Jan Dobbenie, CIO at VDAB is nominated for the European Digital Leader of the Year Awards! Register here: https://www.cionext.com/14 to meet Jan and other finalists at #CIONEXT on 26th October, where the winners in the Finance & Government categories will be announced!

How did VDAB navigate the major transformation, where it shifted from helping 200 000 unemployed find a new job to serving 4 million citizens of Flanders with advice on their career paths? Is it possible to apply zero-based budgeting in the public sector?

In this #LeadershipDeepDive episode, Hendrik Deckers talks with Jan Dobbenie, CIO at VDAB about the use of AI in matching the right candidate with the right employer in the sector where segmentation is, in fact, individual. Jan explains what the First Class Strategy at VDAB is and how their technology will evolve in the future to predict changes on the job market long before they actually occur.

Watch the full interview to find out more and check why Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of “Star Trek’s” USS Enterprise can be an inspiration for successful digital leaders!

Table of contents:

01:00 | Introduction

01:08 | Jan’s background

06:45 | About VDAB

07:54 | Transformation at VDAB: VIBE Program

11:25 | Artificial intelligence at VDAB

12:23 | About the “Job Reach” engine

16:10 | Next steps: predictive employment models

18:57 |Inclusive talent management

23:08 | IT Department at VDAB

23:44 | Results of the new programs

26:57 | Measuring results

28:08 | The First Class strategy

30:05 | Data strategy

37:30 | VDAB & CIONET Tribes

38:57 | The role of the CIO

42:37 | Management style

44:12 | Leadership style

48:14 | Motivation

51:08 |Most brilliant failure

53:45 | MBTI - strengths

59:48 | MBTI - weaknesses

1:00:03 | Bad things in life

1:01:58 | Personal gift

1:03:25 | Advice to future digital leaders