The chief executive of Europe’s largest staffing company is talking to ice hockey. “Skating where the pack is, as they say in Canada,” says Landstad’s Thunder van Nordendé. “If work is moving there, we need to make sure we are there.”
Van’T Noordende has led Randstad, one of the world’s largest recruitment and staffing businesses since 2022 after missing out on top job at Accenture. He is currently trying to navigate the labor market amidst the chaos.
Employers face obstacles and find staff in times of low pandemic unemployment. However, the uncertainty associated with political and economic upheavals is that many applicants struggle to find jobs. Artificial intelligence is already set to overturn the demand for human workers, making employment even more difficult. van’t noordende says his company needs to go ahead. “I’m in the business of listening to the market, which is my client… it’s a place where there’s demand and when that happens, it directs our efforts.”
RandStad identifies growth areas in areas such as biotechnology, logistics and healthcare. By focusing on these, we hope that we can better align workers’ supply with what employers need.
However, for now, the game appears to be stagnant. “Let’s say things are a bit stuck,” says Van Nordendde. Employment will be muted. The end rate is low. “The client says, ‘I’m going to sit on the fence for a while.’ (They) are reluctant to invest. quarterly results at the end of April reported that RandStad, unlike its international recruiting peers, had declined 5% year-on-year.
The Dutch point out that Randstad is partly protected by its long history and size in an “sticky” industry where reputations are important and customer relationships tend to continue. Founded in 1960, the Amsterdam listed company had revenues of 24 billion euros in 2024, helping 1.7 million people find jobs.
However, he also emphasizes that the company is pursuing innovative ways to find people’s jobs. Over the past year, RandStad has used AI to review potential recruitment and acquire Torc, a platform aimed at high-tech workers that matches employment. Zorgwerk runs an app that helps healthcare workers find temporary jobs.
These pave the way for van’t noordende, an employment app that employers compare to Uber. Employers will post jobs and workers can view, apply and hire. “You go to the app, you sign up, you get verified…and you’re basically ready to work within the next 24 hours,” he says. “It’s a model that’s not really human intervention. It’s taking care of itself.” Since it was launched in the US last year, the platform has attracted 500,000 users, the company says.
That digital-first refocus is being carried out because recruitment is disrupted by technology, like the industries it serves. Job seekers who use AI to apply roles using unity will find it difficult for Hiler to identify the right person. Platforms like LinkedIn and Freelance Marketplace Upwork have invaded traditional recruiter territory with new capabilities that can sift, attract and manage potential candidates.
Is Greater Automation a sign that all workers need to worry about their work? van’t noordende says he is an “AI optimist.” Work will not disappear and change. “Talent is lacking, and unemployment rates are at low levels in most western countries. The world needs productivity improvements, and AI can help with that.”
He uses industry research examples. “You ask 10 questions, press the button (AI tool) and say, “I’m looking at 150 websites for you.” You will receive a very decent report. That’s amazing. When I was young, I was a consultant. But that means increased productivity, not less workers. “I’m not worried because they’re the number of people working, so they’re probably still about the same.”
Will AI agents appear on the staff of Randstad’s book? “It may be in a slightly distant future.” However, the company is currently stuck in its core business. “Service and technology “doesn’t work,” he says, because “services are about people, and technology is about developing and selling what it is.”
van’t noordende spent more than 30 years at professional services company Accenture. He began working there as a consultant, serving as Andersen Consulting, as CEO positions in Resources, Management Consulting and Products, leaving only after missing out on the role of Julie Sweet’s group CEO in 2019.
“I realized that the only job I still wanted was in a situation I wasn’t going to get,” he says. After leaving, he traveled with his husband. He sat on a board containing Randstad, and when the CEO position appeared, “I did an interview, and I got a job,” he says in a distinctively simple way.
He eagerly explains how recruitment overlaps with traditional consulting. RANDSTAD’s services include providing clients with cybersecurity management and consulting on HR issues, for example, to help businesses manage redundancy.
Van Nordendde has a home in Miami, but spends a lot of his time in the Netherlands, where Landstad is headquartered. He is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. This probably reflects not only the distance from the more enthusiastic atmosphere of the American culture war, but also his personal experiences.
The CEO described it as “one of the best decisions I’ve ever made” as a gay person in the workplace and is sitting on the board of Out and Equal, a global organization of workplace LGBT+ representatives. His LinkedIn Biography focuses on “a special passion for advocating for workplace equity, with a focus on supporting the LGBTQI+ community.”
“If you want to recruit the right people, you need to recruit everyone. You can find them from the largest pool,” he says. Even Trump’s threat to European companies’ DEI policies has not reduced the agreement that employment success is diverse, he added. “The whole situation is calm.”
But flip-floping about Trump’s tariffs has brought new uncertainty. van’t noordende says the client “manages short-term options but hasn’t attracted triggers in the long term yet.”
He acknowledges that there are limits to how much staffing companies can have on the labour market. “To change that, we need an economy that is a little more prosperous than it is today,” he says. “Clients can’t do anything forever.”
