Coaching on the job for foreigners

Many people that come new to the Netherlands, are shocked by what they see: the culture shock. Everything is going fast, everyone is in a hurry, no-one talks to you and you don't get a lot of help with your bank and health insurance arrangements. This makes it very difficult to understand something about the country, its customs and its inhabitants. Most of all if you want to work here, you meet some of the strangest things, that probably are totally new to you: really everything works differently here! How are you going to learn all that? Do you recognise that feeling? Then read on.

In many countries e.g. you'd better not ask for a job by writing a letter. It's much better if your future employer and collegues actually see you. If you tell this to your Dutch friends, they'll probably find that very strange. Here it's normal to write a letter and even if you tried to visit the company, you wouldn't come past the reception! You can solve this problem though by adding a little photo of yourself to your CV and by writing some extra things about yourself.

If you want to start your own business, then you need to do it all yourself too. At the Chamber of Commerce (KvK = Kamer voor Koophandel) you will get some support and information, but there's no-one next to you that will really help you out. In some cases the municipality where you live will decide to finance a training course for you on how to start a business, but that isn't a rule.

And if you succeed in finding a job, you will see that working in a Dutch company is much different from working in your country of origin. Your boss is very friendly, but you still have to do what he/she says, colleagues are nice but the relationship always stays business, and if you need something, you have to ask for it explicitely, in your eyes maybe even bluntly. How are you going to cope with all that?

If you have your own business, finding clients is done in a different way here. Networking the Dutch way is quite particular: you have to go to special occasions for networking only and there you have to get people talk to you that might mean something to you, or you to them. If you own a shop, you have to learn how to get clients there. There are no rules for that, for every business it's different. You have to get yourself a website that is also findable in the search engines. It's lot of work to find out how this all works!

If you have troubles with these things, probably I can do something for you. Language Coach organises language trainings, but also helps you to develop the inter cultural strategies that you need in order to become successful here. I can do that in a workshop, but I can also coach you on the job: it means that I come to your work and then help you with the things you find difficult. Or that I help you to start your own business here in the Netherlands.

If you think this might be something for you, contact me.
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