Many young professionals are taking the step to kickstart their careers abroad, and Ronja is a great example. About five years ago, she decided to move to the Netherlands to grow both personally and professionally. Since then, she has built a promising career at one of the country\u2019s largest banks through Young Financials.<\/p>\n
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It’s been relatively easy for me to integrate in some ways, while other aspects are more challenging. I like the directness; the whole \u201clet\u2019s not blabber around.\u201d When you compliment someone, you mean it. When you ask someone how they are, you actually care. Of course, not speaking fluent Dutch is a big thing, and you can\u2019t ignore that. It\u2019s not a daily blocker because I can manage basic things in Dutch. But now that I\u2019m in a football team where I\u2019m the only non-Dutch person, I notice the barrier more. I can\u2019t chat with the girls in the same way they chat with each other, because I have to respond in English.<\/p>\n
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I think one big thing is the work\u2013life balance. I really noticed it in the summer: when it\u2019s sunny, people log off a bit earlier, and when the weather is bad, you work a bit longer and balance your hours. I really enjoy that flexibility the organization offers. And honestly, it is<\/em> a privilege. It\u2019s very trust-based, which I really appreciate. For me it works well: on days when I\u2019m motivated, I might do a bit extra, and the next day, if I have a doctor\u2019s appointment, I can log in earlier without being micromanaged. But because you\u2019re given that trust, you also want to be worthy of it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Coming straight from university as a junior, you need to be open to feedback and actively ask for it. But sometimes the feedback you ask for is really hard to hear. You still need to take it in, maybe think about it at home, and remind yourself: business is not personal. The feedback is about your work, not your personality. I also work in a male-dominated industry, so sometimes feedback or blunt comments just come your way, even when you didn\u2019t ask for them. That\u2019s been a learning curve for sure, especially throughout my whole job-seeking process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It all went very fast; in a good way. I really liked that, because when you apply for jobs you often get no reply at all. Overall, the whole process, from me calling to starting my job, was about three to four weeks. My contact person from Young Financials throughout the process made a big difference. As an international, I had challenges: I didn\u2019t have a Dutch bank account, I have a foreign passport, and I needed certain documents or translations. My contact person answered everything immediately, which gave me a lot of transparency. She also prepped me for the interviews, joined me at one of them, gave feedback afterwards, and even monitored how things were going after I started.<\/p>\n My team lead was in touch with her for at least six months after I joined. I always knew that if I had a question about a sick day, development budget, anything, Young Financials was my first point of contact, and they would connect me to the right person. That was incredibly valuable as a newcomer who didn\u2019t know the organization yet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I work as a business analyst in the External Reporting department at a Dutch bank, specifically for Wholesale & Rural clients. My team works as a kind of bridge between IT and the financial report producers. It has been a big learning curve. I basically had to learn two things at once: the accounting side and<\/em> the coding side, even though I had never coded before. In the beginning I felt a lot of imposter syndrome, like I wasn\u2019t qualified. However, they weren\u2019t looking for someone to challenge their expertise, but someone who would ask the simple, critical questions: Why are we doing this? Does this make sense? Could we do it differently?<\/em> That\u2019s where I found my place. I often end up being the person in the middle who explains things in simpler terms. And I think that ties into being a junior in general. You don\u2019t have deep content knowledge yet. What you bring is potential. To show it, you need to be proactive, curious, ask questions, and learn how to communicate, which is something I think many people, including myself, overlook.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I would say this: if you\u2019re thinking about it and you feel even a bit of courage or curiosity, give it a try. My parents always told me: If you get the opportunity to go, and you want to try it, then go. If you hate it, you can always come home. <\/em>That takes some of the pressure off. Because the reality is: not everyone loves it. International life is very romanticized. Social media makes it look like you\u2019re living the high life, and everything is perfect. But it\u2019s not. It\u2019s difficult. It\u2019s lonely at times. It\u2019s hard to start over in a place where you have no support network. But I don\u2019t regret it for a second. It also brings you so much: personal growth, independence, self-awareness, hopefully confidence over time. It allows you to learn.<\/p>\n Are you ready to take the next step in your career like Ronja? We\u2019re here to help! At\u00a0Young Financials<\/a>, we connect talented young professionals with job opportunities in the Dutch financial sector. Take a look at our\u00a0vacancies<\/a>,\u00a0apply now<\/a>, or get in touch with us via recruitment@youngfinancials.com to learn more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":58393,"template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-58395","artikel","type-artikel","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artikel\/58395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artikel"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/artikel"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artikel\/58395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58397,"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artikel\/58395\/revisions\/58397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youngfinancials.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Were there also challenges you faced while starting to work in the Netherlands?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How did you find your support for Young Financials and the whole process with us?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Can you tell something about your current role?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What advice would you give to other young professionals who are considering to move abroad?<\/strong><\/h3>\n