Commercial roles belong to the vacancies that are hardest to fill, in the Netherlands and worldwide. Good account managers and business developers rarely apply, so waiting for applications costs months. Anyone who wants an account manager to start early next year starts the conversations now.
What Dutch employers say
UWV regularly asks Dutch employers which vacancies they struggle to fill. In its most recent employer survey, employers again called a large share of their vacancies hard to fill. Asked which roles were the hardest, they named commercial occupations alongside technical, healthcare and administrative roles: sales staff, insurance advisers, underwriters and buyers.
The same picture worldwide
ManpowerGroup surveys employers in many countries, the Netherlands included. Most report difficulty finding staff. Sales and marketing appear among the skills employers find hardest to hire, next to AI skills and engineering. At home, CBS figures show a labour market that has cooled since 2022 but remains tight.
Why commercial talent is scarce
Good account managers and business developers rarely apply. They carry a client portfolio, a live pipeline and often variable pay they do not want to lose in a move. Those who do move have a notice period to work out first. A job ad mostly reaches people who are already looking, and in sales that is a small group.
The people you want are usually doing well where they are. They will listen to a concrete offer. They will not go looking for one.
Variable pay makes the comparison harder still. A candidate weighs a bonus they know they will earn against one that is only promised. Employers who explain upfront how commission is calculated, and what top performers on the team actually earn, take that doubt away before it stalls the process.
What this does not show
These surveys record what employers report: which roles feel hard to fill. They do not measure how long a commercial vacancy actually stays open, and "commercial" covers very different work, from field sales to procurement. The global survey mixes countries with very different labour markets. If Dutch vacancy data started to show commercial roles filling faster than average, this reading would weaken.
What employers who hire quickly do differently
- They start early: a start in January or February means interviews in October and November.
- They are specific about base salary, variable pay and targets from the first conversation.
- They keep the process short, with few rounds and feedback within days.
- They approach people who perform well at another employer today, instead of waiting for applications.