Chris Smit

The magazine The Economist sites a reason for this high level of part-time work in the Netherlands: few men had to leave their homes to fight in the two world wars in Europe, contrary to the US and Britain. In… read more >

Attitude towards Work and SuperiorsThe magazine The Economist sites a reason for this high level of part-time work in the Netherlands: few men had to leave their homes to fight in the two world wars in Europe, contrary to the US and Britain. In those countries, the women had to fulfill the jobs that the men would otherwise have done. In this artilce, Chris Smit adds his own two cents to this working part-time phenomenon, and its connection to the status of the Dutch people as being among the happiest in the world. chris.smit@culturematters.com www.culturematters.com read more >

Wrong Culture, Right Culture? When it comes to describing cultural differences, one of the greatest challenges is to not succumb to the temptation of over-simplified stereotyping. Stereotyping is a useful psychological way for human beings to quickly make sense of… read more >

Career and Employment in the NetherlandsWrong Culture, Right Culture? When it comes to describing cultural differences, one of the greatest challenges is to not succumb to the temptation of over-simplified stereotyping. Stereotyping is a useful psychological way for human beings to quickly make sense of the world around them. However, the danger lies in the fact that when we start stereotyping we tend to polarize a certain culture or cultures and/or individuals. E.g. “Americans are loud, you are an American, so you must be loud” (supposedly as opposed to myself. I’m not American, so I’m not loud), or “You are German, so you must be on time, because all Germans are always on time” (and then we’re confused if this specific German arrives late). This leads me to the second point that tends to occur when we look at cultural differences, and that is that human beings (in general) tend to find their own culture better or superior than the ‘other’ culture, whatever that other culture may be. This can lead to mutual misunderstandings, which can lead to mutual perceptions of negativity. “They are wrong because of this or that”; “We are better because of this or that”. The word of warning here is that no culture is either good or bad, or better or worse. It is just different, that’s all. Different. In this article I would like to compare and describe a couple of differences that you might encounter when it comes to employment and a career in the Netherlands. It is not that this will always happen, but hopefully you will find some explanations for situations you have encountered. Are Personal Questions Allowed? Typically in the United States it is not allowed to ask questions about your personal sphere when you are hiring someone. You’re not even allowed to check out someone’s… read more >