October 30th 2026

Entree-level jobs: working and learning Dutch

Working and learning Dutch while settling in the Netherlands sounds like a logical combination, but in practice it takes a lot of coordination. Start jobs are meant to make it easier. In Sprank Magazine, journalist Jessica Maas speaks to experts, including our director Wilma Roozenboom, about the opportunities and the challenges. What does it take for start jobs to succeed?

Municipalities getting to work

If the government has its way, eighty municipalities will start offering ‘start jobs’: paid work that people with a refugee background combine with their civic integration programme. At the moment, only a quarter of status holders have a job while they complete civic integration. Seven pilot projects since 2023, including in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Eindhoven, show that it can be done differently: around 44 per cent of participants found a start job. Participants also say that working is a more effective way to learn Dutch than language classes alone. Challenges remain, though. Suitable employers are hard to find, combining work with language classes is difficult, and childcare is scarce. Four experts share their experiences and insights on what employees and employers need for start jobs to succeed.

Jan Burger (WSD): it works, but it costs a lot

WSD, a work development company in Boxtel, came up with the ‘starter job’ well before the national pilot. Participants got an employment contract straight away, and the hours they spent on language lessons were paid. Of the pilot participants, 87 per cent are still working, and 32 per cent no longer depend on benefits at all. Participation manager Jan Burger says the biggest gain is that participants grew in self-confidence and motivation. Even so, he urges realistic expectations. A starter job needs intensive support: interpreters, coaches who speak the participant’s own language, and a lot of the employer’s time. That makes the approach expensive, and the government is offering less funding for the roll-out than it did for the pilot. Burger also wonders whether people who work full-time and take language lessons in the evening have enough energy left to really learn the language. Language and work have to go hand in hand, he says, but the current civic integration requirements make that hard.

Jaco Dagevos (Erasmus University): look at the quality of work

Jaco Dagevos, Professor of Integration and Migration and Senior Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), thinks it is a good idea to put work at the centre of civic integration, but he wants attention for the type of work. Someone who stands on an assembly line, talks to no colleagues and learns no new skills will not progress. In practice, work and civic integration also often clash: anyone who misses a language class because of work falls behind in the language, while the three-year deadline keeps running. Dagevos argues for a separate B1 route in which work and language go hand in hand, so that each person can make a deliberate choice about what suits them best.

Mohammad Ali Roshan (Divosa): work gives meaning and self-confidence

For years, Mohammed Ali Roshan worked as a programme manager for Oxfam Novib in Afghanistan. In 2022, the Dutch government evacuated him, his wife and their four children. He started learning Dutch while still in the asylum seekers’ centre, later took a B1 exam and applied for many jobs. Without Dutch work experience, finding a job at his level proved difficult. With support from the UAF, he gained a practical diploma in payroll administration, and he now works as a financial administrative assistant at Divosa. He thinks the combination of working and learning that start jobs offer is excellent. You don’t learn a language from a few hours of lessons a day, he says. At work, you practise with colleagues who correct your mistakes. ‘Work gives meaning and self-confidence,’ says Roshan. ‘I’m in control of my life again.’

Wilma Roozenboom (Refugee Talent Hub) helps employers become refugee-ready.

For Wilma Roozenboom, director of Refugee Talent Hub, starting work from day one is a welcome idea. Refugee Talent Hub has been connecting newcomers with employers for ten years, and in recent years it has helped more than 1,600 people into lasting jobs. Combining work with language learning and integration takes careful coordination, Roozenboom says, but there are plenty of examples of what is possible. At IKEA, hundreds of newcomers have taken part in work-and-learning programmes, and many have moved into paid jobs. At Arcadis, five to ten newcomers gain work experience each year, and many of them are hired afterwards.

Roozenboom stresses that it is not only newcomers who need to prepare for the Dutch workplace. Employers need to be ‘refugee ready’ too. Refugee Talent Hub helps employers recognise newcomers’ skills and potential, with practical support on onboarding and guidance on available subsidies. She backs the minister’s call on employers to recognise the talents of status holders, but also points to a contradiction: the same government often presents migration as a problem. That mixed message, she says, makes it harder to create opportunities, including in the workplace.

What this means for employers

Entree-level jobs only succeed if employers take part, and that takes more than posting a vacancy. Employers need to offer a workplace where people can learn, colleagues who help with the language, and agreements on combining work with language classes. According to Dagevos, many employers are willing to contribute, as long as it stays practical and workable for them.

Refugee Talent Hub starts from the same point. We show employers the talent that newcomers bring and help them make it work in practice. We share knowledge and practical tips on recruiting and supporting newcomers, and we connect employers with newcomers.

Read the full article in Sprank Magazine .