The CV question
A recruitment agency asked whether a CV could be read, structured and put into their own template automatically. That became the CV Transformer. It worked, and it saved half an hour of manual work per profile.
About Spadework
It all starts with the groundwork.
Everyone wants to do something with AI. Almost nobody starts with the data underneath, and that is where it stalls. Spadework is an old English word for the digging that comes before the harvest. That is what we do: keep your data correct and up to date, so everything you build on top of it actually works.
What Spadework means
spade·work/ˈspeɪd.wɜːk/
noun
- 1.
Literal:digging or turning over ground with a spade.
- 2.
Figurative:the preparatory work that has to be done before you can start on a bigger plan or project.
How it started
It started with a question about one CV.
Not with a category and not with a roadmap. With one agency, one messy CV and one question that turned out to have a much bigger answer underneath it.
What we found underneath
To write a CV back properly you have to look at the database it lands in. That is where we really saw it: thousands of people the agency already knew, sitting in fields that were half empty and years out of date. The gain was never in the CV. It was in everything around it.
What that turned into
Clean data was never the goal, it was the condition. Once the records are current you can see movement in them. Someone updates a profile, a contact switches employer, a company you know starts posting roles. That is what Spadework does today.
Same work, one layer deeper.
What we believe
Three things we keep coming back to.
Not a mission statement. Three choices that decide what we build and what we leave alone, and you can see all three in the product.
Your own database
The best lead is someone you already know.
Cold data is a numbers game. Your own database is a relationship game, and you already won the hard part of it. We never bring in people you have no history with. Everything Spadework shows you was already yours.
You judge
Judgment cannot be automated. Noticing can.
We do not match, we do not score people and we do not decide who you call. We put the movement in front of you with the context to read it, and then we step aside. You know these people. You spot them in time. You decide what happens next.
You set the dial
Software should shorten the boring part, not the human part.
Nothing goes out under your name that you did not switch on. How much an agent does on its own is a setting you choose per agent, not a default we picked for you.
Where we are today
- 150+
- agencies in the BeneluxStaffing, secondment, permanent placement and search.
- 4
- formal ATS partnershipsOTYS, Carerix, Byner and Mysolution. We connect to other systems too.
- 2 weeks
- from kickoff to liveThe connection already exists, so there is nothing to build.
- EU
- built and hostedYour data stays inside Europe. We do not resell it.
The team
The people you get on the phone.
Small enough that you know everyone, large enough that someone always picks up. Research, engineering and support sit in the same building, so your question never disappears into a queue.
Lars Buijtelaar
CEO & co-founder
Lucas Meijer
COO & co-founder
Alfonso Taboada Warmerdam
CTO & co-founder
Lodewijk Loerakker
CPO & co-founder
Jochem van Oorschot
AI/ML Engineer
Maan Scipio
AI Product Engineer
Salomé Wolleswinkel
Head of Marketing
Niels Benninga
Finance & Operations Assistant
Marcel van der Meer
Fractional GTM & Expansion Lead
Michael Versluis
Sales Consultant
Working at Spadework
Small team, big impact.
There is room here to grow fast. You see the result straight away, and everyone around you is up for it. You pick up real responsibility early, so you learn faster than you are used to.
What I love about Spadework is the vibe and how young the team is. Besides working hard at the office, there is a lot of laughter. We genuinely have fun together and often do nice things outside of work as well.
Salomé WolleswinkelHead of MarketingWhat surprised me most is how close the team is, while still working with a high level of professionalism and drive. That combination is quite special, but at Spadework it comes together very naturally.
Maan ScipioProduct EngineerAmsterdam
Open roles
We are growing steadily in engineering, design and sales. If your role is not listed and you think you would add something here, send us a note anyway.