Professional Development Fair 2016

There are more than 40.000 internationals in the Northern Netherlands, living in all corners of the provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe. The region becomes more and more internationally-oriented as increasing numbers of municipalities put extra effort in becoming international- friendly; more information both online and offline becomes available in English, and more companies become interested in employing expats.

The International Welcome Center North (IWCN), which opened its doors in November 2014, aims at providing local expats with information and support regarding all aspects of integration and legal issues. According to their statistics, every third visitor makes inquiries about job opportunities, career support or professional development in the Northern Netherlands. Simultaneously there is a high demand for highly-skilled talent in technical, and a variety of other, fields. And even though the IWCN staff does their best to give job-seekers information and referrals, there is a clear need for this subject to be addressed in a more specific and organized way.

To satisfy this demand, the IWCN, together with Connect International (a non-profit organization helping internationals in the Northern Netherlands with relocation, information and social integration for more than 19 years) and the University of Groningen, is organizing the Professional Development Fair; a talent and career support event in English which is unique for the Northern Netherlands. This event is designed primarily for highly-skilled expats and graduating students (with a PhD or a Master’s degree) struggling to find a job in the region.

The purpose of the Professional Development Fair is to provide international residents with the necessary knowledge, tools and connections needed to familiarize themselves with the specifics of the Dutch labor market, to learn and to develop professional skills needed to succeed in the job application process and increase their professional potential, to widen their networking circle, to get to know several international businesses operating locally and to find a job in the Northern Netherlands as an end result.

HR-managers of the key companies interested in hiring international talents in the Northern Netherlands, successful entrepreneurs with unique backgrounds, career coaches, language trainers and representatives of other related organizations will be there to offer their support, share their knowledge and experience with international talents from all over the world.

Fair participants may attend two (out of 10 in total) career-supporting workshops, try their job application skills during a mock interview with real HR-managers, participate in facilitated networking activities and have all their questions answered during the information market. Add to this program a relaxed atmosphere, beautiful location and a unique possibility of non-stressful job applications via the informal Job Cafe, and you’ve got an event one should not miss!

Date: Sunday, 10 April 2016
Time: 13:30 – 18:00 hrs
Location: Postillion Hotel Haren Groningen (Emmalaan 33, 9752 KS Haren)
Entrance price: €15,00
Information and registration via: www.professionaldevelopmentfair.nl

One workshop offered during the Professional Development Fair is:
Intercultural differences at the business level

Communication in a global team is a more important subject than ever. Globalization has led to the rapid connection of internationally-based employees from all levels of multinational companies. Where once an employee might have been expected primarily to collaborate with colleagues from his own country, today many people are part of global networks connected with people scattered around the world. Yet most managers have little understanding of how local culture impacts global interaction. Even those who are culturally informed, travel extensively, and have lived abroad often have few strategies for dealing with the cross-cultural complexity that affects their team’s day-to-day effectiveness.

This workshop remedies that by introducing you to an analytical framework which includes practical, actionable advice for working in a global market. In thirty minutes, you will receive clear strategies for effectively communicating across cultural boundaries. Increase your day-to-day effectiveness in intercultural dealings by analyzing the relative positioning of cultures on several cultural scales whose dimensions enable you to decode how different cultures might influence your own international collaborations. The workshop clarifies the framework of cultural positioning by relating engaging, real-life stories and anecdotes from around the world that impart important lessons about global teamwork and international collaboration.

Cross-cultural communication is first examined through the lens of giving negative feedback. For instance, how do you carry out performance reviews? Your American employees might precede negative feedback with three nice comments, but the Dutch (together with the French and Germans) skip the positives altogether and get straight to the point. And how can you get an international team to work together, if they can’t agree on how to constructively disagree with each other? This workshop attempts to show some of the ill-understood differences between the Dutch and other cultures that may be putting pressure on your business relations.

During this workshop, you will work with strategies for understanding cross-cultural communication, which includes differences in disagreeing, decision making, and persuasion. It gives you insights into the working culture of the Dutch especially, and is intended for people from other countries who have contacts with the Netherlands through work or business: incoming expatriates, business people, and those who work with the Dutch on a regular basis, either in Holland or abroad.

And when the workshop is over, you will get access to our post-workshop e-learning free of charge – which includes all the information of the workshop and more in an easy to use and insightful program.

This workshop is offered by Ziggurat Taaltrainingen. They have been doing culture-focused language trainings for businesses in the north of the Netherlands since 2007.

Written by Ian Reitsma