For the vast majority of jobs it's expected that you will not need a work permit, therefore being an EU/EER-citizen or already in the possession of general Dutch work permit. If you are not from an EU/EER-country (or from Bulgaria or Romania), a future employer might only provide a work permit if you possess special skills that are otherwise rare to find, which is translated into a minimum salary requirement. You can find more in depth information regarding this subject on our special page Work Permit information, at Werk.nl or through the IND (Dutch Immigration Office).
If you don't hold the nationality of one of the EU/EER-countries or if you have the Bulgarian or Romanian nationality, and you don't qualify as a so called Skilled Migrant, we unfortunately will not be able to assist you. Thanks for understanding.
Most multilingual job opportunities at international companies are in customer service/call centers, engineering, IT, finance, administration and sales & marketing. However, if you possess any special skills in other fields this could always be an asset. Especially in engineering and science there is much demand.
Most jobs require a mid- to high-level education and relevant work experience.
Most jobs require reasonable knowledge of computers and MS Office applications like Word and Excel.
Please keep in mind that you need a good, working knowledge of English (especially spoken). In the majority of companies, English is the company language. Without a good knowledge of English your chances of getting a job are zero to none.
The more additional languages you speak, the better. However, only mention a language if you can comfortably work with it in a professional environment, and towards customers. Languages most asked for (next to English) are German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Scandinavian languages. For some jobs just English is sufficiënt.
Your CV
A CV should be no more then 2-3 pages, A4.
Your CV should contain:
Your personal data (name, adress, date of birth, gender etc.)
An overview of your work experience (starting with your latest job)
An overview of your school education (starting with your latest education)
On overview of relevant courses and extra-curricular activities
Your hobbies and interests
As an extra, you could could add a profile, listing your main skills and competencies in 1 or 2 sentences (after Personal data)
A sober, businesslike font such as Verdana, Arial, Times New Roman. Don't use a playful font like Comic Sans for example
An example CV can be seen here, or you can use the Europass format, click here.
Gross and net wages
Salaries are communicated gross (before income tax), and per month, on a fulltime basis. Holland has a progressive tax system, which means that the more you earn, the more taxes you pay as a percentage of your income. Income tax is deducted before monthly payment by your employer, which means you get net wages transferred to your bank account, usually around the end of every month.
The minimum wage for people 23 years and over is approx. €1140,- gross per month. A customer service position at an international callcenter will pay somewhere between €1400,- and €2000,- gross per month. You will also get holiday pay (8% of your gross annual salary), which will be paid around June every year. Normally, the basic gross annual salary is therefore the monthly gross salary X 12,96. Furthermore, often (part of) pension contribution is deducted from your gross salary (before taxes). If and how much depends on the specific pension scheme of your employer.
To calculate from gross to net you can roughly take 75% of your gross salary if it's below €2000,- gross per month. At a salary rate of, for example €6500,-, net would be approx. 55% of gross. However, especially the employer specific pension scheme is a rather big influence. Furthermore there are some additional secondary employment conditions possible (health care insurance, savings scheme, bonuses etc. etc.) which could mean you actually earn either less or more.
Other employment conditions
Some common employment conditions and additional benefits:
Working hours: a fulltime work week is usually 40 hours, in public sectors 36.
Probation period: 1 or 2 months, depending on the contract type.
Pension scheme: standard. It's often even mandatory to sign up. Usually, part of the monthly contribution is payed for by the employer, this could be as much as 100%. Your own contribution will be deducted from the gross salary and is therefore tax free.
Health care scheme: health care is payed privately, however relatively cheap (for 250,- per month you can have your whole family fully covered including dental care). Most employers do offer discounted health insurance (so called collective insurance). Discounts are approx. 10-20%. Please notice: having a health care insurance is mandatory in The Netherlands!
Savings scheme ("spaarloon"): you can save up to 52,- per month, to be deducted from your gross wages (tax free). It is mandatory for employers to offer you this possibility.
Bonuses and commissions: quite common for commercial positions, could be both team based and individual.
Holidays: usually, approx. 25 holidays per year are offered (public holidays not included). This can vary, however 20 holidays is considered a minimum.
Sick pay: when on a fixed contract, sick leave will be payed.
