Pivoting away from academia in the Netherlands
September 15, 2015 10:32 AM Subscribe
Expat in NL seeking advice about non-academic jobs related to social science/statistics.
My good friend is an expat living in the Netherlands, and is spending about half her time in an apartment she shares with her partner, and the other half in an apartment closer to her academic job as a social scientist/statistician. Although it's a stable job, it's too far from home, long-distance relationships suck, and it seems like a prohibitively tough job market right now to search for an academic job closer to home.
So, she's thinking about looking for a job in government or the private sector which could draw on her skill set: working knowledge of STATA, R, MPlus, and SAS software, using techniques like General Linear Models, hazard/event history models, risk analysis, ANOVAs, latent class analysis, multilevel models, etc.
Only trouble is, as both an academic and an expat, she doesn't really know the best places to start looking/networking.
What do y'all (especially those in NL and/or former academics) think would be a good place to begin?
My good friend is an expat living in the Netherlands, and is spending about half her time in an apartment she shares with her partner, and the other half in an apartment closer to her academic job as a social scientist/statistician. Although it's a stable job, it's too far from home, long-distance relationships suck, and it seems like a prohibitively tough job market right now to search for an academic job closer to home.
So, she's thinking about looking for a job in government or the private sector which could draw on her skill set: working knowledge of STATA, R, MPlus, and SAS software, using techniques like General Linear Models, hazard/event history models, risk analysis, ANOVAs, latent class analysis, multilevel models, etc.
Only trouble is, as both an academic and an expat, she doesn't really know the best places to start looking/networking.
What do y'all (especially those in NL and/or former academics) think would be a good place to begin?
I'm a foreigner who has done a lot of private-sector job hunting in the Netherlands, though I don't have a background in academia. Here are my strategies:
* I upload my CV to Monsterboard and Indeed, and create a really good LinkedIn profile. Dutch recruiters love Monsterboard and LinkedIn.
* She should be sure her CV/profiles a) make it clear that she's already located in the Netherlands, b) say whether she has a normal work permit or if she needs sponsorship as a knowledge migrant, and c) mention her native language and any other languages she speaks.
* On Monsterboard, Indeed, and LinkedIn, I create saved searches for keywords and my desired location, and have the results emailed to me daily. If she wants to work in an English-language setting, she should search for English keywords. A Dutch-only job description means a there's a higher chance that they want fluent speakers. Also, cast a wide net! Create lots of keyword searches. It only takes a few minutes to skim the search results daily.
* Also consult more specialized search sites like Xpat Jobs, the Nationale Vacaturebank, English Language Jobs, Multilingual Careers, Tip Top Job, and Stepstone.
* I identify some big corporations that are likely to have openings in my profession and search their sites directly. Big companies have more vacancies, and they're more likely to hire non-Dutch speakers.
* Consider signing up with multilingual recruiting firms such as Adams, Undutchables, Octagon, ProJob, and YER. There may also be specialty recruitment firms for her profession; I know there are for IT jobs.
* Meetup.com is quite popular in the Netherlands. She should look for meetups that could be networking opportunities.
* She might also consider creating a Twitter account to tweet interesting links about her areas of interest and connect with big names in her field. I've never landed an interview thanks to Twitter, but I've heard of people who have, and anyway it can't hurt as long as she keeps her tweets professional.
As the Dutch say, succes!
posted by neushoorn at 2:44 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
* I upload my CV to Monsterboard and Indeed, and create a really good LinkedIn profile. Dutch recruiters love Monsterboard and LinkedIn.
* She should be sure her CV/profiles a) make it clear that she's already located in the Netherlands, b) say whether she has a normal work permit or if she needs sponsorship as a knowledge migrant, and c) mention her native language and any other languages she speaks.
* On Monsterboard, Indeed, and LinkedIn, I create saved searches for keywords and my desired location, and have the results emailed to me daily. If she wants to work in an English-language setting, she should search for English keywords. A Dutch-only job description means a there's a higher chance that they want fluent speakers. Also, cast a wide net! Create lots of keyword searches. It only takes a few minutes to skim the search results daily.
* Also consult more specialized search sites like Xpat Jobs, the Nationale Vacaturebank, English Language Jobs, Multilingual Careers, Tip Top Job, and Stepstone.
* I identify some big corporations that are likely to have openings in my profession and search their sites directly. Big companies have more vacancies, and they're more likely to hire non-Dutch speakers.
* Consider signing up with multilingual recruiting firms such as Adams, Undutchables, Octagon, ProJob, and YER. There may also be specialty recruitment firms for her profession; I know there are for IT jobs.
* Meetup.com is quite popular in the Netherlands. She should look for meetups that could be networking opportunities.
* She might also consider creating a Twitter account to tweet interesting links about her areas of interest and connect with big names in her field. I've never landed an interview thanks to Twitter, but I've heard of people who have, and anyway it can't hurt as long as she keeps her tweets professional.
As the Dutch say, succes!
posted by neushoorn at 2:44 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
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The 'Sociaal Cultureel Plan Bureau' (the social cultural planning office) appear to have two vacancies that might be relevant.
In my experience (as a Dutch person who has worked for the government for more than a decade after two decades in the private sector) your friend will be competing for jobs with people who have a similar level of education and experience and who are native Dutch speakers, and if she's not fluent in Dutch her chances may be less than optimal.
posted by rjs at 11:27 AM on September 15, 2015