10 questions for 10 years of Pro Contact

It all kicked off in December 2012. And it didn't start out as big and flashy as you might think: Noud Baijens started out in a small attic room, setting up rock-solid sales appointments. Luckily, besides closing deals, Noud still had some spare time to play football, and that's where he met his online ace: Martijn, the man who joined Pro Contact in 2016 and built the entire online department together with Noud.

From that moment on, Pro Contact's focus slowly but surely shifted from sales campaigns to RPO campaigns. Today Pro Contact even offers photoshoots and careers websites. Martijn, in turn, made sure that creative director Willem swapped the KNVB (the Dutch football association) for Pro Contact.

To dig a little deeper, here are 10 questions, answered by Noud Baijens.

1. How did you get started?

’’As a student I worked in sales. I simply worked from my student room in the Rivierenbuurt. That's when I found out I'm really good at sales. The work was flexible and it paid really well. I only had to work a couple of hours and I'd already earned enough to hit the pub with my friends. After finishing my master's, I went to work for my uncle in Romania.

I come from an entrepreneurial family, so entrepreneurship is in my blood. That's why I wanted to start my own business, and my uncle helped me with that. He was Pro Contact's first shareholder and brought in my first clients. I'm still very grateful to him for that.’’

2. Who was your first employee?

’’That was Ed from Haarlem, and Ed and I went through thick and thin together. We worked together from the living room, and at some point a second employee joined us. That's when the living room got really small and it was time to look for an office. That became the office on the Orlyplein in Amsterdam.’’

3. Where did you meet your business partners?

’’I met Martijn playing football and we clicked straight away. Martijn added the online marketing side to Pro contact. Willem came to Pro Contact through Martijn. The deal with Willem was sealed during an Ajax match. The three of us are all different. Willem, the creative type, is my opposite, and Martijn sits somewhere in between. Because all three of us are different, it actually works really well for the organisation. On top of that, we know each other inside out, in our private lives too. We're not just colleagues, we're also friends.’’

“Because all three of us are different, it actually works really well for the organisation.”

4. For a lot of people, working with friends is a no-go, and you even work with your partner Yanouk. How do you make it work?

’’Of course we sometimes talk about work at home, but we also have two kids who keep us very busy. Besides, we each focus on different things. Yanouk makes sure Pro Contact is well organised, so I can focus on what I enjoy most: being an entrepreneur.’’

5. What is your best and your worst quality?

’’I'm very impatient. Sometimes much to the annoyance of others. I know a few people who could tell you a thing or two about that. When I spot an opportunity, I want us to grab it right away, and then I can get very impatient. On the other hand, that's partly what got us where we are today.’’

6. Which client has stuck with you the most?

’’Right now, that's successful projects like the ones with Arriva and Profile, where we can roll out our full range of services and turn them into loyal clients. These happen to be big companies, but I don't care whether a company is big or small. The best clients are the ones where we get the best results. Because in the end, results are what count.’’

7. What was the lowest point, and what was the highest?

’’That has to be the outbreak of corona in March 2020. The whole world was on fire, and personally, the thing you never want to go through happened to me too. My father died very suddenly of corona, our clients put their campaigns on hold, and there was just a huge amount of uncertainty in the world. The months after the outbreak were the hardest time I've ever been through. But by September or October of that same year, we were back at our pre-corona level as a company. Together with Victor and all the other colleagues, we got Pro Contact back on track. That immediately became one of the highlights too.’’

8. What would you tell your 25-year-old self?

’’It'll be fine. You don't need to stress so much. I often got really worked up when there was no need to. Of course you shouldn't be lazy or indifferent, because then not much happens, but I could have been a bit more relaxed. Balance is really important here.’’

“You don't need a plan B if you keep optimising plan A.”

9. What was your plan B if Pro Contact hadn't happened?

’’You don't need a plan B if you keep optimising plan A. If you want something, just go for it; there are always new opportunities and solutions. Pro Contact started as a sales company, that became job marketing, and now we want to become number 1 in recruitment process outsourcing. Keep your eyes open for new opportunities in the market, adapt and keep innovating. Then you don't need a plan B.’’

10. What will the next 10 years look like?

’’I ask myself that more and more these days. 10 years is a very long time, but I do know about the next 5 years. We've drawn up a strategic five-year plan. It says we want to grow by 40% every year. We want to open more branches and become even more professional. With small branches you need fewer layers and you can keep things simple. We also want to keep innovating, both internally and externally. My role will change too. I want to move into a coaching role and work more in the background. A new era is coming, full throttle!’’

Noud's mindset has brought us to where we are today: an organisation where appointments are still being made, deals are still being closed, campaigns are dreamt up and set up, and in the end candidates are called and placed. We can genuinely call ourselves an RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) specialist! And with national and international expansion on the horizon, we're far from done growing.