Customer case Cincero IT: Carerix is ‘our Control Tower’

by Mark Bassie (Flexbeheer)

As part of our series of interviews with Carerix users, I spoke to the founder of Almere-based Cincero Groep. I was welcomed with South American hospitality by Ricardo Soto Escamilla, (co-)owner of e.g. Cincero IT, Miss Executive Search and Security by Design. All these organisations use Carerix as a “Control Tower” for the activities they carry out with the numerous innovative partner integrations. Ricardo is a real Carerix fanatic and is ready for the future.

Ricardo Soto Escamilla introduces himself as a family man and businessman, but Ricardo also fulfils another special role as volunteer: he is a guide dog handler at the Stichting Reddingshonden RHWW. Ricardo and his specially trained dog are deployed to look for survivors during disasters.

Outsourcing scarce talent

Cincero IT is a spin-off of a previous company that Ricardo owned for 20 years together with friend. They outsource IT specialists to clients, where they carry out large-scale and long-term assignments for the clients in question. All specialists are employed by Cincero IT and are a very scarce commodity in the labour market. This, for example, includes engineers, technical specialists and architects that work in Linux and Microsoft environments on complex networks and connectivity issues. Customers are normally found in the Telecom, Energy and Financial sectors.

The key to success is to have a good overview and to be committed, says Ricardo: “Together with my immediate colleagues, I try to make work as fun and interesting as possible for our employees, of whom I am very proud. We perform a lot of cool projects. But because they have all been outsourced to clients, you rarely see them in the office. So I regularly pay them a visit to see how things are going from a personal and professional perspective. We often also talk about their future plans and preferences. I am very pleased that out personnel churn rate is a lot lower than elsewhere in the sector.

Cincero IT does this by investing a great deal in its employees. Naturally, this involves offering a wide range of job-related courses and training, but also, for example, developing social skills. And, of course, we also occasionally hold social events at the office, like a barbecue, a round of drinks or a themed event. And sometimes we even travel abroad together. We are very demanding, but also look after them very well.”

New initiatives

In addition, Ricardo recently started a new executive search agency in the same niche market. The agency is called Miss Executive Search. “The name is not yet completely accurate because the aim is to employ a lot of women. But the director, for example, is still a man. Naturally, we are continuously trying to further refine the concept and make it compatible with the target group. Finally, Ricardo recently created yet another spin-off called ‘Security by Design’. The company will focus on things like performing penetration tests, improving ‘Security Awareness’ in organisations as well as ‘Ethical hacking’. The latter form of Security is currently booming.

Ricardo already employs over 40 people. “I want to recruit 1 or 2 new employees every month at Cincero. And due to the scarcity of such specialists in the Netherlands, I also look abroad to see if I can tempt specialists to come here, from Spain for instance.”

Carerix as Control Tower

Ricardo uses Carerix to support all processes. ‘Carerix really has a refreshing look and I think it is very innovative. This can be attributed to the company’s growing partner network. If I identify a new trend, Carerix tends to already have an integrated solution for it. This allows me to perform my activities from a single system. Or as Carerix says: from the ‘Control Tower’.

“In the past, I encountered systems that were somewhat disappointing. No flair, no appeal and too laborious. I always had to call upon a functional and technical administrator when something needed to be changed. I recently decided to outsource our Marketing activities to an external agency in order to professionalize the growth and image of our company. Carerix is a good sparring partner on this front and comes up with ideas about how they can help to achieve successful outcomes.

The future

“The platform barely needs any form of maintenance. Everything is prepared for you and updates are automatic. In addition, it is easy to change things yourself. After all, we run the business and know all the details. But the out-of-the box integrations with other software solutions also make it easier for recruiters to respond to new developments. For example, all the standard integrations make it very easy to post a vacancy and then transfer it to our site. And Carerix also takes care of things like SEO and SEA.

So many other features are also available and I know we will be using them in the near future. For instance, video technology, so candidates can be presented live to clients, or so clients can present themselves to potential candidates. It is very important for Miss Executive Search to offer a good candidate experience when enticing candidates and professionals and binding them our organisation.

Carerix has the instruments needed for this, offers peace of mind and allows me to retain an overview. That is what I expect from a partner.