Are you ready

to graduate? to leave school? to start a career?

Since my study in Leiden University is coming to the final stage, I get this question a lot: “What are you going to do after graduation?”

Usually my answer is I’ll try to find a job here and stay in the Netherlands for a bit more. But we all know that it is easier said than done. I’ve been trying to look for jobs online, and I find that if you have a no for fluent Dutch, and another no for relevant working experience, then most likely it is a closed door for you. Almost all the vacancies I found online require at least one of the above. So for fresh graudates like me, it can be quite difficult.

Fortunately, I heard about the betabanenmarkt, which is a job market held by Leiden University in order to help newly graduated students without working experience to start their career life. It is held annually, and this year it was on February 20th in Faculty of Science.

It was crowded! There were 26 companies, Dutch and international, presenting their booths, giving workshops and pitches. I think it was a very good thing that the university provide us with this platform, that we can talk face to face with people from different companies, explore more possibilities of what we can do after graduation. Even though there were still some companies’ vacancies require the ability to speak fluent Dutch, many positions are open to international students as long as you speak English. I was pretty happy that I went there.

This job market is mainly for students with a science background. But I’m sure there are also other campus job markets in other fields. I also found a career forum for international students who want to find jobs in the Netherlands. But unfortunately I applied too late that there were no more available seats. So if you’re also looking for jobs, better keep your eyes and ears open for these type of events. 

Finally, good luck to all the graduating students for finding their future.