The number of unfilled vacancies in the Netherlands is currently enormous and will remain so for the time being. “Young people are looking for work that fits into their schedule.”
At the moment there are more jobs than there are potential employees at home. Many companies find it difficult to find new employees. As a result, young people today have a lot of choice when it comes to jobs.
“There is room to think: I have eight hours to work this weekend, let’s see what jobs there are then,” says Maurice Groenhart of YoungCapital Direct. “They are no longer dependent on when the employer needs them.”
Older people look very differently at looking for work, says recruitment expert Arjan Elbers of Recruiters United. “They have experienced the time when the jobs were not there for the taking. Young people only know a shortage on the labor market.”
Although a permanent contract used to be the highest achievable, that is no longer important for the younger generation. “What else do they need a permanent contract for?” Elbers wonders aloud. “They can’t get a mortgage anyway. Young people just want to be sure of an income.” They take care of this with their own company, a flexible contract or short assignments via apps.
No more working while your friends are at the beach
Work apps act as an online bulletin board where companies can list work as individual assignments. These platforms are popular among young people. “In an app you can easily see how the work fits into your agenda. This way, the person who is looking for work is in control,” says Groenhart.
Niels Arntz, founder of the Temper app, also sees this. “When I still had a part-time job, I was always working when the weather was nice when my friends were on the beach. Young people no longer want that.”
In addition, working with an online platform is very efficient. “In the past, if you wanted a part-time job, you had to go to a number of places with a CV. That is actually very cumbersome. Supply and demand do not come together efficiently,” says Arntz. “An app makes that very easy.”
Traditional companies have to get used to the wishes of young people
The problem is that traditional companies are not yet used to this new way of working, according to Elbers. “Companies often think: Piet worked for us forty hours a week. When Piet retires, we have to put out a vacancy for exactly the same position.”
But as the job market has changed, that is often not the best way to fill a vacancy. A vacancy often remains open for a long time. “The fact that it used to be a 40-hour vacancy does not mean that this has to be the case now. Perhaps it could be better filled with freelancers, separate services or a traineeship,” says Elbers. “That’s not quite there yet with those companies.”
And that while it can be a very pleasant way of working for companies, emphasizes Groenhart. During the corona pandemic, for example, we saw that hospitality companies had to quickly scale up and down staff. “If you can solve that by using staff for only one or two shifts, you don’t have to hire new staff. That can work very well.”
