Number of companies that seek or mediate asylum seekers to count on two hands.

In the Netherlands there are only a few employers and intermediaries who focus on refugees, status holders, and asylum seekers. Exceptions are parties such as Stedin, Consolid, Connexion, Team Intro Employment Agency and Dizend1. Also in vacancies, reference is rarely made to this target group. This is evident from research by the Intelligence Group commissioned by Hoop. 

When looking for refugees who are allowed to work, these are mainly the following professions (in alphabetical order):

• Dishwasher,

• Assembly engineer,

• Bus driver,

• Earthworker,

• Forklift drivers,

• Cashier,

• Cook,

• Mechanic,

• Deliveryman,

• Production employee (agricultural),

• Cleaner,

• Street maker,

• Tiler,

• Traffic controller,

• Caring and

• Truck driver.

It is striking that the types of jobs for which permit holders appear to be the most eligible are mainly practical in nature, whereby language and training are not necessarily required. These are therefore often functions that require little or no communication.

Despite the great shortage and scarcity of the labor market, there is hardly any explicit demand for this labor market target group. Status holders are also unable or hardly able to find relevant vacancies due to the lack of knowledge of the Dutch language and the lack of knowledge about the functioning of the Dutch labor market and job vacancies. Much attention is paid to skills, professions, and competences of the target group. The actual independent search for work and the concrete bridge to the labor market is not made, while it is the fastest way to work.

However, there is hope. Syrian status holder, Manar Aburshaid, is building a bridge between employers and job seekers with a multilingual, voice-driven vacancy search app. “The new app called Ho∞op removes the barrier between the language-impaired job seeker and employer through voice-activated technology that allows the job seeker to search in his / her own language and also read the vacancies in the same language” , said Manar Aburshaid, Ho Directorop's Managing Director. “With this app we want to help the 89% of asylum seekers who have arrived in the Netherlands in recent years and who are still unemployed after 3 years. The majority of this group would like to work, but are unable to find a job ”

Other notable facts include:

There are more vacancies to help status holders, in social, legal and socio-cultural areas, than vacancies that are explicitly offered to unemployed status holders.

There are several companies that help permit holders to work, but the number of companies that also represent and make that visible can be counted on one hand.

How do most permit holders get a job after all? There are some apprenticeships where permit holders receive training, often they are offered a job after the training process (if they have completed it correctly).

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Rotterdam 14-12-2018