By shifting from ad hoc recruitment campaigns to an always-on employer branding approach with VONQ, Albert Heijn reduced Cost per Hire by 50% in 18 months, improved campaign effectiveness and gained the flexibility to respond faster to changing recruitment needs across target groups and locations.
As the largest commercial employer in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn fills around 40,000 vacancies every year. Approximately 98% of these are operational roles across stores, logistics and e-Commerce.
Recruitment needs can change quickly. Customer demand fluctuates, business units grow, seasonal peaks create additional pressure and some locations need more employees than others.
Previously, recruitment marketing was largely reactive. Business teams often turned to recruitment marketing only after other hiring efforts had failed to deliver enough candidates. By then, vacancies were already urgent and campaigns needed to generate results immediately, often without enough time to develop content, test approaches or optimize performance.
Albert Heijn needed to move from reacting to urgent hiring gaps to a more proactive strategy that could maintain employer visibility, anticipate demand and respond quickly when recruitment priorities changed.
Together with VONQ, Albert Heijn moved from isolated, ad hoc campaigns to a structured recruitment marketing strategy built around continuous employer visibility, hiring forecasts and ongoing optimization.
An always on campaign at brand level keeps Albert Heijn visible as an employer throughout the year, while targeted campaigns focus on specific roles, audiences, locations and seasonal hiring needs. This means employer awareness is already being built and campaigns can be activated quickly when demand increases.
Campaign planning is based on forecasts that consider hiring volumes, customer demand, business growth, locations and labor market opportunities. Performance data such as CPC, CPA, applications and hires helps VONQ and Albert Heijn determine the investment needed to achieve recruitment goals.
At the same time, the strategy remains flexible, allowing campaigns to adapt as business needs, locations or target groups change.
A continuous employer branding presence keeps Albert Heijn top of mind with potential candidates throughout the year, creating awareness before recruitment needs become urgent.
Hiring forecasts and campaign data help Albert Heijn and VONQ understand where candidates are needed, what investment is required and which channels deliver the strongest results.
Targeted campaigns can be adapted to changing demand across roles, audiences, seasons and locations, allowing Albert Heijn to respond quickly while maintaining the benefits of a long-term strategy.
Within 18 months, Albert Heijn reduced its Cost per Hire by 50%.
The improvement comes from connecting always-on employer branding with targeted recruitment campaigns rather than treating each campaign as an isolated activity.
The different layers reinforce each other: continuous employer visibility builds awareness, while targeted campaigns convert that awareness into applications and hires. Combined with better forecasting and continuous optimization, Albert Heijn can generate stronger recruitment results without simply increasing campaign spend.
The approach has also made recruitment marketing more proactive and measurable. Albert Heijn and VONQ can track performance through applications and hires, continuously optimize campaigns and give business stakeholders greater clarity on the investment required to achieve their hiring goals.
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