Worldly Chatter

I went on an interview today for a position at Subway here in Hilversum. It has only been open three days but it’s the latest buzz amongst us expats! A little piece of home and they were looking for help so why not apply! I sent them my CV via email, which was in Dutch, and the email was in English. Apparently this was good enough to score an interview today after work. I know, I have a job but it is with a uitzendbureau (temp agency) and my work at Selekt mail is by no means permanent. At any time you can get the call that says you aren’t needed tomorrow or ever. I got that call today; I wasn’t needed tomorrow but will probably be needed on Wednesday. I was on my way home when I got the call, I haven’t gotten the call before and I hate it hence the interview today. I need something a bit more stable here.

The interview was going good. My Dutch is a little lacking but he liked my experience and enthusiasm. We discussed particulars and it seemed I answered it alright. He was straight forward with me, as most Dutchie’s are, and said what he did and didn’t like. There was one thing that came up that, for me, has never been an issue; my age! I am 27 years old, why in the world would my age be a factor here? I remember Dutchie telling me the system but I never paid much mind to it. Here is a chart for you to look at.

Far left, Leeftijd- age, Per maand, per month, per dag, per day and per uur, per hour. The percentage you see, % van het minumumloon is % of minimum wage a person for that age gets. This is for the food industry. Think of it like waitresses in America having a different minimum wage than the rest of the working stiffs. As you can see, it is far cheaper to hire a 15 year old than it is me. He could hire three of them in comparison to one me. This was something he was very honest with me about. He currently had two teenagers behind the counter. One couldn’t have been more than 15 and the other looked about 17. I would be an expensive to him and would have to be worth it. Prove my worth as it were. When he mentioned this I said that sometimes experience is worth more than the money. I mean think about it for a moment. Would you hire a teenager to close up a store, handle the money and make sure all is well at the end of the night? Do they have the responsibility in them? Are they getting paid enough to care? I have closed stores, counted the money at the end of the day and taken responsibility for it and the store. Hopefully my experience and the fact that they need such a person will weigh more to them than the pay they would have to give me.

But really, I have never been put in a place where my age would deter me from getting work. Not in America anyway. My age just would not play a role because I would get the same crappy pay as the teenager behind me. Such a bizarre experience to add to the already accumulating list of cultural differences I see every where!

worldly chatter, Subway, Horeca Nederland, Job interviews, minimum wage in Holland