Challenging Situations Require Changes

Living in a fast-changing world, where technological development modifies drastically traditional business practices, has disrupted the labour markets on a global scale. Both employers and employees have had to change their mentalities about jobs, dynamising different job positions and aptitudes that emerged due to workforce and workplace changes, such as those caused by the current pandemic.  
   
We are all tired of hearing “the pandemic this or that...”, “Covid19 here and there…”, but the truth is that Covid19 has caused a paradigm shift in how people work and how business gets done. As people are more adapted to studying or working remotely, and more sensitive about their health, more new job positions that did not exist before have emerged. Furthermore, several professional and interpersonal skills have become more important than others.

The most in-demand jobs in the Netherlands

According to a LinkedIn’s article, which discusses the jobs with highest demand nowadays in the Netherlands, the following are the top 5 business-related jobs. Take note!

1. Customer Services (Teleperformance): due to several lockdowns and restrictions, companies are required to strengthen their customer services on an online basis. For this reason, several job positions related to customer services and experience have become highly demanded. Big cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam have become top hiring locations for these types of jobs.
2. E-commerce: Online shopping has never been more important! Since the pandemic began, small, basic, day-to-day activities, such as doing groceries, were covered with online payment and home delivery options. Online retail had such an exponential growth that jobs in logistics, e-marketing specialists, sales coordinators among others, had a pivotal increase in demand. The cities where these jobs are trending are Rotterdam, Eindhoven, or Tilburg, key cities for trading and warehousing.
3. Operations:  On-time and fast delivery have become the most important component in customer service. Companies like IKEA, DHL or Jumbo have increased job positions in operations management and logistics, and over 60% of new employees hired in 2020 for these positions held a business degree background.
4. Creative freelancers: It was only until the pandemic that many companies realised how important improving their online marketing presence was. Since 2020, the demand for skills in videography, digital art, photography, music among others, has grown tremendously. Over 5,000 open jobs for creative freelancers are posted on LinkedIn.
5. Professional and personal coaches: There is nothing better than to share your knowledge with others! According to LinkedIn (2020), job openings in professional coaching have become highly demanded. Over 63% of these roles were occupied by women.

Why Wittenborg students should care

At Wittenborg, it is a requirement for bachelor's students to undergo Work Placement/Internship. Moreover, after graduating students have the possibility to find a full-time job in the Netherlands. In order to prepare for this, it would be a good idea to research the job market and be aware of new jobs or skills that are trending in the country. Only then will you be able to better prepare your CV or focus more on certain skills that you may need to strengthen. Furthermore, all of these top 5 in-demand jobs plus the others mentioned in the article are closely related to Wittenborg’s study programmes! That being said, as a future or present Wittenborg graduate, be sure that there is a job possibility waiting for you in the Dutch labour market! Prepare your CV and get out there for the job-hunt!

WUP 16/6/2021
by Laura Serrano
©WUAS Press