Companies looking for well-qualified staff will find exactly the right candidate through recruitment agency CLS Services. Two clients from large multinationals in the life sciences, chemistry and food sector explain why this young and dynamic agency is their agency of choice. And it is not only clients but also the candidates that benefit from the intensive guidance they receive from CLS Services.

The extra mile
We’re talking to Sander de Wit, HR Manager at Astellas for over ten years now, and Sander Arendsen, former head of the bioanalysis department at DSM. They both sing the praises of CLS Services, describing it as a recruitment agency that stands out head and shoulders above the rest within the sector. The gentlemen are unanimous in their opinion that the enthusiasm and dedication of CLS directors René Kemps and Jan Paul Favier are significant factors in its success. “They regularly came up with outstanding candidates that were extremely well suited to the role”, says De Wit. “But in fact I was even more impressed by the fact that they were so honest when now and again finding the right candidate wasn’t going so quickly. I greatly appreciated the honesty. After all, we’re looking for really special candidates and sometimes you just need a little more time to be able to find the perfect match.” In his experience, CLS Services always went the extra mile and was highly successful at finding good candidates. “On average I reckon the success rate was roughly 70-80%, and that’s high.” Arendsen concurs with this. “In contrast to many of their competitors, they were capable of coming up with outstanding candidates and not just the ones that happened to be in their database at that particular time. They do their absolute best to find you the right person, even if that person wasn’t already on their books.”

How success works
“They primarily distinguish themselves by their unique methods”, says De Wit. “First René and Jan Paul perform a thorough analysis of the role and the requirements. Of course, we were always looking for the impossible and we came out with a wish list that no normal person could live up to. But René and Jan Paul would run through it critically and compile a realistic profile of the candidate, keeping our corporate culture in mind. A profile with essential knowledge and skills as well as the candidate’s personality.” Arendsen adds: “They were very successful with this approach. Once they had a suitable candidate, then he or she would first be subjected to thorough scrutiny internally at CLS Services, before we would get to meet them. The upshot of this was that if they sent someone you just knew it would be a good candidate.” Knowledge of the industry, a good feeling for corporate cultures and a relevant scientific background are ingredients that make a significant contribution to the success of CLS Services. De Wit: “If I was asking for a Drug Safety Officer then a five-minute phone call was all that was needed for me to make clear what I was looking for. A week later I could look forward to having five or six interesting and suitable CVs on my desk. I think this is a great way of working. It saved me a lot of time and even more trouble.” Arendsen adds to this: “The benefit of CLS Services is that they’re a relatively small agency, with few communication layers, that can make decisions quickly, is flexible and that doesn’t put up any unnecessary barriers. No wonder CLS Services is rapidly on its way to becoming the number one supplier of staff in life sciences, chemistry and food.”

Bespoke solutions
Arendsen and De Wit primarily had positions in drug safety and bioanalysis and in a more general scientific field. “We were mainly looking for candidates with a background in the field of (bio or organic) chemistry, bioanalysis or related studies. Most of them were relatively young, somewhere between 27 and 35 years old, and had a few years of relevant work experience.” Both Arendsen and De Wit consider CLS Services to be extremely customer-oriented. It was not only the candidate’s CV that was brought into their analysis, but also someone’s motivation and capacity to fit in within the organization concerned. De Wit: “They thought with us as true business partners. Thus they took our salary system into account when offering salary to a candidate on secondment, for example, so that when we wanted to offer this man or woman a permanent contract he or she could be fitted effortlessly into our salary system.” Arendsen agrees with this wholeheartedly. “I was particularly taken with the way in which they dealt with taking over staff. CLS Services have coherent and flexible rules for this and a very sporting attitude. This works very nicely. Unsurprisingly we’ve had a number of people joining the company that have come in this way through CLS Services.”