GOES It’s getting close to noon, which means a lunch rush in the kitchen of a restaurant in the town of Goes.
Ukrainian Yuri Rossynskyi gets orders to make grilled sandwiches, but is a little lost. He has only been working in the kitchen since December, and he doesn’t remember all the recipes by heart.
The Dutch chef comes next to give instructions.
Six months ago, Rossynskyi was in a completely different mood. The Russians had conquered his hometown of Kherson. Russian soldiers also took control of the hotel, in the restaurant of which the 24-year-old from Kherson worked.
Rossynskyi wanted out of the occupation. He was able to escape with his girlfriend to the Crimea near Kherson and finally through Russia to Georgia, from where Rossynskyi flew to Holland.
Life in the middle of the occupation and the escape journey became expensive.
– That’s why I wanted to find work in Holland right away, I needed money, says Rossynskyi.
Work was easily found, also for the spouse. The first job was right away in the summer as a seasonal worker in an orchard. Another job was found at the Dutch McDonald’s.
The Rossynskys already had six years of work experience as a waiter in Herson, which is why working in a hamburger restaurant did not excite them. I found my current job by asking for jobs directly at different restaurants until I got the hang of it.
– We went door to door, says Rossynskyi.
His girlfriend also got a job at the same restaurant.
Employment agencies and the labor shortage explain the success
It is no coincidence that Rossynskyi, who has been in Holland for six months, has already found three different jobs.
According to statistics, it seems that the Ukrainian refugees who arrived last year have found employment in the Netherlands better than in many other EU countries.
In November, the Dutch employment office reported that it had already received 46,000 notifications of working Ukrainians.
The number is really high in relation to the number of arrivals.
According to an estimate at the end of the year, 80,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Holland. About 55,000 of them are of working age.
Representative of the employment office Max Schouten however, points out that the number of notifications does not correspond to the number of working Ukrainians. Some of the newcomers may have gotten several jobs and some may have stopped working.
Still, the majority of Ukrainians of working age who arrived in the Netherlands, maybe a good 70 percent (you switch to another service)is employed.
– We have received a lot of notifications, and many have got jobs, Schouten tells .
One key to Holland’s success in employing Ukrainians is local employment agencies.
A Dutch professor who studied the employment of immigrants By Jaco Dagevos agencies quickly took it upon themselves to start providing jobs to Ukrainians when refugees started arriving in the country. More than half of employed Ukrainians have found work through employment agencies.
Another decisive factor in rapid employment is the glaring labor shortage.
– Everyone who can and wants to work can find a job in Holland, says Dagevos, who works at Eramus University in Rotterdam.
Professor Dagevos says that Ukrainians are mainly employed in fields where language skills are not so important. Many have found work in gardens and restaurant kitchens.
The most important thing is not the skill of Dutch, but the desire to learn
A chef in the kitchen of a restaurant in Goes Marcel Schouwenaar gives instructions in English to his new Ukrainian employee.
Rossynskyi worked as a waiter in his native Ukraine, but in Goes he was initially hired in the restaurant’s kitchen. Rossynskyi knows good English, but not much Dutch yet.
Chef Schouwenaar says the locals are so conservative in Goes that waiters are expected to speak Dutch. In big cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, you can also get customer service jobs with just English skills.
According to chef Schouwenaar, it is important for the employer that Rossynskyi has been interested in studying Dutch. You don’t need to know everything right away, the desire to learn is more important.
Rossynskyi says he has already passed the first Dutch level exam. Housemate Julija Hirjonova is in an English course on the day of the interview.
– They are really eager to learn the language, the chef says about his Ukrainian employees.
– Maybe later they can work on the gym side.
Bank account and social security number in two weeks
The labor shortage is clearly visible in the Dutch street scene. In the windows of restaurants, there are notices of vacancies. In Amsterdam, many announcements are directly in English.
According to chef Schouwenaar, the corona pandemic worsened the labor shortage in the restaurant and service industry. Many people quit their jobs in Holland during the extensive corona lockdowns, and never came back to the industry.
– We therefore have a lot of use for labor coming from abroad, says Schouwenaar.
He calls the situation a win-win, a win for both the employer and the newcomers. The restaurant gets employees and those who fled Ukraine get jobs.
Hiring Ukrainians is uncomplicated for the employer. After last February’s major attack, those who fled get temporary protection status in EU countries, which entitles them to work.
So Ukrainians face little bureaucracy. It is the third significant reason for employment, says Professor Dagevos. Ukrainians have been employed in the Netherlands clearly better than other immigrants from outside the EU.
Even from the point of view of a Ukrainian, settling in Holland was easy. Rossynskyi chose Holland because he knew Ukrainians already in the country.
Two weeks after entering the country, he had a bank account and a local identity number.
– Everything happened very quickly, says Rossynskyi.
He lives with his girlfriend in Heinkenszand, which is smaller than Goes, about ten kilometers away. At the moment, life mainly consists of work and studying Dutch.
In one respect, adaptation to Holland is still half way. At first, Rossynskyi tried to go to work by bicycle, as is the local custom. It turned out to be too harsh for now.
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