I have a PhD in computer science and was the HR manager at Telekom MMS for almost eight years. I was extremely happy with my employer and my achievements. It was an ideal place to learn. Although my studies gave me little knowledge of HR management, I had a great management team that taught me everything through practical implementation.

One of my main tasks was to expand the company from 300 to over 1000 employees with many new locations in Germany. This meant hiring over 100 net more employees every year. The management supported me with a decent marketing budget. In addition to the many hires, there were also many rejections. I was constantly faced with the challenge of turning down good applicants. In 2008, managing directors and HR managers of companies in the region that had between 10 and 500 employees asked me to forward my rejections to them. They told me that they had already hired some candidates that I and my team had previously rejected for various reasons. At first I was skeptical because I couldn't imagine that we would turn down qualified applicants. However, after a few conversations with my recruiters, it quickly became clear to me that there are many reasons for rejections that are not always objective: starting with seniority for the desired salary, through special working conditions to simple questions about sympathy, which ultimately represent a cultural fit.

Although I was absolutely willing to help our partner companies and support them in building up their workforce - after all, we received resources from them for our big projects - I wondered whether our big company could also benefit from the recommendations of the smaller ones. I quickly realized that we could also benefit from this collaboration. Despite extensive advertising in cinemas, buses and trains, we did not reach all potential applicants. Many found their employers through personal networks that I could not tap into on my own. The smaller companies had some interesting candidates through their personal networks, who they in turn rejected and whom I searched for in vain with headhunters. This is a win-win for both sides: small and large players. So it was important to me to build a large network with many small and large players.

When five companies had the same idea, we sat down together and found a conceptual, technical and financial solution. That was the moment when the idea for ITsax.de was born and the foundation was laid for the later founding of pludoni GmbH and the Empfehlungsbund. Together we developed a concept that recommends specialists in a data protection-compliant and efficient manner, thus creating a bridge between companies and talent. We digitized the mutual recommendation and thus made it easily accessible to all interested companies without generating great effort.

Today, the referral network connects hundreds of organizations and creates synergies every day that benefit everyone involved. Smaller companies can also reach big players like us with their individual networks, creating a truly inclusive ecosystem that benefits everyone - regardless of company size.