His desire to make things happen has not only brought Frank Hensgens far in his working life. The enthusiastic cyclist, driven by his own muscle energy, has already ridden many stages of the Tour de France, including demanding mountain finishes. The managing director of Indeed Germany tries, as often as possible, to turn a brisk round in the Rhineland even after work, while on weekends he is drawn out to the Bergisches Land or to the edge of the Ruhr area. "The nice side effect is that you get a clear head on the tours and reduce stress," says the 55-year-old.

Marc Heinrich

Sports editor.

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In his profession, digital job placement, the married family man is extensively occupied with the obligations in his company. Indeed has grown into one of the largest portals in the world – and the desire for further expansion drives Hensgens at the headquarters in Düsseldorf as responsible for the offices in Germany, Switzerland and Austria with its 400 employees. Indeed is represented with its offerings in more than 60 countries and available in 28 languages, and the trend is rising. In 2004, the company began offering job seekers free access to job seekers on offer, which it aggregates from company websites and other portals.

According to the latest survey in Germany, the number of users amounted to more than five million per month. According to Hensgens, the initial situation on the domestic labor market is more challenging than ever before due to advancing digitalization and the aftermath of the corona pandemic. At 45 million, Germany currently has the highest number of employees ever determined. But a glaring shortage of skilled workers and the transition of the baby boomers into retirement exacerbated difficulties, which, among other things, necessitated "a net labour migration of at least 400,000 per year in order to keep the number of workers stable". Currently, around two million positions are vacant – Hensgens wants to use this with Indeed.

"Planned happiness" in advertising

"As far as the reach among job seekers is concerned, we are clearly ahead," he says, but at the same time derives from the insight the claim not to let up: "We want more." Right from the start, the priority was to get as many users as possible on the platform, because revenue generators are paid premium ads. Eintracht Frankfurt's sponsorship is also particularly useful for tapping into new customer groups. Since 2017, Indeed has been co-financing the Bundesliga football club, which has since achieved successes on a regular basis, which also radiated to the partner.

"Today, when we push an initiative in global recruiting in India or talk to a global car manufacturer, it helps that the other side sees that we are present on the jersey of a Champions League team. That makes a completely different serve," says Hensgens. In 2018, the Hessians won the DFB Cup, last year they triumphed in the Europa League, and this season they reached the knockout round at their debut in the UEFA premier class. Indeed realized the cooperation with the clear intention of increasing the popularity of its own brand.

Hensgens was Indeed's first employee in Germany in 2013. He quickly realized that the marketing films produced overseas by the parent company "just didn't work for us." Because his motivation from the beginning was "to become number one", he was looking for a concept "to make us very widely known and not just to penetrate individual target groups". Not an easy task. The German market for online job placement is highly competitive. There are hundreds of websites to choose from. Hensgens made the decision to enter the Bundesliga as a sponsor. "Because in Germany, football is the biggest thing and the number one, two and three sport," says the former district class kicker, who was stopped at the age of 35 by cartilage damage in his knee.

The fact that he, whose sympathies had actually been with FC Bayern since a young age due to a Gerd Müller T-shirt given by his father, kept an eye on Eintracht during his bridal show, he justifies with its reputation as a traditional address, the large catchment area and the international component of the city: "Everyone really knows Frankfurt." The commercials with the actress Tina Pfurr from Hesse in the leading role also proved to be a direct hit, which noticeably increased the radiance. The office worker "Ingrid", whose first name sounds similar to Indeed, now has her own fan clubs.