2023 Issue 2 – Your career: what’s next?

Dear ACCESS readers,

I couldn’t have asked for a better way to begin my tenure as the new editor of ACCESS Magazine than with an issue dedicated to employment.

I first came to live in the EU in the summer of 1996 as the accompanying partner of a Spanish-born molecular biologist with whom I moved from my native Chicago to Valencia, Spain. In the 27 years that were to follow, I amassed a total of no less than fifteen jobs in three different countries (Spain, England, and the Netherlands), including three contracted, five freelance, and seven small businesses that I owned and operated.

I arrived in Europe toting two university degrees from Chicago’s DePaul University, with which I was able to continue what became a 25-year teaching career. But teaching quickly became a part-time profession, taking a supporting role to my becoming a stay-at-home parent and raising five children.

During these more family-orientated years, I also found the time to start a few small businesses including an English school, a bicycle-powered outdoor advertising agency, bow tie brand and, after stepping away from teaching in 2018, opening The Hague’s first after-hours barbershop.

Arriving in the Netherlands in August of 2010, my first point of contact was the ACCESS helpdesk at the town hall in The Hague, where I was given a hearty welcome and a handful of pamphlets by the jovial volunteer behind the desk.

In these pages dedicated to the numerous options and opportunities in the employment sphere, you’ll find helpful information such as Colleen Reichrath-Smith’s cover story about understanding the Dutch job market. Estella Myers and Petra Fisher’scontributions examine the contrast between freelancing and contractual jobs and how to best get a foothold on finding your next gig using a popular online platform.

Also in this issue, Elizabeth Morris-Corrochano and ACCESS’s own Executive Director, Deborah Valentine, have written compelling pieces about how job seeking and volunteering are closely intertwined and intrinsic to living abroad. I’ve also penned an article about the food industry and spoke with three entrepreneurs who discuss their successes and challenges.

To round out this issue of ACCESS Magazine, Giulia Quaresima reviews the 9th edition of what’s become a classic guide to life in the Netherlands.

I hope you enjoy the magazine as much as I have putting it together with our team of talented volunteer contributors, and that your take-away is in discovering what a great place we’ve landed in and how the opportunities we have at hand for enriching our professional lives are as bountiful as the Netherlands itself. Happy reading!

Richard Morris

ACCESS Editor
editor@access-nl.org