Camiel Schoonens

Product and Technology enthusiast

Reflection

AI assisted interviewing

·

AI will not replace you, but people who use AI will.

I captured this quote from one of the speakers at our annual ReThink conference in Zürich last week. While it’s short and simple, I believe it holds a lot of truth. AI assistants will increase productivity massively, and because of this, the people who know best how to use such assistance and agents will have a considerable advantage over others.

I recently had a virtual interview with a candidate who captured my audio and passed my questions on to an agent who helped him answer them better. While I was initially amazed and somewhat opinionated, it also made me think positively about the candidate and how future-ready he was by applying new technology as it became available.

·

Het bevalt mij goed om geen onderdeel meer te zijn van één van de grote sociale netwerken. Terug naar de basis, naar je eigen website en je eigen bubbel. Mastodon en RSS helpen daar goed bij door het gebrek aan algoritmes en de noodzaak om zelf te investeren in je online netwerk. Ik volg op Mastodon enkele hashtags die tezamen mijn ‘community’ vormen rondom: #hardlopen, #fotografie en #widm. Andreas, schrijver op 82MHz.net, vat het mooi samen.

” But you don’t have to become a hermit and go offline permanently. Instead, you can use the internet in a way that is more compatible with the way our brains work. Find smaller communities around things you like and interests you have. Are you interested in board games? Retro computers? Knitting? Woodworking? Reading? You can start looking for blogs, online forums, small Mastodon instances etc. that center around the thing you’re interested in. Then follow these blogs, register specifically to those forums or smaller networks, and interact with the people there. It might take a while, but you can find like-minded people on the internet who share your interests and values, and you can build a community around that, engage with the people there and ignore the rest.

🔗 You don’t need to be connected to the whole world door Andreas

https://camiel-backup.schoonens.nl/2025/551/

How I stay productive and go through my tasks

·

I received a text message from a former colleague and friend about how I stay productive and avoid procrastination. This colleague is not the first to notice my strengths in this area and ask for tips, tricks, and book recommendations. So here I go.

First things first, there is no silver bullet to doing things right. Many things that work for me might or might not work for you. Ultimately, you need to design a system that works for you. Staying productive in my work and private life comes down to building habits, being consistent, and optimizing what needs improvement.

[Read more…] about How I stay productive and go through my tasks

Ready for 2024

·

My tiny sabbatical ‘in between jobs’ is almost over. I’m finishing this unique period with a short family holiday break on the island of Lanzarote.

Per 2024, I will start with a US-based Product and Tech company and look forward to the journey ahead. My role will be based in the Netherlands, and similar to my previous role, it involves quite some travel due to working with an international team.

For the next step in my career, I wished to experience what working for a British or US-based company would be about, and I’m happy that it worked out like that. I believe I will benefit from my previous experience working with teams in EMEA, APAC, and LATAM, and I look forward to putting what I have learned into practice in this new environment.

It was an absolute joy to have some time off from work. It gave me time to reflect and to be a good friend, husband, father, and son. I’ve enjoyed the ‘me’ time by visiting some brilliant museums, reading lots of books, running 4-5 times a week, working with my hands, and planning to return to work.

I’m ready for 2024 and feel happy and fortunate to have good mental and physical health. I wish you the same. 🍀

Strategic ambiguity

·

I heard a good reflection on the ambiguity that employees experience regarding the company’s direction/strategy.

As a manager, you are often confronted with employees who say they do not understand the business strategy. Your manager’s default reaction is to clarify the strategy again through a 1:1 explanation or by creating the next version of your strategic PowerPoint, which you then put on the agenda in a team meeting.

Usually, the problem is much simpler.

The employee understands the company’s long-term direction but does not know how they can contribute to it today.

Don’t forget, as a manager, it is often better to focus on the following action(s) for the employee (and yourself) instead of returning to work on the next version of your strategic plan.