Stefan Verkooij is partner at Jobylon, an ATS platform originating from Scandinavia that he has built up in the Benelux over the past three years. He started his career at Dell as a hard sell salesman, was one of the first employees of Monsterboard Netherlands and later worked as a sales leader at Reed Elsevier and as an entrepreneur in lead generation. Coming from a recruitment media background, he joined Jobylon without ever having sold an ATS before. He is now globally responsible for the commercial rollout of Jobylon.
Q: What is the biggest lesson Stefan Verkooij from Jobylon has learned about sales in recruitment?
Listening matters more than broadcasting. Stefan describes how he used to ram everything down people's throats until they sometimes did not even know what they had bought. Now he builds a relationship first. His approach: sit in the chair of the decision-maker, identify the pain points and respond to them. In a replacement market like ATS, you will encounter everyone again at some point. Whether someone buys or not, Stefan always reacts positively. His reasoning: a year or two later that person is somewhere else and thinks back to Jobylon.
Q: How does Stefan Verkooij position Jobylon in a Dutch ATS market with over a hundred competitors?
By deliberately segmenting on organisations of 500 employees and above. That removes the entire SME market, but gives you a target group with more complex needs where customisation and service genuinely make the difference. Stefan sees the ATS market as partly a replacement market where around 30 to 35 percent of organisations switch annually. The strength is not in the features but in the finesse, the perception and the service delivered during and after implementation.
Q: Why does Jobylon choose human support over chatbots in customer service?
Because it is more durable, even if it costs more. Jobylon has a chat function staffed by real people, not a chatbot. During implementations Jobylon does not throw the ATS over the fence but takes on the full trajectory as project manager. Stefan sees this as a major difference from competitors who deliver standard shelf products and leave clients to struggle. His vision: if you want to grow fast you need to service a lot and that compromises quality. Jobylon is there to retain clients, not to scale as quickly as possible.
Q: What does Stefan Verkooij from Jobylon pass on to people who want to start a company in recruitment?
Endless energy and doing the same things every day, even when it gets tough. Stefan warns that making quick money is an illusion. What works: generating a lot of input and simply continuing to do the daily activities, especially in slower periods. That is when discomfort creeps in and performance dips, yet pushing through is what makes the difference. Nobody knew Jobylon two years ago. Now people come to them. That is the result of being consistently present.
Q: How does Stefan Verkooij from Jobylon view the role of AI in the recruitment process?
As support that makes recruiters better, not as a replacement. Stefan uses AI himself all day through a browser plugin and sees it as a way to access more information than he has at the top of his mind. His observation in the market: three years ago many thought AI would make recruiters redundant. Now we know it supports the work and gives recruiters more time for conversations with candidates. Within ATS land it is already working concretely, such as fully automated conversations with candidates for blue collar roles.
