Connexys

About Connexys

Connexys, established in 1999, carved a significant niche in the European recruitment software market before its acquisition by Bullhorn in September 2017. The company was founded in the Netherlands by Gijs van Heijst and his business partner Jan van Goch. Van Heijst, who served as CEO, and van Goch, as Chief Marketing Officer, guided Connexys to become a market leader in the Netherlands and one of the largest Salesforce ISVs in Northern Europe. The founders' extensive experience in the SaaS and recruitment industries was instrumental in the company's growth. Following the acquisition, both founders joined Bullhorn's EMEA leadership team to support the company's European expansion.

The firm specialized in providing cloud-based recruitment software designed to streamline the entire hiring process for corporate HR departments, municipalities, and staffing agencies. Its flagship product was a highly customizable Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and CRM built on the Salesforce Force.com platform. This core offering enabled clients to manage everything from candidate sourcing and matching to talent pool management and collaborative hiring, all within a single integrated system. Key features included a flexible reporting module, social media integration, and a career site builder with responsive designs and SEO capabilities. The business model centered on delivering these scalable and flexible software solutions to a diverse client base that included prominent names like Randstad, Engie, and Brunel. The acquisition by Bullhorn was a strategic move to accelerate Bullhorn's expansion into mainland Europe, leveraging Connexys's established presence in markets like the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Belgium.

As part of Bullhorn, the Connexys technology continues to be supported and developed, marketed as Bullhorn Connexys. This solution remains a key part of Bullhorn's offerings for the European market, particularly for agencies that require the customization and scalability afforded by the Salesforce platform. The system is praised for its ability to create custom workflows, enhance the candidate experience through personalized communication, and provide data-driven insights via analytics and reporting tools. This integration allows clients to build a tailored tech stack, connecting recruitment processes with core functions from contract management to invoicing. The strategic value of the acquisition lay in combining Connexys's robust, Salesforce-native platform with Bullhorn's global resources and extensive recruitment industry expertise.