Finding Jobs

There are several ways to check out the job situation in the Netherlands before you are even on the spot! If you are from a European Union country, go and check out your local European Employment Services (EURES) advisor. At their internetsite you will find the vacancies. You can carry out a direct search or post your CV on the site. If you are from an EEA country it is maybe worth to look at your own country’s national employment office’s web pages. There you can find e.g. au pair vacancies and seasonal jobs in other EEA countries. If you are not from an EEA country (EU countries and three EFTA countries: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), finding work is more limited. Since the EU has combined regulations about working in another EU country, it means less chance for others. It also means that you have to do all the searching by yourself and you have to take care that you have all the necessary documents like visa and work permits.   Newspapers are ideal to find jobs, especially the Saturday newspapers carry a lot vacancies. If you don’t want to buy them, you can also find them on the in libraries or on the web. The newspapers that are worth checking out are Intermediair (paper version only), De Telegraaf, De Volkskrant  and Het NRC Handelsblad. Look there for ‘vacatures’ (vacancies) and for the rest you might need a dictionary. One thing you can also check beforehand is if there are any international companies from your own country also existing in The Netherlands. They might need some native speakers for cooperation between the two countries.

You can find a lot of Internet addresses where you can search for vacancies. Know in what area you want to work; which city and/or which province makes you’re searching easier. For the most of the jobs available searching via the WEB, you already need to have a profession, a degree or work experience. When you are in The Netherlands you can visit several employment offices. There are two kinds of offices: public employment agencies (CWI’s -centrum werk en inkomen) and private sector temporary employment agencies (Uitzendbureaus). You can find lists of employment agencies in the telephone directory. Unfortunately, not all of the employment agencies will offer their help if you don’t know any Dutch. A little knowledge of the language guarantees more options for you.

Your best chances for find a job for a short period (e.g. for 3 months) are in the hotel- and catering industry (horeca). The best way to get a job is probably just to visit cafes and hotels and ask around for a job. If you don’t speak any Dutch, the main working fields where you can find a job are with cleaning companies, hotel and catering business like fast food chains, factory production, newspaper delivery and seasonal work like picking fruits. Other option is to put your own add that you are looking for a job to information boards in the supermarkets or to magazine called ViaVia. Placing an own add is free of charge.

If you really cannot find a job and you feel like Dutch is far too difficult for you, ask help from your “own people”. Pay a visit to cultural centres, your national churches or communities. For all these places, the telephone directory is a gift. The last but not least use all your own imagination and create your own work for example by giving private lessons of a language or an instrument.