Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Old Feb 6th 2014, 9:36 pm
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HHHEEYYYY I'm here for a short period of time but wanna go out n partyyy
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Old Feb 8th 2014, 1:22 pm
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Hey, should be being offered and job and moving to Amsterdam at the end of February. I don't know anyone, so would like to get together with a few guys and girls and make some friends when I get there. Whoever fancies meeting up in a coffee shop at some point, give me a shout
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Old Feb 9th 2014, 1:05 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by Red_Wine_Fairy

If both of you moved here without a job, you should have read the warnings before you lived the dream This is a small xenophobic country, much like the UK: no degree = only fit for nonskilled jobs (and even then, you should speak the national language, hoor!) I'd be rich if I had a euro for the number of jobless I've seen return 'home' broke, after the dream died.
I don't necessarily agree with NL being racist, but narrow-minded: yes. I have relevant experience in IT, my English is semi-native and my Dutch is not too bad, but because I don't have a degree in ICT I can't even work in a lousy tech/customer support job. Not to mention I am native Italian, so I could cover a significant geographical area.

I agree perseverance is the key, but unless you're lucky you might run out of money in a relatively short time.

There's not much work for the Dutch either: most jobs here in the South are 12-25 hours a week, you're lucky if you get 12-13 euros an hour.

The best bet is to apply to British companies or agencies run by foreigners.
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Old Feb 10th 2014, 8:46 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by StevieLW
congratulations. That was also my success, after 8 months of looking I found a job at a company with an international department where we use English. Since getting this job my dutch significantly improved after being immersed in it with the other departments.

Good luck!
Ah, I feel positive reading that! Admittedly, I should be speaking more Dutch at home, but we don't - very bad! So now, I will be working every day immersed in Dutch, so I am looking forward to that
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Old Feb 10th 2014, 9:30 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by karij1980
Ah, I feel positive reading that! Admittedly, I should be speaking more Dutch at home, but we don't - very bad! So now, I will be working every day immersed in Dutch, so I am looking forward to that
thats our challenge too, my fiancee and I always say we should always speak more dutch, but it doesn't happen!
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Old Feb 11th 2014, 7:40 am
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by StevieLW
thats our challenge too, my fiancee and I always say we should always speak more dutch, but it doesn't happen!
As this is my first job since moving here in July and my money ran out in November, understandbly there has been a black cloud and trying to express myself outside of the lessons and taal cafe in Dutch just left me frustrated..... negativity from my boyfriend's sister didn't help either.

But the job also offers a budget to be spent on materials for work which can include lessons or books...... had my eye on Klare Taal for a while but could never afford it!
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Old Feb 11th 2014, 8:16 am
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Quite frankly speaking Dutch or not makes little difference if you come form another country. I am now speaking colloquial Dutch and had a few interviews (in Dutch) but this doesn't seem to be enough for Dutch recruiters. They seem to move the goal post all the time. Now they ask me to be fluent in English, Dutch, German and French and ideally also Spanish. Considering I'm Italian I am supposed to speak 6 languages? WTF?

And this for lousy 1700 a month customer service jobs?

(Sorry, I'm being a bit negative here).
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Old Feb 18th 2014, 6:40 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Gioppino. This might not help, but you are underselling yourself. Your skill is needed here. My man has also been through what you went through - he went to interview full of Dutch w*nkers who loved to tell him that he'd never get a job here because he didn't speak Dutch. Yet he proved them wrong. Twice.

It doesn't help you, but apply within your field. Get on LinkedIn, and join/take part in sys admin groups. It HELPS. Degrees aren't everything here, unless it's a Dutch-only IT company (these are suffering most in the recession - I wonder why).

To survive the job market here, you really need to believe in yourself, and develop a FK-U attitude to the one or two who will invite you just to say after 3 minutes 'You're not what we're looking for'. Sys Admin places to avoid for expats include KPN (and sister companies), BOL, Ahold, Gov't agencies (due to security) and start ups. Go for the true multinationals - Oil and Energy companies, Philips, Pharmaceuticals: send speculative letters to these even.

Get your CV checked over, or visit something like monsterboard for tips on a Dutch-standard CV format. It might take you a while but you WILL find something if you stay true to your skills.
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Old Feb 19th 2014, 7:55 am
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by Red_Wine_Fairy
Gioppino. This might not help, but you are underselling yourself. Your skill is needed here. My man has also been through what you went through - he went to interview full of Dutch w*nkers who loved to tell him that he'd never get a job here because he didn't speak Dutch. Yet he proved them wrong. Twice.
Thanks RWF. My problem is not the language. My Dutch is shaky but it's there. I was congratulated for my Dutch. I had already a couple of interview in Dutch. The obstacles seem to be many.

1) Age: Many vacancies are for young students only. I can't believe how this is tolerated actually.

2) Lack of academic titles: all office vacancies require at least a Bachelor Degree. That means no office/IT/Customer service work for me.

3) Gender: I've been told in many occasions that women were preferred for warehouse/orderpicking work "because they have smaller hands". I am a man and I actually have small hands, but this is another example of narrow mindedness.


And from another thread.
Originally Posted by Red_Wine_Fairy
You have an in-demand skill here. Register with the multi-lingual agencies (I make an assumption that with your name, you are fluent in more than 1 language). Unique Multilingual, Adams Multilingual, for example.
Registered with all of them. Interviewed by two of them. Two months, no outcome.

I am seriously thinking I am wasting my time here.
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Old Feb 22nd 2014, 6:09 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by gioppino
Registered with all of them. Interviewed by two of them. Two months, no outcome.

I am seriously thinking I am wasting my time here.

I can't tell you how many sys admin jobs there are. My man is also above 40 (late 30s when we moved here). It isn't nice, but they are indeed prejudiced - this is why you have to take another approach, via linked in and the IT agencies, rather than going for the lower jobs (you worked to hard to go to warehouse).

I hope that you took me serious about LinkedIn. Please do this - there are plenty of sys. admin groups to join (even if you just ask questions, HR people/agents will learn you are on the ground here and searching): this is a top way of networking! Another tip is to invest some euros into a subscription for a something like Freelancer.nl: you can pick up some contracts (6 or 12 months) from sites like this (my husband got one). If money is an issue - and this also works! - use www.jobserve.uk: you will be represented by a UK agent for sys.admin roles here. Or... if they have an urgent role in the UK - would it be an issue if you are disillusioned here? I don't know, that's for you to decide, but get the offer first!

Please don't be scared to call these people up - chase them and they remember you: wait for them to contact you and you will be forgotten.
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Old Apr 8th 2014, 1:33 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

I moved over to Hoofddorp from London just over two weeks ago. My Dutch is coming along very slowly but as I also speak Danish it is a bit easier with the reading and spelling. I would like to attend a Dutch course in the area so any suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers.
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Old Apr 8th 2014, 2:19 pm
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Welcome! I go to Taal Cafe here in Zwolle every Friday. Its held in the library so I am not sure if your local library offers something similar to that?
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Old Apr 8th 2014, 4:43 pm
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Thanks. I will have a butchers at that. Loving the country so far and people seem very understanding about my lack of the lingo. I think I am going to like it here.
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Old Apr 9th 2014, 8:51 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by RickyVilla
Thanks. I will have a butchers at that. Loving the country so far and people seem very understanding about my lack of the lingo. I think I am going to like it here.
Yeah, sometimes they can be understanding and othertimes they are very eager to help you out...... its either a good thing or frustrating! Sometimes I get people speaking English back to me so I just reply in Dutch, lol!!
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Old Apr 24th 2014, 2:01 pm
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Default Re: Moved to holland. HELP!!!

Originally Posted by RickyVilla
I moved over to Hoofddorp from London just over two weeks ago. My Dutch is coming along very slowly but as I also speak Danish it is a bit easier with the reading and spelling. I would like to attend a Dutch course in the area so any suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers.
RoC van Amsterdam runs the Dutch as a second language (NT2) course at its Hoofddorp venue on Opaallaan.

http://www.rocva.nl/educatie/taalond...s/default.aspx
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