Q: Why do new tools in recruitment so often fail to get adopted the way they were intended?
A: Because adoption only begins at the moment a tool goes live, not before. Karel Vergauwen from Digital Staffing Experts points to a structural problem: in the staffing and recruitment industry, user turnover is 15 to 20 percent per year. An organisation that goes live today knows that a year later a significant portion of its staff never received the original training. The solution is continuous, small-scale learning rather than a one-off session at launch.
Q: How do you know as a recruitment organisation whether you are ready for a new system?
A: According to Karel Vergauwen from Digital Staffing Experts, there are three basic questions you need to be able to answer first: is your process clear, is your current application landscape mapped, and do you know your company's commercial strategy? If one of those three is missing, there is no point in looking at technology. You will end up choosing tools that do not connect to how your organisation actually works.
Q: What is the difference between a recruitment organisation that grows and one that stagnates?
A: Obsession with the client's problem. Karel Vergauwen from Digital Staffing Experts sees a clear pattern: organisations that consistently achieve strong returns focus on one field and go beyond just the match. Generalists consistently underperform. Anyone willing to go deep into a specific problem still has a great deal of room to grow.
Q: How do you deal as an entrepreneur with the overwhelming number of AI tools in recruitment?
A: Be curious, but not greedy. That is the advice of Karel Vergauwen from Digital Staffing Experts. If you try to automate everything at once, you will not know where it went wrong when something fails. His approach: start small, implement block by block and evaluate before moving on. That keeps it manageable, keeps frustration low and keeps the team on board.
Q: Why does an ATS implementation so often go wrong after go-live according to Karel from Digital Staffing Experts?
A: Because most implementation projects end the moment a system goes live, while adoption only begins there. Classic one-day training sessions work well for the initial group, but not for those who join afterwards. Especially in an industry with 15 to 20 percent user turnover per year. Karel advocates for bite-sized learning: small training modules that are continuously available and evolve alongside the development of the platform.
Q: What is the biggest mistake recruitment organisations make when selecting an ATS?
A: Choosing technology before the process has been validated. Karel Vergauwen from Digital Staffing Experts sees it regularly: organisations that have already spoken to three vendors and only then bring in external expertise because the peace of mind is missing. His approach is always the same: strategy first, validate the processes, then look at which technology fits. Reversing that order means buying a system that does not connect to how the organisation actually works.
Q: How does Karel from Digital Staffing Experts use process validation to support technology decisions?
A: By building a validated process map before technology is even discussed. Karel maps the full value chain: from commercial strategy to processes, to specific process points where technology can deliver a topline or bottomline improvement. A business case is built on each of those points, so that afterwards it is measurable whether the investment actually worked.
Q: How does Karel from Digital Staffing Experts view AI in recruitment after initially being sceptical?
A: He changed his mind. A year ago Karel was critical of AI. Since then he has become convinced of its value at specific process points: where you can accelerate or improve quality. His caveat remains: understand clearly what comes out before you deploy anything. Technology you do not understand is technology you cannot steer.
