Successful Matching in a Tight Labour Market

Our Beam Talk with labour market expert Jan Denys on 27 October 2026 explored the changing staffing landscape and what it means for interim management and project sourcing. 

The occasion was the book he edited, Successful Matching in a Tight Labour Market (available in Dutch and French), bringing together research and expertise from across the labour market.

Prefer to watch? You’ll find a short excerpt from Jan’s talk at the end of this article.

A changing staffing landscape

Recruitment firms, staffing agencies, interim management providers, platforms and job boards form an expanding intermediary ecosystem. These players also connect with one another: finding a job can involve several of them.

Within that ecosystem, expectations are changing too. The outlook on staffing drew on Federgon’s foresight exercise, guided by Jo Caudron (Scopernia). It highlighted the shift towards flexible expertise, emerging specialisations and the growing importance of data and labour market insights.

A shift towards flexible expertise

Until quite recently, organisations typically started with a function or profession they wanted to bring in. 

Increasingly, they are taking a broader approach: looking for flexible expertise and solutions to problems.

But finding a solution assumes that the question is clear. 

Helping organisations formulate the questions

Organisations face accumulating demands. Productivity, quality, flexibility, innovation and sustainability remain essential, while workability, transparency and digital security add further demands. New demands do not replace the earlier ones; they add to them.

As organisations become more complex, they are not always fully aware of the questions they need to ask. Providers therefore increasingly help formulate those questions, alongside providing answers.

Part of the market now will be that you don’t only provide the answers but you also try to formulate the questions. – Jan Denys

“We need someone who can…” A familiar starting point for an assignment. But what is driving that need? Will bringing in the requested expertise lead to a lasting solution, or will it mainly treat the symptoms?

Positioning yourself as a strategic partner means exploring those underlying causes, including how organisations and work are designed.

For interim management and project sourcing, this can create opportunities to support organisations with workforce planning, redesigning work and managing transitions.

Investing in expertise

Taking on this broader role requires expertise. That expertise may not always be available, so providers will need to invest in developing it.

Building specialist niches and expert pools is part of that response, and a significant challenge. AI, cybersecurity, ESG, energy and defence were highlighted as growing areas with market opportunities.

Using data to look ahead

Alongside expertise, data and labour market insights will become more central than ever. Their practical value lies in helping organisations look ahead: developing scenarios, anticipating skills needs and offering concrete advice.

Watch the excerpt from Jan’s Beam Talk.

When an organisation asks for a particular profile, how clear is the question behind that request?

Understanding that question may mean looking beyond the symptoms. We explore that idea further in a separate article.

Based on the Beam Talk “Successful Matching in a Shifting Labour Market” with Jan Denys, 27 October 2026. The session included insights from Federgon’s foresight exercise conducted under the guidance of Jo Caudron (Scopernia).