventures, joined Kaizo as a co-founder.
The company builds a performance management platform for customer support teams that uses gamification and AI to improve operational efficiency, elevate teams’ performance, and retention with actionable OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). You can take a look at open job opportunities over here.
Growth Tribe
Founder/s: Peter van Sabben, David Arnoux, Quentin Lacointa
Founded year: 2015
Funding: NA
Digital skill training company from Amsterdam, Growth Tribe which has clients like Takeaway, Philips and more is also doing tech hirings. Check out over here.
It’s a more than 100 employee company, and has trained over 15,000 people and 900 companies in various digital capabilities including growth marketing, data science, user experience, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. With campuses in the UK, France, Denmark, Finland and Norway, Growth Tribe has placed more than 325 young professionals in positions at startups and scale-ups through the traineeship programs.
Ligo
Founder/s: Wendy Bogers
Founded year: 2015
Funding: €500k
Ligo, the online platform meant for do-it-yourself legal solutions for SME and consumers is looking for fresh talent. Wendy Bogers, the founder and CEO of the Amsterdam-based startup confirmed us that they’re looking for a COO right now. Further, for other vacancies, check out their official website over here.
Ligo lets large organisations automatically generate, negotiate, manage and sign their contracts. It’s on a mission to change the legal market. Ligo offers legal documents, notarial services, and free phone consultation with lawyers and legal workflows. By automating these tedious tasks and with its Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution, Ligo helps businesses increase productivity, optimise collaborations with stakeholders and increase revenue.
StuDocu
Founder / s: Jacques Huppes, Lucas van den Houten, Marnix Broer, Sander Kuijk
Founded year: 2013
Funding: € 1.4 million
StuDocu, which is an Amsterdam-based edtech startup informed Silicon Canals that they’re hiring on full force. One can apply for open positions at the company from here.
StuDocu is an online community where students can share study resources and answer each other’s study-related questions, is a household name among Dutch students. Millions of students from universities around the world are using StuDocu to share knowledge. Founded in 2013, the Dutch startup is also active in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia and more.
BrainCreators
Founder/s: Gerbert Kaandorp, Jasper Wognum, Peter Eijk
Founded year: 2016
BrainCreators, an Amsterdam-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) scaleup also informed to be growing during the global pandemic and it is hiring a number of candidates for developer positions. Interested can apply for vacant positions here.
BrainCreators comprises a team of experts in AI with expertise in both enterprise software engineering and machine learning. The company brings businesses to the forefront of digital transformation. It offers training, consultancy, and implementation services to these businesses so that they can use BrainMatter, its data application platform efficiently. BrainCreators empowers people and machines with digital intelligence.
Recruitee
Founder/s: Perry Oostdam, Paul Smoczyk
Founded year: 2015
Funding: NA
As mentioned before Recruitee is an Amsterdam-based startup that is built to help companies launch their hirings, lead their organisations, and scale their teams. And the startup is also hiring during these unprecedented times. One can apply for a suitable position by heading on to over this link.
Clarke gives us some more insights, when we asked her, what are the top mistakes to avoid while hiring during the pandemic? She says, “It’s important to remember that even though there is a pandemic, companies that continue hiring could be making the same mistakes as before COVID-19, like rushing a hire. If you are hiring right now, be sure that you are making the right candidate choice, that they are joining the company for the right reasons, and give them the best candidate experience.”
“In this rather unusual time, it’s also important, more than ever, to be mindful of the candidate’s situation as this may be a tough time for the people that you are speaking with. Make sure to treat them with the utmost respect and care. Be mindful of your rejections, give advice if they are not a fit, and be honest with your timescales.”
Hope this article will help you. And if you’re a startup hiring during the pandemic in Amsterdam, let us know, we will put your message across.
Main image picture credits: Recruitee
This article is produced in a collaboration with StartupAmsterdam. Read more about our partnering opportunities.
Be sure to keep and eye on Silicon Canals’ Jobs, for loads of exciting opportunities.
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