Q: How did Lonneke from DHL end up in recruitment when it was never her first choice?
A: For Lonneke, recruitment was never a deliberate choice but a happy coincidence. In 1998 she walked into a Randstad office on Muntplein in Amsterdam looking for a job and stayed because the atmosphere felt right. What she discovered: recruitment combines curiosity, people skills, and precision in a way few other fields do.
Q: What pitfalls did Lonneke from DHL discover when starting a business with a co-founder?
A: The biggest pitfall is starting with enthusiasm without thinking about what happens when your visions diverge. Lonneke compares it to falling in love: you move in together without considering what comes after. Those difficult conversations need to happen at the very beginning, not when things start to go wrong.
Q: How did Lonneke from DHL combine entrepreneurship and motherhood without parental leave arrangements for the self-employed?
A: Lonneke started her business in 2005 and had her first son in 2007, at a time when there were almost no provisions for self-employed women. You are constantly caught between two demands: a business needs your full energy, and so does a child. Lonneke puts it honestly: you do not want to give anything up. You want to be fully ambitious in your career and the best mother in the world at the same time. That is the real tension.
Q: How did Lonneke from DHL keep growing as an entrepreneur without a manager giving her feedback?
A: Without a manager, you grow much more slowly than you realise. Lonneke noticed that as an entrepreneur she received less feedback and therefore grew less quickly. Her solution: deliberately surround yourself with people who challenge and reflect back to you, connect with other founders, and build a network of advisors. It also just makes it more enjoyable.
Q: Why does DHL, according to Lonneke, hire without CVs and cover letters?
A: Because CVs and cover letters are full of bias on both sides. You form a judgement before you have even spoken to someone. Lonneke believes in real contact: start a conversation, ask questions, listen to how someone describes their own career. That conversation gives you the same information as a CV. On top of that, filtering out a well-written AI-generated cover letter is now nearly impossible, even if a hiring manager thinks otherwise.
Q: What is Lonneke from DHL's view on the future of the recruiter in a world of AI and automation?
A: The recruiter's job is not disappearing. What disappears are the administrative tasks that recruiters never enjoyed and that had become too large a part of the job. What remains is the real craft: having conversations, discovering talent, genuinely advising candidates. As Lonneke puts it: the part they love, the part they currently have too little time for, that stays.
Q: What advice does Lonneke from DHL give to young recruiters who want to grow into a leadership role?
A: Be curious and ask questions about why processes are the way they are. Take on side projects, get involved in initiatives around process improvement, employer branding, or stakeholder management. Actively ask for feedback from your hiring manager, your colleagues, and your manager. Lonneke: feedback is a gift, sometimes wrapped very badly, but there is always something useful inside. And dare to take the step, even if you do not feel completely ready.
Q: How does Lonneke from DHL get her team to adopt new technology without overwhelming them?
A: Start small. If you try to automate everything at once, you will not know where it went wrong when something fails. Lonneke advises implementing new tools block by block and evaluating each one before moving forward. That keeps it manageable and keeps frustration low. Be curious, but not greedy.
Q: What qualities does Lonneke from DHL look for when hiring a new recruiter?
A: Lonneke looks for people who embrace new technology without fear, while still thinking critically. She has deliberately built a team at DHL with no yes-people in it. Critical thinking is just as important to her as enthusiasm for new developments.
Q: How did Lonneke from DHL create a culture where her team feels safe to make mistakes?
A: By openly sharing her own mistakes as a leader. Lonneke actively shares her own blunders with her team, precisely because she sometimes goes all-in and gets it wrong. That signal gives others the space to do the same. Humour and perspective help enormously.
Q: How does Lonneke from DHL help new employees become independent without leaving them to fend for themselves?
A: Lonneke deliberately lets new employees swim on their own, even if they go under for a moment. She does not step in at every mistake, but she makes sure no one drowns either. The moment someone signals they are ready for the next step, she drops everything and is there immediately.
Q: Why does Lonneke from DHL share knowledge with competitors and what does she gain from it?
A: Recruiters are natural people-people. They seek each other out, even when they work for competing companies. In many other sectors, professionals do not dare to do this because it means being vulnerable in front of a competitor. In recruitment, that openness is the norm, and it is what allows people to grow in a different way.
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