ABDLG quickly achieved outstanding results for HAP Oost-Brabant. The goal was to recruit 30 triage nurses within a year. ABDLG managed to recruit 28 in the first six months! Currently, 50 candidates apply monthly, with 1 in 2 being highly relevant. Previously, it was 1 in 6 applicants.

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About ABDLG

ABDLG is a streamlined collaboration between Arthur & Brent, a marketing agency specializing in brand identities, and Door Lotje Getikt (DLG), a copywriting and communication agency. Together, they create powerful employer identities for organizations and handle all related content. When you work with ABDLG, you gain a skilled ‘remote colleague.’

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Challenge

"As a copywriting agency, we were frequently brought in by Arthur & Brent, but we noticed an increasing need for employee recruitment due to a tight labor market," says Charlotte Backx, owner, copywriting consultant, and trainer at Door Lotje Getikt. By combining a strong employer identity and online marketing with robust applicant profiles and content rockets (content pieces like blogs, website texts, and social posts around a single topic), ABDLG has become indispensable for clients with recruitment challenges. "Often, organizations bring in copywriters at the end of a project, but our partnership with Arthur & Brent allows us to get involved earlier. This way, we can truly develop a long-term plan for our clients," explains Charlotte.

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One organization where this approach has been highly effective is Huisartsenposten (HAP) Oost-Brabant. With an initial deficit of 60 triage nurses, the urgent goal was clear: recruit 30 triage nurses within a year and continue from there.

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Back to the drawing board to clearly define the profile of a triage nurse. With a content rocket from DLG, appropriate content was created for the website, job postings, and social media. The HR advisor of HAP then posted this content on HAP Oost-Brabant's social media channels. Charlotte also advised spreading this content via colleagues' social media channels. "At first, you always hear resistance: I don't have time for this, I don't understand how it works, we always do it this way, we post something on LinkedIn every week..., but that's exactly the problem," says Lizette Overman, Social Media Content Creator at Arthur & Brent. "There’s no structure, vision, or overall strategy." Because DLG writes an entire content rocket, the quality of the content is immediately very high, including on social media. HAP employees quickly realized: "All I have to do is approve, and three social media posts go live on LinkedIn and Instagram."

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Approach

ABDLG developed a clear action plan to recruit those 30 triage nurses. A mix of recruitment marketing activities formed a successful formula, with Apostle being a key component. By combining authentic content, powerful job postings, and background stories in recruitment marketing activities, ABDLG effectively reaches more and higher-quality triage nurses. "We can clearly show who the triage nurse is, what HAP offers, and what is expected of an applicant," explains Charlotte. The content is used for advertising and the website, and it is also scheduled on social media through Apostle. "They don’t have to do anything themselves, but they receive a suggested social media post, which ensures they actually post something," says Lizette. Professionally, HAP Oost-Brabant employees were not very active on LinkedIn. Occasionally sharing a job posting was not a problem, but that’s not recruitment marketing, according to Charlotte. You reach more people by using Apostle as an extension of your recruitment marketing. "They might not have a large following, but they are now visible, which they wouldn’t be otherwise."

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Charlotte gives an example of an HR advisor within HAP Oost-Brabant: "She now posts once a month, whereas she used to post once every two years, figuratively speaking. With 271 followers, she doesn’t have a huge following on LinkedIn, but all her job posts quickly get 25 likes. That’s not bad at all considering her number of followers," Charlotte explains. "You hope they also keep in mind that they once studied, once worked elsewhere, and thereby reach very relevant people," Lizette adds. "These are probably people with similar problems who need new colleagues at some point. Posts from Arthur & Brent's company page don’t do much, but when they see a post from me personally, something can come of it."

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The beauty of these collaborations is that ABDLG involves the client throughout the process. There’s a monthly meeting to discuss progress. What are the results? What topics will we focus on next month? Often, you don’t see what’s interesting to tell, but with ABDLG looking from an external perspective, new angles and ideas always come to the table. This ensures Apostle continues to add value. The posts are always fresh, keeping social media interaction ongoing.

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Results

ABDLG quickly achieved outstanding results for HAP Oost-Brabant. The goal was to recruit 30 triage nurses within a year. ABDLG managed to recruit 28 in the first six months! Currently, 50 candidates apply monthly, with 1 in 2 being highly relevant. Previously, it was 1 in 6 applicants.

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The recruitment process has greatly improved, saving a lot of time. HAP Oost-Brabant immediately understood why they partnered with ABDLG and will not end the collaboration soon. "We’ve taken away much of their pain," affirm Charlotte and Lizette. By continuing this collaboration, triage nurses keep applying, and the staffing shortage remains a thing of the past.

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