Claerhout Izzy

Izzy Claerhout (1988), Social Entrepreneur at De Cronos Groep, profiles themselves as a disruptor of traditional HR models. With a non-linear career path ranging from street sales of Child Focus subscriptions to social entrepreneurship, Claerhout leverages personal experience to dismantle systemic barriers in talent acquisition. In their spare time they founded Open Minded, a networking organisation that grew to more than one hundred active volunteers. It was built on the simple idea that everyone deserves to be seen, heard, and included.

But Claerhout’s flagship contribution is ‘Silhouettes’, a recruitment methodology developed over six years of design thinking. This format replaces the traditional CV—which Claerhout argues often reduces candidates to a binary history of success or failure—with a focus on ‘drivers and turnoffs’. This approach is currently being implemented within the Cronos Group to reduce bias and is being adapted for youth guidance in collaboration with LEJO. Additionally, Claerhout is exploring the intersection of AI and mental health with the ‘Book of Shadows’ project, aimed at bridging the gap between therapy sessions.

As an openly trans and genderfluid professional, Claerhout’s advocacy is deeply personal. They serve as a career coach with Jobs For Humanity, specifically supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. Claerhout frames this ambition as a necessary structural shift: ‘For a long time we believed the digital world was only zeros and ones, until quantum computing revealed new dimensions. Recruitment has been stuck in a similar binary, with candidates reduced to CVs and companies reduced to job ads. I believe it is time to move beyond that and redesign recruitment for equity and inclusion. At its core, my mission is simple. I want to show that empathy and innovation belong together, that technology can serve humanity when it is built with care, and that change begins when we choose to see the person in front of us, not just their résumé.’