Your Happy Hour - Know who you are beyond what you do

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

In this episode, we chat to Christiaan van den Berg whose entrepreneurial and inspiring journey included noticing a huge gap between job seekers and employers in South Africa and finally building the platform, JobJack which seeks to bridge the gap and has helped over 60,000 people find aligned jobs and build fulfilling careers and lives. He also shared with us the importance of understanding one’s unique strengths through the use of psychometric assessments, what purpose in his path has looked like and the joy of living authentically, ultimately empowering a more fulfilling and productive work-rest balance in life.The Feels is all about having those honest conversations, the power of community for personal growth and taking those actionable steps towards being our authentic selves.Thanks for tuning in! Keep it raw and real out there xYHH is produced by swartkat.co - captured via riverside.fm & shared via rss.com.

It's the Friday feels and we're back with your first sip of the weekend. You're now tuned in to this week's episode of your happy hour. I'm your host Nicole Carmine and it's amazing to have you here. Joining me this week as we uncover the truths about being a human and a working professional. What are you up to this Friday? Well, whatever it is, this moment is just for you. And we're back with another episode. This is still the theme, our human hardware,

and you are now in the field space with our series called Your Happy Hour. And today I'm so happy to have another guest join us on the podcast. A really, really big welcome to you, Christian. It's always great to have another South African and hear the accent. A big welcome to the field space. the Fields podcast and to your happy hour. Amazing. Thanks so much, Nicole. I really appreciate you having me and I already feel good. I really feel happy. So thanks so much.

Oh, good. Good. Good. It must be the intro music. So I wanted to start off by saying that I'm so grateful for our mutual friend, Vincent, for putting us in touch. He's really introduced so many wonderful people to me in my journey. and it's so random that we made also here in Paris. And I got sent to a bio and you have an incredible journey that you've walked already and I know you're going to tell us a little bit about that. But I first just want to start by saying, in the spirit of human hardware, which is our bodies,

in the spirit of us feeling happy, we have to talk about the big thing in the room, your wedding video. It's the most wonderful experience, and it just made me so happy. So please tell me a little bit about that before we even dive into anything else. Yeah, so that's one of those things where you ask forgiveness as opposed to permission, because I think sometimes it just takes some blind courage to, yeah, just take on a dream. And if I say dream, I mean embarrassing all your best friends on the internet.

that was really just fun. I think, you know, it's something you do, you know, once in your life. And if it's something that's going to bring a lot of people joy on the day and hopefully, you know, afterwards as well, then I think, you know, something like that's worth it. Life is too short not to have fun and try some bold moves and make an idiot out of yourself a little bit. And it's a little embarrassing because, you know, obviously, you know, during your professional walk, you try and remain professional up until the point where you're pretty comfortable with someone and I've walked into some big board meetings and people are like oh you the guy that that moves your body

like that and I'm like mm would have been a bit better if we if we started the meeting in a bit more of a professional manner but sure at least now the ice is broken oh man no I love it and this is the space to be celebrating being human being able to move your body and I yeah as a avid dance in myself I and just really appreciate that. And I kept thinking, how am I going to have this conversation and not be, you know, joyful and laughing, thinking about that. So you already is such a big influencer in that way, but you've been doing such amazing things as an entrepreneur and human.

And I'd love for you to just tell us a little bit about your journey. How did you become who you are today? I mean, I know you are the CEO of Job Jack. So just tell us a little bit about that. Cool, yeah. So I think, it's always difficult to, you know, to try and summarize a. a journey up until where one is presently. But I think really, you know, the premise of who I am

is my faith. And so I think growing up kind of knowing that we on earth to fulfill a God-given mandate always helps put things into perspective. And so I was raised in a way where, you know, the viewpoint of life is not what can I take, but rather what can I give. And so I owe a massive gratitude to my parents

for raising us in that manner. And, you know, during the journey, so I took the accounting route, so became a CA probably for lack of knowing what else to do. But I think, you know, it's a blessing in the sense of understanding business in a way that not all people, you know,

have the privilege of doing, and I know I grew up in a very privileged manner. And, you know, during my upbringing, you know, my dad was pretty, let's call it opportunistic in having us not receive everything just with open hands

but rather working for it and I think that that was really the start of me knowing cool if you want something you need to go work for it and generally you need to think of where's a solution to a specific problem and how can I what can I do to actually

you know bridge that gap and so you know grew up testing a bunch of little little ideas from a sweet shop, you know, a sweetie shop in our neighborhood when we were eight years old to making clothes for all the residences in our university, to, you know, just make ends meet or at least, you know, take my, take my girlfriend out for some dinner, to even, you know, then later, really seeing shucks, there's this massive gap in, in people that are looking for work and employers that are trying to find the right talent.

And there's a lot of focus on more professional top line talent and bridging that gap, but not a lot for the people that needed most. And so it really stuck with me when I, as an article clerk, got a job pretty easily off the varsity, but a lot of my friends didn't. Friends that were in varsity and friends that weren't. And so it just dawned on me. Shucks, there's a massive gap, and not just in South Africa that has the world's highest unemployment rate, but across various industries.

across various markets, first world and third world, in people that are looking for jobs that don't necessarily require tertiary education. And, you know, obviously those companies looking for the right hires because you'd think there's this oversupply of talent. And so, you know, they can just pick and choose who they want. But at the end of the day, if they end up hiring the wrong person, because they don't have visibility as to who they're hiring and why they should hire for that, then it's probably someone that's going to leave in three or six months anyway. And so you, you know, really disadvantage in both parties in, you know, in the months to come then because they've spent a lot of time not building up careers on both sides. And so the premise really was, wow, how can we, how can we bridge that gap?

And so I'm, I believe I'm just, just smart enough to convince much smarter people than me to join me in some in some cool adventures, some business, some physical and some relational. and then kind of the rest is just a really cool fun rollercoaster ride till you kind of think you made it and then you realize you actually haven't made it at all but yeah that that's basically where job check was born so it was this premise of saying okay cool there's a massive oversupply of job seekers in our country that don't have access to work and there's a lot of employers that haven't figured out how to find the right person

And so how can we digitize that whole process through automation and then also through indicating which people are the right hire? So we've developed psychometric assessments specifically for that market to indicate who's going to be a better job fit for who because at the end of the day, that reduces staff turnover. It increases longevity, it increases productivity, sales. So everyone wins because businesses are now hiring the right people. And so they're making more money and losing people in a much less frequent manner. also less disciplinaries, et cetera, et cetera.

But more importantly, these job seekers are actually building careers that are, you know, helping them with a long-term income, which the majority of South Africans have about four dependents. It's really helping a lot of people. And, you know, we're super blessed to, I think at this point, have helped over 60,000 people, you know, get into opportunities. And we service quite a wide variety of companies across South Africa with the aim of moving up into different markets in the coming years, but still learning a lot and still seeing a lot

of suffering, so our job is by no means done yet. Wow, that's really a journey. I mean, yeah, it's really like a human journey in that you're working with humans on both sides, you know, and every single day. And I find it interesting, you know, at the start of this theme, we had Omar on as a guest, and he was also talking about psychometric testing. and I feel like this is just a theme that's kind of coming up around this topic, and it wasn't intentional.

But it seems really on point because I think a lot of people really don't know what they want to do with their lives, you know. And so I feel like a big pool of the people who are seeking jobs on maybe not aligning necessarily to exactly what are their skills and talents and our innate strengths. And, you know, equally on the other side, maybe people, the jobs aren't created for that yet. you know, maybe that's still their job to create that as an entrepreneur in the world too. So what are you seeing are people kind of struggling with as a seeker in their journey of being

human? Like, I hope that's question makes sense, you know, as the people you're dealing with on both sides. 100% right. So, look, we obviously, we work with numbers. And so, like, if you're talking human hardware, you know, we built a software company that, you know, has over 6 million users and you're seeing like it's a lot of human. human capital, human, you know, software, human hardware, you've got an internal team. And, and I think exactly that, right.

We got to a point where we were like, okay, cool, we can build the coolest thing. We can hire the smartest people. But if we're not actually helping people determine who one they should surround themselves with, so employer, who they should need, you know, hire, but then also the job seeker, where they need to be going, then you're just actually making a really fun noise, right? for everyone that grabs a lot of attention. And so it was this interesting journey on saying, okay, well, if that's the real value, like, how do we do this?

And I think it's pretty cool if we talk about human hardware, you immediately think, oh, okay, oh, there's a lot of, like, they need to go a lot of thinking and smarts into it. But I think this is one of those cool examples where human hardware can be as simple as just, you know, being naive and young, dumb, and naive enough to believe that something's possible and that's something, if it could add value, why don't we just do it? Because when we started venturing into the psychometric side of things,

because your industrial psychology research indicates that it really is a battery of psychometric assessments, really is a much higher indicator, closer to 70 plus percent, of someone's propensity to perform in a role, as opposed to looking at interviews, going through an interview, looking at previous references, looking at previous job experience, which only give you about a 50 percent indicator. So it's a flip of a coin, right, for both parties. And so a lot of people told us, no, you can't create assessments for this market because

the only assessments that existed back then, Brut's just like four, four or five years ago, were either Americanized, Europeanized, so not built for the South African market, but also not built for the, you know, for the entry level market at all. And, you know, they said it's going to cost us, you know, millions, if not, you know, tens or hundreds of millions. It's going to take us, you know, five plus years. and we just said, well, we believe this is the right thing to do, and let's do it. And within three months, we developed assessments for this market just because of the pure

scale that we, that we were exposed to from a job seeker perspective. And so, you know, obviously then you have to tick all your HBCSA boxes and all those, you know, unbiased practices. But it was the coolest thing to then see it, you know, you know, actually come into action. Because one, now these job seekers are like, oh, wow, this is actually, you know, kind of where my profile, you know, tends to lean towards. And we still have a lot of work that we want to do in that space from a training and and equipping, you know, in a better way perspective, even at school level.

But on the employer side, you really then starting to look at, wow, what does human hardware look like, you know, in a business perspective? Because now you can, I mean, you can imagine, right, how would a, let's trying to make a universal, how would a McDonald's store manager know which, you know, which, you can imagine, I mean, you can imagine, you know, front of house person to hire. They're going to have an interview and they may be going to look at, you know, what language someone speaks and what previous experience did they have. That's it. As a person, okay, cool, this person needs to have a propensity to perform under pressure. They need to, you know, be orderly if they want to, and follow processes if they want to, you know, be back of house. If they want to be front of house, they need to not be shy, right? So you're combining a bunch of these social desirability or, you're or let's rather call it conscientiousness elements as well as workplace detractors to really start steering people into not just building a business in a more effective way, but knowing themselves better as well.

And I think that's the beauty and that was a kind of a surprising twist in our journey in really kind of digging into human hardware as a concept. Yeah, it's always fascinating. I think we think of ourselves as humans like, you know, this vessel blobs, like I always say. And then like there's so much in there and there's so much involved in our journeys. And it always is some kind of like emotional, psychological, you know, psychometrical part to it because that's such a big part of who we are, which is why this is called the Fields. And we're talking about this.

So, and for you, like, I mean, how did you kind of, I mean, you said that you were journeying into entrepreneurship. But did you have this, like, nudge? Did you feel like this is my purpose as a human? This is how I want to use my body in the world? You're asking me in a time of my life where there's a bit of a shift in just how I view my role and how I operate. I think what's always been in a neigh to what I want to do is I want to serve people. I remember during my articles, it sucked. I really didn't like just sitting behind a desk and doing the same thing over and over again, although I did learn a lot.

But I remember I kept telling myself, if all this is just, so that one person, you know, has a better life. If I can just impact one person's life, it's probably going to be worth it. Just because I think, like, there's no greater reward than knowing that, you know, you gifting someone with the same joy that you have. And so that's a bit of a, let's say, cheesy kind of outlook or explanation to a life outlook. And still to a large degree it is.

So that kind of like was the premise as to like, cool, whatever I'm going to do, it needs to be serving people. I think I've found my gifting to be one that starts movements or businesses, whatever you want to call it, and enables people. I think for quite a while, you know, your conventional wisdom or advice rather in building, you know, these big companies is, you know, you need to zone in and focus completely. But they forget to allude to the fact that each person is also widely, wide differently. And so you have people that start something and then need to hand it over, you know, sooner rather than later, but to equip themselves in being able to do that. And then you have people that need to come into an already existing element and run with it, manage it,

you know, kind of precisely. And I think that the better you know yourself and where you call to be, the more you can operate in your strengths. And I think if you can let pride go, then you're just flourishing and I think that's that's kind of where I am in in life is just to say okay cool well um you know if if I can just surround myself with people that that fill those gaps um and operate in their core strengths then oh my pride you know is is something that that I can just you know push to the side and and gift them um with you know with running running the race stronger than than I could um there's the saying that I love and I'm still trying to find the original quota, but for now I'm just, I'll just say I'm paraphrasing something that exists

somewhere, but you can change the world if you don't mind who decks credit. And I think that's something that is easily said, but not always easily done. But if you can really, you know, push someone into a position where, cool, you in the background, it's not about you anymore. Like, you can see them run and run faster and better than you could. I think that's so much more rewarding than trying to like take on everything yourself and trying to over exert your own human hardware because that's not how you were wired. Yeah. Well, I feel like that reasonate so much with me where I am in my journey to kind of building a team and you know it's easy to kind of hold on to the baby that you started. You know, it's like I guess it's a bit what a parent feels with a child. I don't know yet,

but you, I know our father too. So you kind of, it's like Khalil Gibran in his book, the prophet says, about children, they come through you, but they belong not to you. And maybe it's the same kind of thing with projects, you know. And yeah, I think it's really beautiful when we can empower the world and connect people to jobs that empower them as individuals, like exactly like you mentioned, you know. But it's not an easy thing to do as a human. I think it depends on your personality time.

But again, it comes back to that. You know, who are you as a human? What are your strengths? What are your innate talents? and perhaps it is about letting that go and then creating the next thing. You know, I watched my dad as an entrepreneur, sometimes walk away from businesses, you know, give it away to the co-founder and go go do something else. And at the time I didn't quite realize like, I was like, oh, okay, he's doing something else.

You know, you're a kid. And now I'm like, wow, you walked away. Oh my gosh, it's so hard. So, yeah, it's an interesting place to be in. And have you found that you've had people? kind of mentor you along your way that's really helped you to this place. Oh 100% like a sure there's a scripture that says there's wisdom in the council of many so I really try and get counsel from many and there's been some incredible mentors along the road right from my my father and

mother my dad's an entrepreneur my mom's a psychologist so like there's some good advice in there um to I mean we we are a group of of friends you know we chatted about this just just before before we went live from from time of varsity so this is what 14 15 years ago you know decided we going to journey together and meet once a week every week and we've got people living all across the world now from that group of of eight people and and it's been the coolest thing to see yes we all the same age but we we vary in stages of life and how we can you know advise and encourage and keep accountable one another as we venture through our different seasons so i definitely say that those those seven seven guys have been part of my greatest mentors, but then also some incredible business mentors that,

you know, from a selfless place, really give their time and advice to just hopefully help you to not make your own mistakes, but for learn from their mistakes. And I think, I think something that's that's stuck with me with me the most, one of, you know, one of the things that stuck with me the most is, is this advice and just alluding to you kind of our previous point now is if you can move to life without having your identity being, what you do. If you can move from a place of you know who you are and what your identity is, regardless of what you do, then it's so freeing in being able to start something handed over or take something or fail or win. Because, you know, during the ups and downs, which they

inevitably are in life, it's not going to rock you. Right. And that doesn't mitigate the loss or the sadness or the emotions of the ups and downs, but it just puts you in a state of let's call it antifragileism. It's not a word. But I think that really helped me just cement my, let's call it, fluidity in being able to take on life. Again, apologies for probably my overuse of scripture, but it's part of my hardware. But there's this verse that says, you know, I've seen riches, I've seen poverty. I've been free.

I've been a slave, but I count it all joy. And it's like if you can try and get to that easier said than done, your then life is actually a joy, eh? Then for the people that don't know what a joy is, it just means a feast. My saying of this year, a verse of this year is one that says if those who are of a cheerful heart have a continual feast. And that's cool. I think if we can spread that love and joy, then life's worth it. I 100% agree. And I feel like also, you know, talking about purpose and jobs and things,

it's something I've realized for myself recently too is I'm really just here to share the light, you know, whatever that looks like and share joy. And yeah, sometimes that comes with hard times. But if you can understand that the hard times bring you to even a lighter place, then it becomes easier and easier to accept, you know. And so it also makes you a deeper person. It kind of, you know, it gives you the wrinkles you need. and the white hair and gray hair you need.

But, you know, it's funny that you say that because I was watching Trevor Noah. I really appreciate him as a South African as well. And he recently published a video called The French Don't Care and me being in Paris and really seeing this. You know, I think French are really hardworking people. But the one thing they do, which I really appreciate, is when you ask them, like, what do you do?

They don't answer you with what their job is, which I think as South Africans we often do with other people in the world. You know, I'm an artist, I'm an entrepreneur, I do this, I do that. And they will be like, well, I'm standing in the sun and, you know, I'm smoking a cigarette and I'm having good food. And, you know, they just have a different approach to life. And I really appreciate that. And I think they have this joie de vivre, like this joy of life.

And so soaking up as much of that as possible here while you guys enjoy the sunshine in South Africa. So you'd be glad you're not here today. It's like 40 plus degrees. Oh, man. Okay. But on that note, I want to say we have gratitude so much for the people around us and who help us on the journey. And I want to say thank you to our partners who make this possible.

And that is rsus.com, who's our distribution platform and help us put this out into the world. And they've also given our audience a generous discount, as well as blender bombs, which is a nutritious snack for those. days that you're running between your jobs. And they've also given our audience a 20% discount. And our last partner and more to come is BN-E-Sim, best network ever sim. So if you're traveling, highly, highly recommend that e-sim. It's super cheap and really easy as you move around the world. So thank you so much to them and reach out to us on the socials if you want to hear more about those discounts. And then I want to move into a quick segment called the James. And that is our

little moment of gratitude while we're on the topic. Or something that you learned in this week, Christian. So for me, it was a moment of Joie de Vivre here in Paris. I was fortunate enough to get an invitation to the Paris Fashion Week. And to go see a South African fashion artist, Mac Rosa, put forward his fashion design and line. And it was just incredible. I felt really good to be around a bit of home and a lot of culture. and yeah, that was really a wonderful thing to be able to do on the weekend.

So thanks to them for the invitation from the South African Embassy. And what was one for you? So this past Sunday, my dad and I wrote the Cape Town cycle tour. So for those, I don't know, I think it's the world's largest cycle tour, actually, 109 kilometers. We're on the beautiful Cape Town coast. And our accommodation dropped us with literally reason the morning of, or the morning before and we had to quickly

you know scramble to you to find other accommodation because you can't really drive in the morning or the roads are closed and it was just the most amazing blessing I reached out to a friend that they just recently moved into the house here in Cape Town and I know they're still

you know trying to make it homey and they don't know my father but I call them up and said hey we need accommodation and he said listen you don't even have to ask like okay are you fine sleeping in you know sharing a room or we can go find somewhere else to stay and you can actually sleep in our bed and your dad and it was just the most special obviously i told them no we're fine we can share a room don't worry and we're not kicking you out of your own house but it was just the most

amazing selfless act in you know a quick ask for a relatively new newish friend and just the selflessness in that was a reminder for me that like it doesn't matter who you are and and kind of like what you've i say almost achieved in life but there's just something so special in having a giving and generous heart that just bless me a lot yeah that was pretty cool I love that that's a beautiful gem and people are so kind I mean I think if we just allow them the space to be and and willing to accept as well I think that's that's really beautiful I love that thanks for sharing and I also want to say thank you to this is our shout out for the people places and spaces this week PPS someone who has the fields and

also a space that she has created. She actually came to one of our very first feels lunches here in Paris. I got to know her and she hosts workshops where you learn to paint your emotions. And it's called a blank slate and I was really privileged to go to her workshop on Friday night and I was so tired and I was really pent up with emotion and just going through the exercise and meditation and then letting go and see what comes out of you onto the canvas. was just incredible. I felt so much lighter afterwards, and I felt like this is her gift that she's sharing with the world, and more of that, more art, more creativity, more letting go of

our emotions. And so a really, really big shout out to her, Simran, to a blank slate, and thank you so much for what you do. We love your feels. So that was all our segments, but for one. I have one more question for you, Christian. And that is a little thing we call our reading list. It's called The Stack. And so if you have any books that you would love to recommend our audience, maybe it could be one you haven't read yet, but anyone that you feel has had an impact in your life. Sure. Can I answer with some context? Yes, of course. I'd go down a bit of a rabbit hole. This is a book called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. It's by an author named John Mark Comer. Now, it is a

It is a Christian book, but the principles really can be, you know, kind of extracted completely from an agnostic perspective. So really I've given it to, you know, all, all shapes, sizes, religions, faiths, cultures. It's really a universally applicable concept. And I think, you know, I spoke earlier to just a shift in my season. And I think on the topic of, you know, human hardware, I think that's something I really learned just over the past year, year and a half. Adele dove into the book about a year and a half ago and realized shucks we it's obviously quite a it's usually an accomplishment to tell someone who he's super busy you know you like you it's the flavor of of our day right but to to be able to operate from a space of rest and peace and not hurrying and that doesn't mean

working less it doesn't mean even you know kind of being lazy or you know not being super active I mean, I climbed Kilimanjaro two years ago. I did a half Ironman last year. Like I do, I keep myself active enough. But I've realized you can do a lot of these things from a place of rest. And it's super cool. You asked me about a mentor that, you know, kind of, you know,

has helped me and there's this gentleman named Paul Kim that redefined this concept of work-life balance, which there's a little bit of, There's space for that. Don't give me, don't get me wrong. But he redefined it as, as referring to it as work, rest balance. Because if you're doing what you call to do and, and it ties in a bit to kind of what you mentioned, the French say, like, what do you do? Don't think of your job as what you do. You know, kind of like, what you do. Sure, a part of your day goes to your vocation. But it's more you are moving, you are interacting. Even relationships can.

can be work, right? But work is a beautiful thing. We've obviously have a bit of a negative connotation to the word work, but work is beautifully serving to others. So whether you're helping from a charity perspective, whether you are exercising, all of that is work. It's not necessarily a vocation that you get paid for all the time. But I think if we can redefine the word work in being, it's part of our life and then just resting well enough and moving and working from a place of rest and not a place of hurry and, you know, over ambition and busyness, then I think we're starting to kind of, you know, move into a space where our human hardware can really thrive and operate.

And the only reason I can confidently say this is because I am now at its stage in my life where I'm taking on way more than I have probably two years ago, but from a place of such peace. I've got, somehow I've got more time in a day. Some are I'm, I don't know, do more and more active. but I'm not a rush for any meeting or anything because I know my day starts with a good, proper, you know, meditation or walk or prayer. And from there, that sets the tone of the day. And so my recommendation for anyone listening to this and interested in human hardware is reading that book, The Ruthless

Elimination of Hurry. And even if you don't get to reading the book, just to ask yourself, what am I in a hurry for? Just enjoy and savor the moment that you're in. I love that recommendation. I feel like this is so on point for where I am in my life too, so thank you. I'm going to add that to my stack. And it's been on my mind so much around busyness and the anxiety behind busyness and kind of why you're busy. And I've been also starting to do more of what you're talking about, kind of being able to

do so much. And I walk away from the day and I'm like, wow. But I actually feel okay. Like I feel at peace with myself and I feel like I have more energy. But it's really the way you come into it. And I appreciate that so much. I think more restfulness, more peace in the world right now, especially where we are with everything that's happening.

And so that's a beautiful message. And thank you so much to everyone listening out there. I wonder what you're feeling about this. I wonder what you're feeling about how you spend your time, what is your vocation, maybe your job seeking, and you want to reach out to Job Jack and to Christian and find your way in life. And just really align with where you're at and where you're meant to go.

So thank you so much for sharing all of that. Thank you for coming on to this podcast today. And, yeah, just sharing of your heart and your joy. You have so much, like, light-spiritedness and energy. So it's really wonderful to see. Awesome. Nicole, thanks so much for having me on. I really appreciate it.

And thanks for, yeah, just the message that you've shown with so many people. It's so really inspirational. And, yeah, it's been a blessing chatting with you. If you haven't just yet, follow Friday feels on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. and LinkedIn, you can share with us all your fields this week by tagging us at Fridayfeels.com. And you can also find the website at that handle. And now, as you ease into this weekend, take a moment. Celebrate who you've become, what you've overcome, and what is yet to come as you do the crazy and cool things that you do.

as the authentic you. You know the truth about life and work is that it's hard, but the beauty is this global working experience that you're in while we are in it together. So keep connecting, empowering and inspiring this week. And of course, keep it raw and real. Until next time.