Organising recruitment marketing: with software or through an agency?
Keep innovating and moving with the times
Bochane Groep has been a well-known player in the automotive sector with car dealerships, bodyshops, car rental and car leasing since 1984. With 55 branches - from Groningen to Roermond - and 1,000 employees, they take care of customers in the field of mobility.
As an automotive company, Bochane Group knows better than anyone: "What's good enough today is obsolete tomorrow." The world of mobility is constantly changing and you need to keep innovating to meet changing mobility needs. It is the same in the labour market. Marieke van den Bosch, Corporate Recruiter at Bochane Group, says: When I joined Bochane Group 1.5 years ago, recruitment was still in its infancy. We have since started to develop a lot, for example our work-at-home site and recruitment marketing strategy. We have around 100 vacancies open on an ongoing basis and more than 80% of them are technical positions. Our biggest challenge is to reach this target group, trigger them and bring them out of anonymity. For this, we need to apply innovative strategies, such as RMA."
Outsource to a media agency or do it yourself with software?
Due to the large recruitment needs and associated challenges, Marieke started looking for solutions in spring 2024. "I simply started googling ways to organise our recruitment marketing. In doing so, I came into contact with a media agency and - because of the positive stories from 's Heeren Loo and ABS Autoherstel - with MrWork. After a few conversations with both parties, I started comparing. The choice was clear to me pretty quickly: I chose software," says Marieke.
"A recruitment marketing agency does not offer the tooling for lead tracking and building talent pools, for example, while that is very important to us. Also because we are still in the process of implementing an ATS. With MrWork, we have one solution for multiple needs."
Marieke van den Bosch, Corporate Recruiter at Bochane Group
Reason 1: being in control
Having a grip on your recruitment marketing was the number one reason for Marieke to choose RMA software: "I am the type of person who likes to be in control. The idea that I can turn the knobs of our campaigns myself at MrWork really appealed to me. You are then not dependent on, for example, our marketing colleagues or an external agency."
Reason 2: own data
Being in control was not the only reason for Marieke: "By working with MrWork, all data is transparent and ours. With the media agency we spoke to, we would receive leads, but we didn't own the campaign data. Then you miss out on a lot of valuable information anyway."
Reason 3: saving time
"I already notice with some things I can't do myself - like editing a recruitment video - how much time it takes to explain exactly what you want and find alignment with others on details. So I think we also save ourselves a lot of time by fixing our recruitment marketing ourselves using software," Marieke said.
Reason 4: a total solution
Marieke found in MrWork not only a way to execute campaigns, but also a lead generation tool with automation flows for follow-up. "A recruitment marketing agency doesn't offer that tooling for lead follow-up and building talent pools, for example, while that is very important to us. Also because we are still in the process of implementing an ATS. With MrWork, we have one solution for multiple needs," Marieke indicates happily.
Reason 5: fixed and lower costs
Last but not least: the cost. Marieke says: "With the media agency, our expenses would fluctuate monthly. They couldn't offer us a fixed-price subscription. With MrWork, the licence fees are clear and fixed. That gives peace of mind. And I expect working with software to be more advantageous."
Live at lightning speed
At Bochane Group, they like to follow through. Once MrWork was chosen, it didn't take them long to go live. Marieke says: "One of our hiring managers wanted to be visible in the summer period, so a quick implementation was crucial. MrWork facilitated us very well in this. They provide the right information, give clear training (which can also be watched back, very nice!) and follow everything up adequately. It also helps that the software is very user-friendly. You don't have to do any crazy tricks, you can find your way around. As a result, our first vacancy campaigns were live in no time."
Accessibility works
Bochane Group only recently started using the lead generation module in MrWork, but it is obvious to Marieke that it works tremendously well. "Last Monday, a car mechanic emailed us asking if we were still looking for people in a specific region. We then acted very quickly: he went for an interview that same afternoon and had a walk-in day a few days later. Now - about 10 days after his first e-mail - he has the employment contract in his mailbox. Without lead generation, this would probably never have happened, because the threshold to get in touch would have been too high for this experienced mechanic," Marieke says enthusiastically.
Marieke has more such success stories. For example, a silver medalist - last year's applicant - recently asked to come for an interview after all. Marieke talks about lead generation: "It is very accessible for candidates and that is exactly what our technical target group is looking for. If someone sends a message, you can respond quickly and concretely."
Although a chatbot is also a form of lead generation, Marieke has a clear preference: "Previously, we had a chatbot, but we see that young people and technicians prefer to app. Chatbots feel less personal because you regularly get automated answers. Besides, you lose such a chatbot if you close the webpage or lock your phone, whereas you can always find an app and answer it later."
"One of our hiring managers wanted to be visible during the summer period and therefore a quick implementation was crucial. MrWork facilitated us very well in this. They provide the right information, give clear training (which can also be watched back, very nice!) and follow everything up adequately. It also helps that the software is very user-friendly."
Marieke van den Bosch, Corporate Recruiter at Bochane Group
The investment already repaid
This is the kind of success Marieke likes to share in the monthly board meeting. She says: "With the data we very easily extract from the MrWork platform, we can show what the results are already now, but also what we are doing to hire people easier and faster in the long term. Before, our visibility on social media was 0.0 and now we are much more passing by our target audience. We haven't yet set everything up properly on our end to be able to measure through exactly, but I can say that we have now already got several assumptions out of the RMA software. So actually the investment has already paid off!"
The next steps
Befitting their corporate culture, Bochane Group won't leave it at that. There is always room for improvement. The following optimisations are high on the agenda for 2025:
- Orienting the use of an ATS to set up the recruitment process more efficiently;
- Employer branding campaigns run through the MrWork platform, including with video testimonials;
- Setting up automated flows for lead follow-up so that, for example, candidates living abroad can be dealt with efficiently.
Marieke is happy with the partnership with MrWork to take the next steps in their recruitment strategy: "MrWork - like us - never stands still. The software is constantly being developed and they give very good advice and tips. For example, I recently published a WhatsApp campaign and asked a question about it. I immediately got advice and practical examples of how I could tackle it. I am simply very happy with our choice of MrWork," Marieke concludes.
Get your recruitment strategy into top gear with RMA too: watch our demo videos or plan your personal roadtrip through the MrWork platform.
