The weather in Utrecht is sunny again, the flowers are blooming, trees are green and the spring has arrived! As we all know that Spring and Fall are the two buzz words when students talk about their upcoming university admissions. And the other buzz word which is most used after this is "jobs". We understand that to enjoy college, you need extra earnings. And you definitely need a source of income if you are an international student here in the Netherlands. We are sure that when you decided that you wanted to study here, you would have googled every possible detail about internships, part-time opportunities, and other job possibilities like Teaching Assistant or Research Assistant. We are here to talk about all these possibilities and plan a student's life for yourself.
But before starting to talk about anything, a huge disclaimer, as a student, you are only allowed to work 16 hours a week!
Moving on to the important stuff. There are four major job categories that you can explore as a student:
Internships: The first thing that we would like to say about this category is that, while doing an internship you do not need a work permit. Yes! If you are a non-European individual, then you can find internships for yourself and do not have to worry about work permits. The Dutch government allows students to take up an internship as part of their study program. There is an official internship contract which you, the employer, and your academic institution will sign. Your study coordinator will guide you through this process and help you understand how you can accommodate an internship within your studies. In some colleges, you can also get extra credits for doing this. So all you have to do is find an opportunity and communicate about it with your study coordinator.
Now there are a lot of things that you should consider before going for an internship. Harshil had two internship offers before she chose the current one. The first offer was something that was not at all related to her studies. She is currently studying Business Informatics which includes subjects like Data Science, Data Visualization, Business Intelligence, Business Process Management, etc. The internship required her to work as a UI designer and use Java and Angular. Of course, it was a great opportunity but it was not for her. Another offer was an amazing one, it was the role of Business Analyst, very much related to her course but it required her to work 40 hours a week. The company offered to pay her 300 euros a month. Needless to say that it was actually a full-time job hiding under the skin of the internship.
But another fact is, and trust us when we say this, it is impossible to juggle between full-time studies and a full-time job. So guys when you get an opportunity, you should be happy but you should understand all the pros and cons before diving into it. The pay for this category depends on the employer.
TA & Volunteering jobs: Before moving on to part-time jobs, we would like to talk about other jobs that you can do on college premises. This includes being a teaching assistant or volunteering in various events. Let's first talk about being a TA. Bear this in mind that you will not receive a TA job as soon as you land here. The study program here in the Netherlands is divided into periods of one and a half to two months. And the professors obviously plan ahead of a course and prep themselves beforehand. For this, they need a TA. What we are saying is, as soon as your classes start, there will already be a TA present for the subjects being taught in your ongoing period. What you should look for is an opening for a teaching assistant for those subjects which will be taught in the upcoming periods. If you are a master's student then you can also be a TA for bachelor courses. There is seriously no limitations whatsoever.
But make sure that you arrive on the scene as soon as possible. The professors do not require highly skilled individuals. Students are mostly hired on a first come first serve basis but of course some traits are preferred like good communication skills and say decent coding skills if you are applying for a computer course. Usually, there is a portal specific to each college where you can look for these positions or you can directly approach your study coordinator.
We would advise you to actually prefer TA over any other part-time job because being a TA will not require investing a lot of energy and time. The professors will be aware of your course schedule and will understand the workload. Also, the "work permit" constraint for the international students will not actually be a barrier. The professors will choose you because they need you, they will not reject you because the university will have to apply for your work permit. These positions do not require the hiring department to hassle around the permit formalities. A work permit can be easily procured and hence is not a restriction. The salary of a TA is pretty good. You can easily earn approximately up to 500 euros per month.
Then there are other small jobs which you can do on campus. Every college organizes a lot of events like orientation weeks, career week, international student week, etc and they need volunteers and student ambassadors for this. Saurabh is an international student ambassador for his college. You get paid hourly for such jobs. The payment can range from 10-15 euros per hour.
Part-time jobs: You can be a delivery guy, a chef, a store manager, or anything. But if you are a non-European student then you will need a work permit for this. Also, it might be a bit hard to find a part-time job because most of the jobs are customer-facing jobs where you are required to speak Dutch. But again, most of the Dutch population speaks English so if you are lucky then you might find a job where your employer won't mind if you don't speak Dutch. While applying for a job like this, make sure that you explicitly state your need for a work permit. The cafes, markets, and store owners here might not be aware of such a requirement and will hire you without those formalities. We are in no way saying that anyone would do this to you intentionally, we are saying that there are chances that the employer is completely unaware of any such need to file for a work permit. Thus, it is your responsibility to do the due diligence and keep yourself away from any troubles.
Also, please check your work permit beforehand. Even though the Dutch government website says that international students are allowed to work 16 hours a week, your work permit might say differently. According to Harshil's work permit, she was allowed to work for 12 hours a week. Thus, again, do your due diligence and do not get into any trouble.
The pay in this category is according to the government regulations, i.e., it depends on your age. For Harshil, she was paid 11 euros per hours and she used to work 10-12 hours per week.
Freelancing: You can be a freelancer. Usually, this means that you are a company that is generating revenue by providing services. You do not need a work permit here but you do need to register yourself "as a company" with the Dutch government. We know what you all are thinking! "Sparkle Together I am student, I want to study, I don't want to register a company!" Guys, don't worry there is a catch. As long as you are earning within the set limit of the Dutch government, you do not have to register yourself or "the company". However, it is quite tricky to establish yourself as a freelancer. It needs time, patience, contacts, and a hell lot of skills. The payment in this category again depends on the employer. Huge disclaimer guys: Do your due diligence, involve yourself into anything only after speaking to the government authorities and stay away from troubles.
Now there are some exceptions to the 16 hours per week rule that we have mentioned so many times in the video. If you are in your orientation year, i.e., the one year after completion of your study program, or if you are in the Netherlands during the Christmas or summer holidays then you can work full-time. We will be making a whole different video just to talk about the orientation year. But for now, all you need to know is that you can work full-time in summer, Christmas break, and the orientation year.
And that was the post guys. We tried to cover-up as many points as possible and in as many details as possible. Let us know if we missed something, any questions that you might have or future blog requests. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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