A good security contractor is often booked elsewhere within a few days. If your hiring request is sharp before it goes out, you get better candidates and lose fewer of them along the way. Below is what I think needs to be in place before you send out a request to hire a security contractor.
Why preparing your hiring request makes the difference
At a Dutch grid operator looking for a security architect, the deadline for putting candidates forward was one day after my first conversation with the candidate. In that situation I want the CV on the manager's desk the same day. If you only come back with a shortlist after a week, you are out of the running.
You only reach that pace if the client knows what they are looking for. I think most of the delay in hiring a contractor happens before the request goes out. Requirements, budget and who signs off are still being discussed internally, while the candidates you want are already interviewing somewhere else.
The security contractor hiring checklist
1. Write down what must be finished in three months
"Security architect, 36 hours" tells a candidate very little. Describe in one or two sentences which problem will be solved when the assignment ends. For example: a target architecture for segmenting the office network, approved by the architecture board. A contractor can then judge whether they have done this before. And you can hold every CV up against that sentence.
2. Keep the hard requirements few
Separate what you truly cannot do without from what would be nice to have. I think three or four hard requirements is enough. Every extra requirement takes people out of the market who could do the work perfectly well. Only make a certification a hard requirement when it is mandatory, for example because a public tender asks for it. How a Dutch government request works is covered in hiring security contractors for the Dutch government.
3. Fix the practical terms
Start date, expected duration, hours per week and the number of days on site. They look like details, but for a candidate they decide whether to respond at all. Also state whether an extension is possible and whether part of the work can be done remotely. A request without these points mostly sends questions back, and every question costs time.
4. Settle the rate budget internally
Know in advance what budget is available and who decides on it. If a higher rate still has to go past procurement or the controller after the intake, you lose days. In a tender with a maximum rate, the room is fixed. Outside a tender there is often more flexibility, provided someone has cleared that room in advance.
5. Book the interviews now
Block two or three slots in the hiring manager's diary for the week after the request goes out. Agree who does the second interview and whether a technical check is needed. A candidate who waits three days for a reply runs the risk of saying yes in the meantime to an assignment that became concrete sooner. For the content of the interview, the interview questions for a TPRM specialist are a useful example.
6. Run the screening in parallel
If you ask for a Dutch Certificate of Conduct (VOG), build in the lead time. Justis, the agency that issues it, states a processing time of 1 to 4 weeks, and up to 8 weeks in some cases. For a self-employed contractor, the client usually decides the application route and sets up the digital application. The contractor applies for a new VOG for every new assignment, even if they had one last year.
My advice: set up the VOG application as soon as you choose a candidate, and arrange accounts, laptop and access pass at the same time. A specialist who spends the first week waiting for an account costs you money and delivers nothing yet.
7. Choose the contract type before you start searching
Freelance or secondment is a choice you are better off making up front. The Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) has fully enforced the rules on false self-employment again since 1 January 2025. Organisations that hire self-employed contractors for work that in practice is not done independently can face an additional tax assessment after an inspection, with retroactive effect back to 1 January 2025. For the first year a transition period applied without a culpability fine, provided you could show you were taking steps. The Belastingdienst no longer approves new model agreements.
My reading for security work: a specialist who delivers a clearly scoped project fits a freelance arrangement well. Someone who structurally fills a permanent seat in your team, managed the same way as your own staff, is more likely a candidate for secondment or a permanent job. Put that question to your HR or legal team before the request goes out. I am not a lawyer, and converting afterwards is always harder than choosing up front.
One page is enough
With these seven points on paper, an agency or your own recruiter can start a targeted search the same day. I value a one-page request covering these points more than a five-page job description that mostly lists what the organisation does. The candidate wants to know what they are there to solve, when, on what terms and how quickly a decision will be made.
Once the request is ready, check one more thing: can the hiring manager meet a candidate this week? If not, sort that out first.
Help with your hiring request
Through MVPeople we provide freelance and interim security specialists from our network of 7,000+ professionals, and we present the first candidate within 4 hours. Is your request ready, or do you want to sharpen it first? Call or email me and we will go through the points together before you send it out.
