The role of employer towards recruiting and promoting young professionals in the GEO information sector

Similar to other public organisations in the Netherlands, the average age of the employees at Netherlands' Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster) has been rising over the past 15 years. In 2010 the average age was 50.6 years and within the GEO department over 50 per cent of the employers was older than 55 years. This situation, combined with the fact that it is difficult to recruit young professionals with a background in the geo information, are a concern for Kadaster. In order to be able to continue current activities, it is important to recruit young professionals and transfer knowledge from older (retiring) employees. In this paper it is explored how a public organisation like Kadaster can anticipate on the aging process and how to attract the young geo-professionals to a company whose profile is not popular. The strategies that Kadaster developed as a reaction on the ageing process and the changing role of surveying and jobs related to GEO information are explained. The paper starts with a description of former and current strategies that Kadaster developed towards the aging process and recruiting. These strategies focus on both the 'outside' as well as the 'inside' of the organisation. On the outside, besides a shift in recruiting processes, Kadaster is also actively enhancing its profile to be an attractive employer.

The paper describes how Kadaster recruited, educated and encouraged young professionals and what lessons can be learned. An initiative is 'Stichting arbeidsmarkt Geo' (SGA), an initiative to get a better balance between supply and demand for professionals in the GEO sector. To make sure new professionals keep finding their way to the GEO Information sector and thus to surveying and other related GEO jobs, Kadaster supports the foundation SGA to promote education in the GEO sector. On the inside, Kadaster has also put a lot of effort to anticipate on the ageing processes. There is attention for the organisational culture, knowledge management and changing working environment. Kadaster supported the establishment of Young Kadaster, where young professionals are connected and can share knowledge and experiences about their careers within the company. Also from an international perspective it is good to share and exchange knowledge among young professionals within a world where open data and sharing data becomes more and more important. Supporting a job exchange program for a Finnish surveyor is a good example.

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