Maaike Westhuis

Established in 2000 Levy has proven her robustness and sustainability in providing Professional Solutions to organizations ranging from tech start-ups to global players. Located in the UK (2000) and Amsterdam (2003), we have built an international local network of skilled employed professionals and contractors fuelled by our passion for connecting skills with projects.

Over the years we have fulfilled over 1700 requirements and nowadays we consistently have 250+ professionals recruited & relocated from 14 countries. With this Levy Professionals has been providing Consultancy Services for divers projects in IT & FinTech.

Amongst providing consultancy solutions to our clients, Levy is also asked to support their talent acquisition organizations with recruitment challenges in attracting and hiring highly skilled IT specialists. With the launch of our new brand Levy Search we will focus on solving their challenges by executing Search and Selection Services.

With Levy’s unique value proposition ‘international employment for local business markets’ we help many of our clients to fulfil difficult positions by offering access to the international labour markets. Levy Search operates based on data in specific markets where there is a rich potential of active and passive specialists. Our talent approach is unique because we provide a full end to end service including a tailored relocation package

Markets:  Financial Services, Online, Media, Retail, Food, Pharma, Chemical, Energy, Technology, Telecom, MedTech and Travel.

Specialties: Data Engineering & Analytics, Infra, Cloud & Security, Software Development & Testing, Finance, Risk & Compliance, Software Development & Testing, Product & Generics.

Our strength is the way we see and treat people which will be always be a key factor in our strategy for many years to come…multiplying by unity!

1.           How would you describe yourself in 3 words and why?

I would say I am spontaneous, independent, and caring. Spontaneous because I am always in for things. I think being spontaneous also relates to being positive, I am always thinking in solutions. I am independent because I always get my things done, both at work and in my private life. If you give me an assignment, I will just figure it out. The last word is caring. This is because I care a lot about people, and I like to help others. It gives me a lot of satisfaction when I can arrange things for others.  I think it is important to make sure that everyone is on the same positive page. You could say that I am a ‘People person’.

2.           Can you tell me a bit more about your role at Levy?

Of course! I am a corporate recruiter and office manager. It is the best of both worlds. It is a very dynamic, chaotic, and alternating role, I love it. In this role I can work independently, I have a lot of freedom and responsibilities. It consists of recruiting internal roles, hr administration, finance, office supplies, organising internal events, business trips and maintaining a good and positive environment at the office. I love the fact that I am busy with people the whole day and that I have a say in things. I can decide things what can also impact people around me in a positive way. I am an organiser, so organising things gives me energy.

3.           What is your favourite thing in the whole world?

The first thing that came to mind is food. I love it! To be more specific: Mexican food, because of my roots. My favourite dish is enchiladas. I do not often cook Mexican dishes, because it takes a lot of time, and it can be unhealthy. But when I do, I mostly make tacos or burritos.

On a more personal level, I would say it would be happiness. The most important things are that you take care of yourself and do things that make you happy. So, I am making sure that I am happy with my job, that I am successful, I take care of myself (eating healthy, working out). But it is also important that you are good to others as well.

4.           How did you ‘survive’ the corona period?

I lost my job 2 times during the corona period. The corona period was actually a hard time for me. I was not very happy, not especially because of corona but I needed that time to figure out what I wanted. The times that I was alone, I had time to think about my future. During the second lockdown I found this job at Levy, I still feel very lucky about it. During that first period I was unhappy, but when I look back at it, it was a very interesting period for me, and I learned a lot. I did a lot of tests online to figure out what job would fit me and my personality. The result? A job with people. I also got into working out and maintaining a healthy lifestyle helped me during the harder times.

And how I survived, just by not giving up hope. I picked myself up and started to workout. Losing weight and eating healthier. I also did yoga, read a lot. I changed my interest in something that made me happy. I still try to work out every day, even if it is just yoga or some meditation. In my opinion meditation is also a workout, but for your mind. When I run, I run 10 km. It helps me relax.

The books I read are mostly mindset related. For example, ‘Master your mindset’, ‘Redeem yourself’ and ‘Four agreements’. But I also have a big interest in cultures and religion. So, I also read a lot about that.  I find it important to know a lot about religions and what they stand for. That gives me a better understanding of people and life.

5.           What do you love most about Levy?

The reason I chose Levy is because they are giving a lot of trust in their employers. They have a lot of faith in them. I was used to be micromanaged in my previous jobs, and at Levy it (luckily) does not work like that. So, I had to learn how to work more independent and how to deliver.

One of the powers of Levy is they are small and successful. There is a lot of potential to grow and opportunities within the company. As an employer you have a say in what is happening in the upcoming years. I am planning to stay here for a while!

6.           Which hotspot would you say someone should visit in The Netherlands?

• Amsterdam tower, in the north of Amsterdam.
• The Madam, where the high swing is (also in the north of Amsterdam).
• Sky lounge, Hilton. Very nice view!
• Amsterdam city centre.

7.           Funny fact about yourself

A lot of people see me as a girly girl, but I am actually a tomboy. I am one of the guys, most of the time I am in comfy clothing and like to be challenged in outdoor activities. I am a little crazy at times, but I enjoy life at its full potential!

It’s 2021, and there’s a lot happening in the world. It leads to change and change means we have to evolve. After 20 years in business it was time to push the envelope and create a company that maintains sustainable growth whilst still delivering quality to our clients and professionals.

The entire Levy team contributed to this rebranding journey. We feel very proud to work with people that are so dedicated and enthusiastic about their job and to witness everybody jump at the opportunity to participate and co-invent the directions Levy takes for the coming decade.

As a start, we were encouraged to think big and envisage if anything would be possible, what our Levy dream looked like. Our mission from the start has always been to co-create a company that listens, understands and delivers. But is that what we always did and told the outside world? What does and should our DNA look like? What is it that we are known for, what do we lack, what do we want to be more of and where do we want to go?

Levy is all about people: Committed to People, Connected to People, Community for People and we believe in Entrepreneurship, Authenticity, Accountability and being Pro-active.

Over the years we often got confused with being a traditional IT recruitment company when in actual fact we are an employer. We learned what changes to make in order to be recognized as an IT/Fintech/Fin Specialist: we will focus on gaining retention via participation in strategic and high level projects or secondment and extend the employee lifecycle of the professionals with Levy. As an enabler, we have invested in People & Performance Management to create strong relations by hostmanship and performance of our people in projects or assignments.

In order to remain flexible, maintain sustainable growth and work efficiently we upgraded our technology infrastructure / software to become more data driven and used online marketing together with skilled people for a more blended approach for our solutions.

We also learned that by implementing the same methodologies our clients use, Levy becomes more compatible and enables efficient client partnerships. Therefore as of 2021, Levy is 100% Agile structured, growing our performance every day to better delivery to our clients and professionals. We designed work flows that all evolve around our greatest asset ‘people’ and our relationship with them. We are well known for our strong client relationships but we would like to offer more.

As part of the Agile approach we implemented a more modern organizational structure called the “T-shaped Delivery model” that moves away from being a generalist in IT towards being a specialist in IT/Fintech/Fin and ultimately be ahead of the market and its development.

We reinvented our services and will focus on new ones to gain a better balance in the Staffing/Consultancy/Projects mix and added Delivery as a Service to our solutions portfolio. We expanded and professionalized the Levy Academy by adding new learning modules and we made sure all resources are allocated to jobs that fit their talent, ambition and drive.

With a new direction came the desire for new branding. We redesigned the entire Levy brand and created a new logo, style and website. We made interior changes to the office. Nothing has remained untouched.

Heading into a new decade, 2021 shows a more mature Levy that is ready and proud to step outside. That achieves sustainable growth by listening, understanding and delivering to our clients whilst remaining dedicated to professionals all around the world.

All our partners including yourself will benefit from our Agile approach, monitoring our adaptability and the continuous improvement of the way we do our work. You will experience an increased level of satisfaction and growth of the professional knowledge levels within Levy together with a better understanding of the landscape of IT/Fintech/Fin and it’s developments. You will experience a more seasoned company that has grown and continues to grow into an increasingly reliable partner for professional solutions. A company that will continue its journey of development to optimize the delivery of our solutions.

And we are only just beginning. An awesome roadmap is burning in our minds and hearts. We can’t wait to show you what’s next! But first: today, we proudly present the launch of our new brand starting with a new logo and website!

In the year 2000, Levy was set up with the intention to listen to, understand and deliver professionals to clients across the Netherlands and the UK, ranging from Dutch investment banks to global energy providers. Navigating our way through the dotcom crash, we managed to establish ourselves as a reliable partner for sourcing expertise across all areas of IT landscapes.

2003 Saw the arrival of our Dutch branch in Amsterdam to build upon our successful beginnings and to further develop our presence within the Dutch marketplace.  Our UK business diversified into new industries such as Travel and Aviation and our internal teams began to grow.  The global financial crisis that followed several years later and its economic impact was an extremely challenging period in our history but we relied on strong relationships with clients and our professionals to weather the storm and we even helped some clients with restructuring and cost reductions.

In 2014, there was a change of CEO and Matt Murphy took over the reigns from the founder, Lawrence Levy. There followed a subsequent period of growth, further team building and with the help of James Duke, Levy entered into new markets and industries whilst further expanding our teams in the Netherlands and the UK offices.

The arrival of Covid last year has been without doubt challenging for everyone and we have adapted by providing as much flexibility as possible for our internal employees, professionals and clients. We have weathered crisis’ in the past but this time we recognize that diversity and sustainability of our services must be achieved to continue adding value to our clients and professionals alike.

2020 Also marked the arrival of Frank Grootenboer as a Director to lead our Dutch operations and together with the management team, we have embarked upon a strategy of rebranding and further professionalization of our services and internal organization.