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Five years back, a trio from Germany – Cihan Aksakal, Frederik Fahning, and Fritz Trott, wanted to create something new, driven by the idea to improve the working world sustainably through the use of technology. ,

In their pursuit, they built a business to create a working world in which people wake up in the morning and decide freely and self-determinedly when and how often they work. And thus, Zenjob was born. 

A portal that provides temporary work

Based out of Berlin, Zenjob is an online job portal that provides temporary work to side jobbers and employees to companies. The digital staffing service has developed a mobile application to simplify job searching and recruiting services.

Recently, Zenjob announced the expansion of its operation into the Netherlands. This is the very first international expansion for Zenjob, with more countries to follow shortly, says the company. 

In an exclusive interview with Silicon Canals, Bas Geluk, Zenjob’s Country Manager Netherlands, says, “We expanded to the Netherlands because we see huge potential for our product in the Dutch market as we can offer highly flexible jobs to students on a short-term basis and solve companies’ staffing needs fast and conveniently. The rising number of students looking for flex jobs and the rising demand for flex workers in the hospitality, logistics, and retail sectors make the Netherlands an interesting market for us. In the near future, we want to apply the learnings from our expansion to the Dutch market to our expansion across Europe.”

After a successful pilot in Amsterdam, Zenjob is now active in The Hague, Groningen, Haarlem, Leiden, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Tilburg and Utrecht. Zenjob will be available in more Dutch cities in the coming months. 

“Our ambition is to expand to all student cities in the Netherlands by the end of 2021,” says Geluk. In Germany, Zenjob offers its service in 35 cities so far. 

Provides support when needed

With its flexible model, Zenjob aims to help organisations and side jobbers by providing support where it is needed, amid the Corona crisis. 

The company says the Netherlands needs temporary staff in logistics, retail, e-commerce, and delivery. 

“Our ambition is to expand so that all students in the Netherlands can use Zenjob’s platform to find a flexible job that fits their schedules. We also aim to learn from this expansion and take these lessons with us as we expand across Europe,” he tells Silicon Canals. 

Through the app, the company reaches thousands of employees within seconds, enabling companies to react quickly and flexibly to staff fluctuations and absence. 

With Zenjob, companies can book employees on an hourly basis or long-term 24/7 on demand. Each month, more than 22,000 talents are employed in sectors such as logistics, events, retail, and catering, claims the company. 

The Netherlands team

At present, the company employs a team of 8 in the Netherlands, which is supported by more than 250 employees in Germany. 

“We are constantly growing and looking for motivated team members for our Dutch team. We aim to have 15 employees at our Dutch headquarters in Amsterdam by the end of 2021,” Geluk concludes. 

Commenting on the expansion Fritz Trott, CEO, and founder of Zenjob, says, “Working when, where, and how you want – we founded Zenjob over five years ago with the vision of empowering everybody to take full control of their own work life. Entering our first international market is the next step towards that vision. Following the massive response and traction in our home market, we see huge potential across Europe. With that in mind, we closed a funding round last year and I’m hugely excited to announce our expansion into the Netherlands today, despite the ongoing pandemic.”