Head to the Van der Valk in Hoogkerk on 18 November for an early-evening of making connections and borrel-ing
By Thomas Ansell
On 18 November, the Van der Valk in Hoogkerk will be filled by eager job-seekers and potential employers. It’s another ‘BaanBorrel‘, the clever idea by Werk in Zicht that aims to match people to hospitality jobs without going through the arduous ‘CV, interview, trial shift’ process.
You may not bring your CV to the BaanBorrel. It is a CV-free zone. This is to try and get more natural conversations and relationships flowing: the idea is that employers get only a partial picture of a personality and experience through CV’s.
If you ‘click’ with a potential employer at the Borrel, you will be able to take on a trial shift in the next few days. Assuming that the trial shift goes well, job-seekers may find themselves with a new job in the hospitality sector in just a week, or so. At the last Baanborrel, more than 20 potential employers attended, representing a number of famous Groninger outlets including the Drie Gezusters and the Prinsenhof Hotel.
The BaanBorrel is an initiative by Werk in Zicht, which combines the UWV (Dutch national work agency), local authorities and social work placement businesses in Northern Drenthe and Groningen. This is not the first BaanBorrel that has been put on: an event in March was held at the Drie Gezusters. That first BaanBorrel was brought about due to the reported 850 vacancies in the hospitality sector in the region.
It is likely that initiatives like the BaanBorrel have helped this number fall, but there are certainly a significant number of jobs available in the hospitality sector. A large number of these will also be suitable for people that do not have Dutch as their first language- thanks to the ever-increasing numbers of tourists, new international students, and new international workers in the North.
This is being matched by a large number of high-profile openings, particularly in the city of Groningen. One of the most prominent is the huge new forum building, which will include shops and restaurants in the new ‘Nieuwe Markt’ square, including a giant new WestCord Hotel.
To sign up for the BaanBorrel, just head over to the Werk in Zicht website.
Image via WikiMedia user Hardscarf. License here.
