NEWS

IVY Works and the Diamant Group join forces; Searching together for talent in people with a vulnerable employment status

13 August 2021

Take a company in data-driven talent management and recruitment, and a development and work placement company for people with poor job prospects. Put them together in a room and what emerges is a wonderful partnership. One that quickly and accurately identifies talents, interests and motivations using game-based assessments. And participants can then use virtual reality to experience what work really suits them. To connect the individuals in question to places where they can flourish.

The signature on the partnership was barely dry when we spoke together with Pascalle Ligtenberg (Owner) and Dionne van der Straten (Account Manager and consultant) of IVY Works and Robert Bool (General Manager) and Rob van Bladel (Manager) of the Diamant Group. For the time being, it's a pilot with two specific groups; young people and asylum permit holders. Although the ambitions extend further. The thought is that this could possibly be introduced nationwide. But whatever the future holds, for now one thing is certain: the parties can't wait to get started.

Providing employment opportunities
The idea behind this new cooperation? The game-based assessments of IVY Works not only provide insight into all kinds of skills such as brain capacity but also into a person's interests and motivations. In addition, the assessment can be used to determine very precisely where someone's specific qualities lie. Bool: "By offering young people and asylum permit holders who come to the Diamant Group a place in our pilot project, we can investigate whether the combination of game-based assessments and a VR experience leads to more insight, better choices and better job prospects.



In this way, the training company hopes to be right on target the first time around in the future. Van Bladel: "That would be nice for the participants because they end up in the right place straight away. But it also has an advantage in terms of efficiency. So it contributes to a nice situation for everyone." Ligtenberg adds: "If things go as we suspect, you can offer more prospects this way. Because the talents will really come into their own within the Diamant Group."

Assessments and virtual reality

First of all, there is the game-based assessment. But the virtual reality component will also contribute to those job prospects. For this, IVY Works is collaborating with Stichting Stip. "Once you have a clear picture of the talents, you can start looking at which professions match them. The ability component, because after that you are also going to determine what really appeals to the person in question", Van der Straten explains. "We then go on virtual company visits to a candidate's top favourites. For example, with a pair of VR glasses on, we allow the young people or asylum permit holders to experience, in x number of minutes, the working day of a demolition contractor, tiler or painter."

This includes, for example, getting the necessary items ready right through to tidying up after a day's work. "And you have the option of putting them on scaffolding, for example, to see if working at height would or would not be a problem," Van der Straten continues. "That VR experience is going to give an extremely realistic picture of their favourite occupations. This will help in making a sound choice."

From request to collaboration
The collaboration may only have recently started officially but the connection goes back some nine months. It was then that Diamant Group Director Bool took the first step – he sought out contact with MindLabs. "We want to place the people who come to us in the most advantageous way possible. But our own toolset is not sufficiently geared towards young people and asylum permit holders, even though we have a lot to do with this target group. And so we asked MindLabs if there were any parties within the ecosystem who could help us."



IVY Works liked the idea. With their game-based assessments, Ligtenberg and Van der Straten have been providing objective insights for optimised talent management within organisations for several years. The existing method is ideal for that particular target group. Young people generally find it more fun to play games than to fill in questionnaires. And the visual assessment is ideal for asylum permit holders for whom language can be a stumbling block. The existing IVY Works platform will therefore also be used for this collaboration. Van der Straten: "In addition, together with the Diamond Group we're going to develop occupational profiles on which we can build further." A nice job for a work placement company with many different companies and opportunities under its wing.

Educating supervisors and staying realistic
The foursome will now get down to business, they say in unison. In September, the first training day for six supervisors of the Diamond Group will start. They have to learn how the systems work, how to interpret them and how to explain the data to their candidates. These supervisors will provide guidance on the pathways into work and explain the reports. Ligtenberg: "In principle, the candidates don't come to us. But if support is needed, then of course we are all ready to go.

Van der Straten: "Now we can really start experimenting as partners, learning and adjusting where necessary. This is what we will use the forthcoming period for; exploring the limits of what is possible but also determining very realistically what's not possible. But most of all, we're going to work fast to achieve results. Because we expect beautiful things. That's for sure!"