Port of Opportunities goes full speed ahead with AI and automation
A world of opportunities
Getting a job in the port industry as a refugee or status holder in the Netherlands? Port of Opportunities makes it possible. Through their expertise, network and personal guidance, they know how to offer newcomers in the Netherlands a world of opportunities.
Max Sips, founder of Port of Opportunities, explains: “When the war in Ukraine broke out in early 2022, a huge number of refugees came to the Netherlands. They were allowed to work straight away. Combining my ambition to have more personal contact with people in my work and my experience in the port industry, we then founded Port of Opportunities – under the wing of Watertalent (a job site for the port industry, ed.). We launched in August 2022. Now we are the go-to partner when it comes to helping status holders and refugees find jobs in the port.”
Plug & play software from the Netherlands
Even though Port of Opportunities could use Watertalent's custom-built software, after 1.5 years the need arose for tooling specifically built for recruitment purposes. "The CRM we used before was not built for approaching candidates, storing profiles, etcetera. I lost the overview as we started to grow, so I wanted to move to an ATS. This coincided with the departure of a colleague who did all the recruitment marketing for us. She had everything in her head and it would take an incredible amount of time to take that over and transfer it to someone else later. It would be much easier to achieve our recruitment marketing with a plug-and-play tool that anyone could find their way around. When I got in touch with MrWork, that ball started rolling," says Max.
"I consciously chose Dutch-made software. MrWork is based in Rotterdam, just like us, and I like the fact that they offer Dutch customer service and that we have a fixed contact person. It's all a lot more personal than with those giant international software clubs."
Max Sips, founder of Port of Opportunities
From that moment on, things went very quickly. Erik, Account Executive at MrWork, explains: "On a Friday, I spoke to Max for the first time about the possibilities of RMA. The following Tuesday we had a demo and business case and on Wednesday it was a signed deal. A whopping four working days! That shows that at Port of Opportunities they like to follow through."
Max explains his choice: "I consciously chose Dutch-made software. MrWork is based in Rotterdam, just like us, and I like the fact that they offer Dutch customer service and that we have a fixed contact person. It's all a lot more personal than with those giant international software clubs."
First hires in no-time
At the end of 2024, Port of Opportunities went live with campaigns via MrWork. "We started with an awareness campaign and several job campaigns. Interesting candidates came out of these and I know for sure that one placement came through the campaign. Of a second hire, I also strongly suspect that, but because our ATS was not set up at the time, I could not measure that. I am very satisfied with the results. A lot comes out of it, especially if you put that in proportion to what you put in," Max says.
Low-threshold response ensures largest intake ever
In April 2025, Port of Opportunities rolled out their first lead campaign and already after 1.5 weeks, the results spoke for themselves. Max explains enthusiastically: "We get dozens of responses a day and more than 80% of them fall within our target group. So the targeting is working very well. This campaign now provides us with by far the largest flow of candidates. More than other channels we have been using for some time, such as directly through our website and working with municipalities, agencies and job coaches. Social advertising allows us to reach our entire target group."
The success of that first lead campaign turned out to be no accident. Port of Opportunities still uses this type of campaign frequently and gets many good candidates out of it. "In the past year, we came into contact with 4,200 candidates thanks to lead campaigns. Our best candidates mostly come from this type of campaign: we actively mediated at least 48 people and placed a large proportion of them," said Max.
More attention, less work thanks to automation
With numbers like these, you simply cannot follow up all responses manually anymore. That is why the team has been reinforced: not by a human, but by AI colleague Poppy. "That's a blessing, especially for a small team like us. Poppy picks up the entire pre-screening process, which saves us a lot of time. Once we start working with a candidate, we already know a lot more, for example about availability, experience and motivation. In addition, the response rate is increased because Poppy sends a friendly reminder if someone has not responded after 24 hours," Max says.
Previously, Port of Opportunities worked with a static chatbot to automate pre-screening. Max says: "An AI agent works so much better because Poppy can really engage with the candidate. Poppy can also switch to another language, for example, if it notices that the candidate is communicating in English. The experience for candidates is much better than with a scripted pre-screening."
AI agent Poppy not only ensures a finer candidate experience during pre-screening, but also in the further process Port of Opportunities can guide candidates better. Max explains: "Our mediation stands or falls with sincere attention and guidance. It may seem contrasting, but it is precisely by using AI that we can be more personal to our candidates. Poppy already divides candidates into categories and, based on the extracted information, we immediately see what the top candidates are. We can give those candidates extra attention and guidance. Thus, AI ensures a better recruiter and candidate experience."
At the bottom line, the time savings from smart technology are so great that Port of Opportunities decided not to replace a departing colleague. "With the ATS for overview and structure, RMA for campaigns and the AI agent for follow-up, we now have a system that works. As a result, we are no longer working with a team of eight (including two interns), but five people," says Max.
"It may seem contrasting, but it is precisely by using AI that we can be more personal towards our candidates. We can give those candidates extra attention and guidance. In this way, AI ensures a better recruiter and candidate experience."
Max Sips, founder of Port of Opportunities
A crowbar for sales
The extra influx of candidates also provides an unexpected result: it serves as a crowbar for sales to bring in new customers. "Sometimes our campaigns bring in candidates with very specialised knowledge. With those niche profiles, we can make contact with employers we do not currently do business with and thus realise new customers. Then you can often contribute to recruitment in other positions," Max says.
The course for the coming period
How does Max look to the future? "We are going to move to another location at the end of this year. In addition, we now want to ensure that all tools and software work well together. Campaigns, the new website, the AI agents and the ATS. Then we can take another nice hit in terms of efficiency," Max indicates.
"It's great to have MrWork at our side. Because we are growing so fast and there is a lot that is new, it is particularly handy to have short lines of communication with the MrWork specialists. They always offer us a helping hand," Max concludes.
