Finding companies hiring for unskilled jobs in Netherlands for foreigners while they are still in their home country is quite easy, but actually getting hired by these companies is a different story. Finding corporate entities interested in hiring with a relocation package in place, now that’s a different ball game.
Related Article: Netherlands work visa – How to move to the Netherlands as a skilled professional
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The 7 companies that will be highlighted in this article are top Dutch companies who have been operating for a very long time, cutting across different sectors from agriculture, retail all the way to logistics.
Getting accepted to work for these companies comes with huge benefits from improving on competence to increase in remuneration higher than the industrial average. Some of the positions advertised by these companies do not require any work experience others do. So, there’s something here for everyone.
7 Dutch Companies Urgently Hiring Foreign Nationals
Royal Agrifirm Group
A cooperative commercial entity, Royal Agrifirm Group has an aggregate combined purchasing power of 10,000 Netherlands farmers and horticulturalists. This Dutch company was founded in 2010 from a merger of several regional cooperatives.
The group runs a network of farmers who are active across the Netherlands. With headquarters in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. The Royal Agrifirm Group has 3,000 employees worldwide with outlets and subsidiaries that spans 12 countries such as Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Brazil, Uruguay and China.
Offering a generous relocation package, they are currently hiring worldwide for certain job vacancies in their Dutch office. Applicants are required to fill up an online application form for positions they are best suited for.
The positions being advertised are a mixture of roles that are for unskilled jobs in the Netherlands for foreigners that really do not require any work experience to those that need a lot of technical experience. Applicants are advised to read the fine prints for each position before they begin the application process.
Some of the positions advertised are;
- SAP project manager
- Procesoperator Bonda (process operator)
- Animal nutrition specialist
- Junior process operator
- Team manager circular agriculture
The above 6 vacant positions are not an exhaustive list of openings in this company. There are other openings that this company is hiring for that require foreign nationals to fill.
Hazera Seeds B.V
Hazera is a global company that specializes in developing high quality seeds across diverse crops partnering with local farmers to enable sustainable high yield agriculture. Hazera seeds is a product of 3 mergers across 3 countries and is currently a part of the Limagrain group which is a global cooperative of farmers domiciled in France.
Headquartered in both the Netherlands and Israel, Hazera runs 11 outlets and subsidiaries that services over 130 and markets worldwide. Offering support to growers and ensuring that only durable resistant species that gives a potential for high yield when harvested are harnessed.
Hazera is currently hiring and seeks applicants to fill up 8 open positions in their Dutch subsidiary. Vacant positions in which applicants are needed are;
- Assistant breeder onion
- Breeding technician
- Cauliflower breeder
- Breeding assistant onion
- Process operator – Dagdienst (day shift)
- HR advisor with a passion for learning and development
All 6 job vacancies at their Netherlands subsidiary can be applied for online on the company’s website. They all have varying requirements from no work experience to lots of technical experience. Successful applicants will also be required to relocate to the Netherlands to take up any of these open positions.
Jumbo Supermarket Chain
A supermarket chain present in the Netherlands and Belgium. Jumbo is an arm of the privately owned Van Eerd Group. Its parent company Van Eerd was originally a grocery wholesale company, established in 1921.
Named after an Elephant, Jumbo was originally a family business which under new ownership expanded from a single province southward to the whole of the Netherlands. Jumbo is headquartered in Veghel with its main distribution centre also located in this city.
As a result of a series of mergers and acquisitions, Jumbo is now the second largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands. They offer a relocation package for successful employees who get accepted to work in any of their outlets in the Netherlands.
The relocation package comprises of offsetting airfare cost to move to the Netherlands city of operation, provision of accommodation for the first 3 months and resettlement bonus funds for new foreign recruits. They are currently hiring for a plethora of positions such as;
- Bijbaan versmedewerker (employee side assistant)
- Bijbaan kassamedewerker (cashier assistant)
- Bijbaan vakkenvuller (stock filler assistant)
- Schoonmaker (cleaner)
- Verkoopmedewerker vers (sales employee)
- Teamleider kassa en service (cashier and service team leader)
- Bijbaan vulploegmedewerker (assistant filling shift employee)
- Open sollicitatie stageplaats (open application intern position)
Jumbo does not use recruitment agencies to advertise their job vacancies, all opening can be viewed by clicking on Open positions or can be accessed on the company’s website.
TU Delft University Of Technology
One of the oldest and largest Dutch public technical universities, Delft University of Technology, also known as TU Delft, is located in Delft, Netherlands. QS world university rankings in 2022, ranked this higher educational institution among the top 10 engineering and technology universities in the globe.
It comes second place, just after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the fields of architecture and civil engineering.
With a population of over 26,000 students taking up both undergraduate and postgraduate courses administered by 6,000 employees which comprises of lecturers, research scientists as well as support and management staff.
This prestigious institution is made up of 8 faculties and a plethora of research arms making it a hub of diverse scholastic pursuits and accomplishments.
Founded as a royal academy by William II in 1842, TU Delft’s initial purpose was to train and equip civil servants with the right service knowledge to work in the Netherlands east Indies. The curriculum of the institution has since undergone a lot of changes which is testament to the expansion currently seen in its research endeavors.
This hallmark education provider has since come a long way from its status as a polytechnic school in 1864 to a technological institute in 1905. To its current status as a university per excellence in its own right. Little wonder the European employment services now recommends this premier university to potential students interested in getting quality education.
With world renowned scholastic collaborations with Dutch Nobel laureates such as Jacobus Henricus van ‘t Hoff, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and Simon van der Meer being associated with this university. TU Delft has been able to exert its influence in the academia, by taking up membership positions in several university federations, including the IDEA League, CESAER, UNITECH International, LDE (Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University), and 4TU.
Keeping with its past precedence of total inclusivity, TU Delft University of Technology is currently hiring across different fields, with open positions targeted at receiving applications from foreign nationals worldwide.
Some of the job vacancies being advertised are;
- Phd radiochemistry
- PhD position software restructuring
- Assistant professors geoscience and engineering
- Assistant professors in weather and climate science, earth observation and air quality
- Management assistant
- Cleanroom facilities lead engineer
- Technical project officer
- HR payroll expert
- Procurement manager
- Student Affairs and Management assistant
Amolf
Amolf is a research institute, which is an arm of the institute organization of the Dutch research council (NWO). Principally carrying out research work related to physics, design mechanics relating to natural and man-made complex matter.
This institute uses its findings to build synthetic functional materials paving the way towards eradicating complex challenges faced by most societies by way of healthcare, green energy, information and technology.
Amolf is domiciled at the Amsterdam science park. It was formerly an arm of the Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM).
This research institute is currently hiring for numerous positions globally. The best part is the fact that its job openings are placed in house and not with employment agencies. Some of the vacancies being advertised are;
- Senior electronic engineer
- Laboratory assistant (molecular biology)
- Laboratory assistant (biochemical)
- Research technician nanotechnology
- Scientific project assistant
- Scientific program secretary – European Consortium EBEAM
There are a host of other open positions on display on the company’s website, however these are the few that do not require a lot of experience for an application to be submitted. Also speaking Dutch is not a key requirement for these positions. All applications are to be tendered via the company’s website.
Farm Trace
Farm trace offers a digital infrastructure for animal protein value chain, at least that’s what it says on the company’s website. It connects its customers to farms on a global scale. Founded in 2012, this agtech company offers a platform that seamlessly connects cattle farms to food processors.
With headquarters in both the Netherlands and the United States, farm trace uses technology to ensure high standards in safety and nutritional content of food processed by its partner processors. It uses this metric to achieve a stable business model.
It is offering positions that don’t require speaking Dutch in their rendition within the company to interested professionals worldwide who are career driven and looking to challenge themselves in a vibrant goal-oriented work environment. The category of work that needs to be filled are;
- Data engineer
- Software engineer
- Support desk technician
Maersk
Specializing in ocean and inland freight transportation, Maersk a Danish shipping company has been operating across international waters since 1996. It is also into other logistic services such as supply chain management and port related operations.
The largest shipping line for containers and vessel operator the world over, a title it has held since inception of operations in 1996 to 2021. Maersk is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. It has a worldwide employee size of 83,000 people who man offices located in 130 countries.
It is controlled through holding companies by the Møller family and even though it is a family business, it is still publicly traded. Having split into 2 divisions in 2016, to transport & logistics and energy arms, the Maersk group brand has been stronger with annual revenue figures of US$39 billion (2019).
This logistic giant was ranked 622nd by virtue of size of public companies worldwide (Forbes Global 2000, 2020). And they are currently hiring for vacant positions in their Netherlands subsidiary. Positions being advertised are;
- Executive assistant for APM terminal
- Single carrier CI specialist at Maersk line
- Junior assistant declarant at operations support
- People partner human resource at Maersk line
- Vendor manager at operation support
- Customer experience agent freight forwarding
- Customer service agent
Apart from the 6 open positions listed above, there are 68 other vacancies advertised on the company’s website that can be accessed by individuals with varying skill levels from inexperienced to very experienced.
How To Apply For These Open Positions
The 7 companies hiring foreign nationals that are listed above require all applicants to fill online applications for vacant positions on their websites. With the exception of one or two, most of them do not use third party recruitment agencies as this is managed in-house.
After completely filling application forms on the company’s website and uploading all relevant documents, we recommend that each applicant send a message to the human resource officer for company/companies applied to confirm reception of application submitted.
If there is a phone number attached for the HR officer, we recommend you dial the number displayed to ensure that all documents submitted were received.
The Hiring Process For Companies In the Netherlands
These companies receive a lot of applications and do not respond to everybody, after applications are submitted each applicant should get feedback informing them that their application for an advertised position was received.
However only successful candidates get a follow up email that informs them of the next level in the recruitment process. The next level is usually an online interview, if successful then hardcopy of documents submitted would be requested.
After that, successful applicants are sent official offers of employment. Most companies in the Netherland do not offer assistance in filing for a single work permit for successful applicants, but companies like Jumbo does.
Hiring Corporate Timeline
It usually takes a period of 3 to 6 months for companies in the Netherlands to finish processing the application of successful applicants. Unsuccessful applicants get a decision in less time. However, there are a lot of documents that need to be filed in anticipation of employee/employees coming to take up open positions in the company and this takes time.
Applying For A Single Permit After Hiring
Due to the fact that long term employment is what is sought, a single permit must be applied for with the immigration and naturalization services for the Netherlands (IND) using the Dutch job offer letter received from the new Netherlands employer as a supporting document.
If the company offers the applicant a relocation package, then document evidence will be required as well, which means a proof of financial support is waived because the hiring company takes up that burden.
If relocating to the Netherlands with a partner and children, then a marriage certificate or a certificate of lawful union to proof that the primary applicant is in a legal partnership together with a birth certificate or consent form that proves relationship with the minor who would be accompanying the primary applicant on the trip.
A work permit has to be applied for before a new recruit embarks on a journey to the Netherlands.
Getting A Work Permit & Visa To The Netherlands
There are different categories of work visa to the Netherlands, an applicant will be required to apply for a work visa subcategory that suits the type of work he/she will be doing upon arriving the country. Work that does not require any form of experience would mean that the applicant must apply for a Dutch regular pay work visa. Click here for more information on Dutch work visa categories.
It 5 weeks to process and receive a work permit, if all required documents are submitted on time and permit application filled correctly. And another 2 weeks to get a work visa approved. Both documents should be ready for collection in 7 weeks, after which applicants would be set to travel to the Netherlands.
Family members accompanying the primary applicant also require resident permits and visas as well which qualifies them to embark on the journey.
Conclusion
Companies in the Netherlands Hiring foreign workers go through a lot to make sure that positions to be filled are vetted by the European employment services. These positions are open to all applicants around the world and can be applied for through each company’s online portal.
Some Dutch companies offer a relocation package that makes it easy for new recruits to settle in quicker, by ensuring that burdens such as accommodation, airfares and living expenses are taken care of, at least for the first 3 months, in which time the new employee should have found his/her footing in the new country.
In situations were there isn’t a relocation package, the primary applicant is required to show proof of financial sustainability in other to get a work visa approved to come into the country. Also, there are other prerequisite documents required to get a work permit and visa approved, these must also be submitted.
Applicants should be mindful that they could get offered positions in Dutch companies, but get turned down when an application for a work permit and visa are submitted. This happens when the applicant applies for a work visa under the wrong category or insufficient documents are submitted.
Have you applied for open positions in a Dutch company before? What was your experience? Did you get accepted?
