Part-time jobs, salary, internships in Netherlands

Part-time jobs vs Internships

Don’t confuse part-time jobs with the internships! First, mandatory internships do not require work visa and you can work in your student status if the internship is part of your course curriculum and also receive a tax-free stipend up to a limit. Generally, the money that you can earn is between 500 – 800 eur per month which is sufficient for your living costs. But, this type of internship is normally of 15 ECTS or 3 months. You can also earn same money if you do an industrial thesis explained here:

Hour limit for part-time jobs

Now, getting back to the real deal i.e., the part-time jobs, you can work max. 16 months per week except the summer months of June, July and August when you can work full time! You can either work part-time for the whole year or full-time during summer months. Choice is yours! But, you cannot do both! Employer needs to sponsor your work permit which normally takes 3-4 weeks to get. The salary mostly varies from 11 to 14 Euros per hour and sometimes your work is not for the entire 16 hours per week! Your employer is responsible for applying your work visa. To know more details about working in Netherlands, stay period after study, check this video:

Insurance rebate during part-time jobs

One thing always remember is that when you start working then you start paying taxes as you start earning salary and you are obliged to change your student insurance to a higher normal one which costs around 110 Eur otherwise it will be a fraud and you may be fined. One hidden benefit is that you pay actually around 20 Eur as you are entitled to allowance during that time which is in this video:

Types of part-time jobs

Based on my experience, part time jobs can be of 2 types: Outside of campus and in the campus. Examples of off-campus jobs are working in PostNL, Dominos Subway, other random IT jobs or in a company or start-ups. For some jobs like PostNL, Dominos and Subway, you will need a basic level of Dutch as you need to interact with the local customers! On-campus jobs include working on a course design, designing a web course like for a MOOC and teaching. All these can be done towards the end of first year Masters or beginning of second year and not applicable for Bachelors. In Bachelors you may design a course in your final year i.e., 3rd year. One common myth that everyone has is whether part-time jobs can cover all my expenses? The simple and blunt answer is no. You might cover living expenses for 1 year or few months depending on the salary you get. So, make your choice accordingly if you are low on finances! If you are coming to TU Delft then you can enrol for free in Yes Delft which is the start-up incubator and find part-time jobs.

Salary in part-time jobs

I will share some experiences of my friends who worked part-time in on-campus jobs such as student assistants. It is not easy to get a student assistant job as they are few and also not easy to balance your course-work load with the part-time job! I will do short interviews later may be after 3-4 months with some people who have done part-time jobs in the past. But, for now I will share only some experiences! Please check the Vlog below where I showed some of the experiences. You can also find this part-time job experience links at the end of the blog below! Moreover, you can work part-time in different international offices and introduction program of the universities. The IP or introduction program is very selective and can easily give you a few bucks like around 2000 Eur in only 2 weeks of work and around 3-4 weeks of preparation! A dirt-cheap way to earn few extra bucks. Isn’t it?

Websites to apply for part-time jobs

So, I have enclosed some websites at the end of the blog using which you can apply for the part-time jobs and find some more information. Preferable websites are: Undutchables (for English jobs), eures and together abroad. As per my experience, best is LinkedIn.

The YouTube VLOG where I discuss in details everything about part-time jobs, salary, internships in Netherlands: