Cobalt Germany looking for flexibility and speed

With two decades of experience and worldwide offices, Cobalt has managed to put itself on the map as the specialist in mediating financial, real estate and construction personnel. Consisting of 80 employees, the German part of the group has various offices in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, in addition to its headquarters in Berlin. Cobalt Germany has recently been working on improving its recruitment process.

Looking for flexibility and speed
Flexibility and speed are of great importance in the daily activities of a recruiter. This was something that was missed at Cobalt Germany. Automating daily activities, gaining insight into data and easier processing of information in a system was therefore a great wish. Cobalt previously worked with an relatively old and outdated ATS system. However, this system was not a cloud-based solution. Although this system already provides Cobalt with a good ratio of information, the main points to think about new solutions were the server-based set up and the lack of options to integrate cloud-based applications.

Managing Director, Nicole Schwan, noticed the need for optimization and, a team of consultants including the current project leader Patrick Bierhals, started an investigation into the recruitment process.

“We didn’t have an ATS yet,” says Nicole. “But the need for optimization and direction was clearly noticeable. Patrick and colleagues have taken on the field research for the right ATS.”

“This meant, among other things, making a selection from about 25 to 30 parties that could possibly offer the right system,” adds Patrick. “This selection led to a shortlist that included Carerix. It soon became apparent that Carerix would be the right choice for us. The flexibility of the Carerix system suited us better than any other parties. ”

In order to ultimately make a good choice for an ATS that suits the organization, a selection was made from about 25 to 30 parties based on a number of criteria. These selection criteria were very important and together they had to lead to the best choice. The criteria were based on aspects such as an extensive network of partners, 100% GDPR compliant, flexible API, and process management based on recruitment processes.

What, according to Patrick, stood out about Carerix’s ATS was the possibility of a very flexible GDPR compliant integration and he also saw the flexible API as an enormous potential for the future of the company.

Personal attention for a strong collaboration
After the choice was made for Carerix, the implementation process followed in which Carerix was delivered to Cobalt. Marc van Dijk (Lead Consultant), Patrick Ligthart (Project Manager), and Mark Hopman (Director International Accounts) were closely involved with Carerix during the implementation process. The business scan was an important first step in the implementation process. The results from this scan turned out to be so detailed that it was soon possible to work from solutions.

“During the implementation process, we often had meetings and calls with Carerix. Carerix now had a clear knowledge of how we work at Cobalt. These calls soon resulted in additional comments that showed that optimizing some processes would take time. From here we started looking further. What does fit and when? ” Patrick tells.

“We have found solutions for all aspects and are well on the way. We did not focus on the first, but on the best solution ”continues Patrick.

Personal attention, thinking along, and looking for solutions together to optimize work processes are what made the collaboration between Cobalt and Carerix a success.

“What we noticed from the start of the collaboration was that Carerix does everything it can to offer the right solution. It may sometimes take a little longer than we would like, but it is a solution that works well for everyone. I appreciate that. Major problems are avoided in many IT projects, but Carerix accepts the challenge and comes up with a suitable solution. ” Nicole tells.

A workflow based on triggers
One of the main reasons for Cobalt to choose an ATS was to reduce administrative tasks and ensure consultants can work as efficiently as possible. So-called triggers were therefore an important feature. This was soon addressed in the process.

Thanks to the triggers, certain actions are automatically performed when necessary. This includes requesting consent from candidates or processing the basis (GDPR). You use these triggers to make your work as easy as possible by automating various tasks.

“We are already thinking about new triggers and new tasks that the system can send out. It is difficult to change the consultant’s working method, but we notice that triggers make it all a lot easier. We have been live with Carerix for 4 months.” Patrick tells

Continue to innovate
“At the moment the system offers many functionalities and improvements, but not everyone uses it or knows how it works. We are already making a lot of progress with Carerix, but the most important thing, for now, is to see how we can get the day-to-day business even more clearly in Carerix ”, says Nicole.

In the near future, Carerix and Cobalt will mainly focus on continuing to optimize the process. Cobalt collects feedback from the consultants and recruiters who use Carerix in order to then optimize the workflow in stages. In terms of follow-up, data and the use of BI tools will provide important added value for Cobalt.

“Thanks to good cooperation between the teams, it was possible to arrive at the correct set-up specifically for the Cobalt processes. Precisely because there are many different locations, it is a challenge to implement a new system simultaneously throughout the entire organization. This has been achieved through teamwork. We look forward to a great future partnership. ” Says Mark Hopman, Director of International Accounts at Carerix.

“We look positively to the future with Carerix, where it will always be an exchange of knowledge.” Nicole ends.