“I noticed it myself,” says a resident of The Hague who wishes to remain anonymous. She was recently looking for a new job in the region. “So I updated my profile on LinkedIn and checked that I ‘open to work’ used to be. Then I got messages from all sides. I even had to make a selection, because emailing everyone back would be a day job.”
That was different last year, says the Hague. Then, after years of receiving benefits due to personal circumstances and volunteering, she really wanted to do paid work. “But that didn’t work, also because of my age. In photos I look young, but if I told my age, I was still rejected.”
In the end, she managed to find a job: through a program from the municipality, she was hired as an administrative assistant at a corona-related project. “I thought: they don’t want me, because they only want young people. But luckily I got a chance.”
‘Say no’
Because the project is coming to an end soon, the Hague woman started looking for another job, and that went smoothly. The picture is different for employers. “I get a lot of calls from customers, but then I have to say ‘no’,” says Richard van der Geest of UTS van der Geest Verhuizingen.
Today his movers are busy at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where a lot has to be done before classes start again. “We could use ten extra people here.”
According to Van der Geest, the shortages indicate that a problem is emerging, or actually already exists. “People have to work longer, or come at the weekend. But that will eventually stop, of course. If I wanted that and had the people, I could keep a second moving company running next door.”
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