An EVP in a Month: Donja van Laar...

An EVP in a Month: Donja van Laarhoven on Scaling Robin Radar

Leaders in Talent Podcast with Adriaan Kolff por Matchr
E36
6 oct 2026
35:33

Notas del episodio

In this episode of the Leaders in Talent podcast, Adriaan Kolff sits down with Donja van Laarhoven, CHRO at Robin Radar Systems. Donja led HR, recruitment and employer branding at Hunkemöller, founded the employer branding agency Fanployer, and joined one of her own clients, Robin Radar, as CHRO almost two years ago.

Agencies pitched her EVP programs of 100 to 200K and months of research. Donja's view: what your EVP is should already be known inside the company, and you can find it in a month. She shares her four building blocks (the talent persona, the company DNA, the strategy, and the USPs against competitors) and the two workshop questions that do most of the work: what are the top two reasons you work here, and what would you change? A strong EVP attracts the right talent, not all talent.

Then the proof. Robin Radar went from about 125 people to almost 300 by the end of this year, hired 120 people last year from more than 10,000 applicants, and moved from filling 53% of vacancies within three months to 85%, with only two sourcers as outside help. Donja explains how Bright Minds Aim High runs through every touch point from application to probation, how she measures quality of hire and regretted exits, and what changes when the EVP goes to the US.

Timecodes

01:03 Welcome: Donja van Laarhoven, CHRO of Robin Radar

01:35 From Hunkemöller to Fanployer to Robin Radar

04:13 Why a founder went back in-house: a CEO in every HR session

06:21 A love-hate relationship with HR and a seat at the MT

07:55 An EVP in a month instead of a 200K program

11:45 The four building blocks of an EVP

15:36 The two workshop questions that find the company DNA

18:29 Starting with data: the red, yellow and green map

21:04 120 hires, 10,000 applicants and fewer agencies

22:39 Bright Minds Aim High in every touch point, and the US

28:20 Measuring the EVP: quality of hire, regretted exits, AI-polished CVs

32:05 The team, the new office in Delft and TRC on 5 November

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Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/matchr/

Get in touch with us: https://matchr.io/contact

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Connect with Donja van Laarhoven: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donjavanlaarhoven/

Connect with Adriaan Kolff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriaankolff/

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

Robin Radar careers: https://robinradar.recruitee.com/

The Recruitment Conference, 5 November, Amsterdam (Donja is a keynote speaker): https://www.therecruitmentconference.com/

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Palabras clave

talent acquisition
hypergrowth
hr leadership
employee experience
employer branding