How Vellekoop & Meesters builds lasting relationships and finds the right consultants faster with Magnet.me
Vellekoop & Meesters is a consultancy firm with a team of around 20 professionals. As a growing organisation, they focus on attracting talented junior and medior business consultants with a strong emphasis on diversity, cultural alignment and long-term development.
Rather than relying on one-off hiring cycles, Vellekoop & Meesters uses Magnet.me to build lasting relationships with professionals who match their culture and are already interested in the company. That way, when someone is ready for a new step, they’re already in the network and can quickly become an applicant.
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“Many of the people we hire have been on our radar for years. Magnet.me helps us stay connected so we can bring them in at the moment they truly become the right fit for our team.”
Challenge | Finding the right people in a competitive market
Vellekoop & Meester’s assignments sit at the intersection of information management and IT within the public sector, where cultural fit, critical thinking and a public-service mindset are just as important as technical skills. Finding consultants who truly match that combination requires real conversations and a long-term view, something that has always been central to how Vellekoop & Meesters approaches hiring.
The challenge was that most traditional channels weren’t built for that long-term, relationship-driven approach. External recruiters, for example, often delivered CVs quickly, but the interaction ended there: short-term, transactional, and not designed to support the relevant, lasting connections the firm depends on. As a result, promising candidates could easily slip out of sight before they were ready for a new step.
Peter: “We have very specific expectations for our consultants. You can’t see that on a CV, you only discover that through a real conversation.”
Solution | Building a long-term talent community that keeps talent within reach
Vellekoop & Meesters needed a way to stay connected with talent over several years, instead of starting from zero with every new role. Magnet.me enables exactly that by helping them turn every interested professional into a lasting connection.
Relevant candidates are automatically invited to connect with Vellekoop & Meesters. Once they accept, they enter their talent community where no data is ever lost and profiles stay up to date. Every past interaction remains accessible, giving the team one structured place to maintain long-term relationships. This helps Vellekoop & Meesters stay visible as talent grows, strengthen their employer brand, and keep future hires within reach as their network expands.
“We use Magnet.me to start the conversation with candidates. It’s low-threshold, personal, and helps us stay connected with people who fit our culture, even if they’re not ready to move yet.” — Peter Hakvoort
When a new role opens, matching candidates in their network are automatically activated, allowing Vellekoop & Meesters to reconnect at the right moment. They can also filter and segment their community to quickly identify relevant people and reach out directly. Together, this creates a consistent talent pool they can rely on whenever opportunities arise.
Because relevant talent stayed within reach, Magnet.me quickly became one of Vellekoop & Meester’s key hiring channels. They now maintain a focused pool of around 200 professionals they actively stay in touch with.
Peter: “Magnet.me has become a key part of how we hire. We can see who’s interested, respond quickly, and maintain a pool of around 200 professionals we keep in touch with.”
Results | Clear results: long-term connections that turn into high-quality hires
By shifting from transactional hiring to relationship-driven recruitment, Vellekoop & Meesters achieved clear, measurable results.
They hired multiple consultants directly through Magnet.me, professionals who first connected with the firm years earlier as juniors. By staying visible and maintaining warm relationships, they could automatically activate the right people at the right moment, solving their challenge of finding culturally aligned consultants in a competitive market.
The company now attracts more than 1,300 new connections per year, ensuring a continuous flow of relevant talent and a structurally stronger long-term pipeline.
Peter: “Magnet.me saves us time and helps us hire better. The candidate quality is higher, but even more importantly, it helps us build lasting relationships that turn into great hires when the moment is right.”
Want to reach tomorrow’s consultants today?
Vellekoop & Meesters uses Magnet.me to find and engage the right consultants faster and more effectively.
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