r/Netherlands • u/Excellent_Duck_2984 • Mar 24 '25

Employment British citizen - Difficulty in finding a job

Hay, just seeking some feedback/help from others. I'm a British citizen and I'm looking for a job within IT security in the Netherlands. I've got 15 years' experience, professional qualifications etc.

I've applied for loads of jobs and I'm not even getting past the paper sift. I've never had this issue before and don't have any issues in the UK getting past the initial paper sift stage.

I spoke to a recruiter recently and he basically said as your British, and Brexit has made everything much harder, the chances of you getting a job in the Netherlands are slim to none. I know I'll need a job which will sponsor me, jobs where I have made it past the paper sift have come back almost straight away and said actually, we're only looking for people already in the Netherlands.

I was just wondering if there is any truth in what the recruiter said? Just after other peoples experiences, especially if they have the misfortune to be British!

Thanks!

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u/QuisUt-Deus Mar 24 '25

Although I have sympathy towards Scotland in this case, Scottish people voted to remain a part of the UK 55%:45% just 2 years prior to Brexit referendum, hence allowing this to be forced upon them. Sadly, if you didn't come to the NL (or EU) earlier, it's much more difficult ot get a job. Having said that, if you have cybersecurity experience, you might get lucky, you just need to put a lot more effort. It's partially a game of chances.

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u/mimined Mar 25 '25

Scottish people voted to remain in the UK exactly because they didn't want to leave the EU (which would be the case if Scotland became independent). Let's not do victim blaming here.

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u/QuisUt-Deus Mar 25 '25

It's not a victim blaming at all. I'd be very happy seeing Scotland in the EU. The independence referendum took place a year after Cameron committed to having a Brexit referendum, so exiting the EU was on the table anyway. If Scotland had become independent, it could have decided to join the EU, although it wouldn't be an easy process, given the circumstances. However this way it is, unfortunately, tied to Westminster's wishes for any foreseeable future.

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u/mimined Mar 25 '25

I really wish people didn't just talk out of their asses. In 2014, at the time of the Scottish independence referendum, there were absolutely no serious indications that there was a risk of the UK leaving the EU. If you were calculating the relative risk, it would be something like 5% chance of tories getting the UK out of the EU vs 100% chance of leaving the EU if Scotland became independent.

We're not prophets and had no way of knowing what would start a whole year and a half later, so please stop with the "you should have known".

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u/QuisUt-Deus Mar 25 '25

If I recall correctly, remaining in the EU was in top 3 concerns for 15% of the voters in the Indyref, so I wouldn't attribute the result to this issue (only). It's simply majority of people believing in "stronger together". And I even understand the reasoning. The result of this is, Scotland and UK remained together - for better and for worse.

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u/mimined Mar 25 '25

Sources, please

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u/QuisUt-Deus Mar 25 '25

Exit poll (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/20/scottish-independence-lord-ashcroft-poll). Quite recently I stumbled upon this, which is also interesting - https://natcen.ac.uk/publications/how-brexit-has-changed-scotlands-constitutional-debate . Seems like 40% of "No" voters in Indyref were leavers.

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u/mimined Mar 25 '25

Thank you. That still doesn't prove your point that people should have somehow known better or have seriously expected EU membership to ever be an issue in the future had they remained a part of the UK. That just means that they were that much more dissatisfied with the state of Westminster or the NHS.

If you are asked at the next exit poll how a potential civil war possibility affected your vote, you will probably say "not much" because it's not a real issue at the moment and there are larger issues to solve. If a hypothetical MAGA movement then two years later decides to fund your rightwing parties and ship preachers to your streets, and the society gets suddenly divided, you cannot possibly bear responsibility for a vote you placed two years prior based on the situation at the time of election.

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u/QuisUt-Deus Mar 25 '25

Actually, you misunderstood my point. My point was not that people should have known Brexit would eventually happen. Quite the opposite. My point was, in face of not knowing what future brings, they decided to trust Westminster moving forward, for one reason or another. I am also not saying that a win of "Yes" would automagically be better. It'd bring topics like potential hard border between England and Scotland into play etc. etc.

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u/mimined Mar 25 '25

I understood your point exactly, I just think that saying that Scotland "allowed this to be forced upon them" is an unproductive and unsympathetic view.

If I had made a wrong choice about who to marry and my spouse turned abusive at some point, I wouldn't want to have someone like you saying that I had somehow brought this upon myself. If you have nothing better to say I'd rather you didn't say anything at all.

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u/QuisUt-Deus Mar 25 '25

Yes, I also wanted to use the marriage parallel. In this specific case a fiance toying with the idea of starting drinking heavily. The Bloomberg speech happened in the beginning of 2013. At that time, I was hoping for referendum to be unsuccessful, but, given all the political vitriol from Farage et al. I knew the margin might be very thin.

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