Success in Amsterdam

Six days. That is how long I was in Amsterdam for when I was offered my job. And it’s not just any job; it’s the only English speaking technical writing job I saw advertised within the last couple of months.

I have been hired by The White Door (www.thewhitedoor.com), an employment agency specializing in placing English speaking candidates from around the world in IT and Telecommunications positions in Holland. The candidates they deal with are highly skilled and experienced analysts, developers, programmers and project managers. Their resumes are complex and highly technical, which is where my job comes in.

All the candidates are given extensive telephone interviews and have to fill out detailed questionnaires profiling projects they led or took part in, the technologies used, their roles, specific tasks and accomplishments.

I am given a company template in which I have to convert the resumes, collating in the interview and questionnaire information where appropriate. While remaining true to the skills and experience of the applicant, I have to highlight and put forth the skills and accomplishments the specific employer will want to see.

This agency prides themselves on only sending applicant’s resumes for positions they are a 100% match for, in experience, skills and qualifications. Each resume I build will take between 2.5 – 4 hours and I can expect 30-40 a month. This is a part time job with a lot of flexibility, not to mention challenging.

In doing the exercise (read: test) to get this job, I did a lot of Google searches and learned about the information I was dealing with. A lot of the acronyms were lost of me, but I met the challenge with flying colours. After I submitted my exercise, they Emailed me the resume they built using the same information I used and they were very similar.

I may still seek out a second part time job, but for the meantime I am going to see how many hours I am logging with this job and then make an assessment. At the very least, this is a good start.

With this new job came a little bit of freedom. My two primary objectives, upon arriving in Amsterdam, were to get my bearings and a level of comfort in this city. And, I needed to secure employment. Now that those two goals are achieved, I can relax and start to enjoy myself.

For the first week I avoided putting any energy into anything other than those two goals. I didn’t visit any museums and I avoided anything recreational. I needed to stay totally focused. Friday night I planned to change that.

Friday was a beautiful day and I decided to go for another walk, similar to the walk I had done earlier in the week and raved about. I went through the same neighbourhoods, this time coming from the opposite direction as I am now at a different hostel. I brought my camera with me and captured most of the pictures in this entry while on that walk.

This green building is Nemo; their science centre for kids. It sits on the Northern most island of downtown Amsterdam. Across the large river behind it is another series of neighbourhoods with water taxis that ferry people back and forth. Below Nemo is the entrance to the tunnel for the traffic to get across. This is one of the pieces of modern architecture in this city. I also located a unique modern condo development. The building on the left is the most unusual of the bunch.

A month before I left home I found a website for people living in Amsterdam who are originally from somewhere else. Members plan events that everyone is invited to and the group is so large, there are events most days of week, sometimes multiple events in a single day. So Friday night I met up with 15 people at the Rijks Museum.

This magnificent museum, one of the “must see” and most famous of all the museums in Holland, is undergoing a huge refurbishment. Only a small percentage of the building and collection was open. However we did get to see Rembrandt’s Night Watchmen, his most infamous piece.

This painting was commissioned by a group of civil militia guards (1642) as a group portrait. It has undergone a lot of stress in its 366 Year life. It was too large to fit into the building it was intended for, so the sides were cut off. Over the years, it has caused some unexplained controversy as it has been attacked by someone wielding a knife and someone who sprayed acid on it. It has long since been repaired and is now on display, guarded in a similar fashion as the Mona Lisa.

The group of people I met were diverse. I was, by far, the newest to Amsterdam as the others have been here between 5 months – 8 years. The group was also diverse in age, ranging from 24 – 50+. Apart from myself and an American art history student, the rest of the group was from Europe, mostly France, Spain and Germany. One of the people brought their local Dutch friend along, which was very nice. As much as I want to meet people from around the world, I would really like to interact with the locals more. That being said, the American art history student was a great person to walk through the museum with.

After the museum we went for dinner and then to an Irish pub. The whole evening was great and I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the people I met. I will be taking part in many more events with them in the coming weeks.

The only dark cloud that evening was when my jacket was stolen from the Irish pub! Luckily, the jacket was getting a little worn, the leather was cracking and I was due for a new coat. My toque and gloves in the pocket were more of a loss than the jacket itself.

When I arrived at this hostel on Wednesday, there were two other people who had also arrived that same day, both Brazilian. As strange as it sounds, it was a complete coincidence as they weren’t travelling together. Daniel has been working in Spain for the past year and came to Amsterdam for a holiday. João is studying Film in Portugal and has come to Amsterdam for the weeklong film festival. They were both in their mid-late twenties, very friendly, with exceptional English.

On my second day at the hostel two young Austrian guys arrived who were on the final leg of a 3 week trip around Western Europe. Having recently completed their mandatory military duty, they wanted to get out and see a bit of the world. They also had a strong command of English. The five of us got along very well and decided to spend Saturday together in the park.

Saturday, in Vancouver, it was sunny with a high of 21 degrees. I know this because I have been listening to CKNW remotely though their website. At 3pm my time the Phillip Till morning show starts, followed by the Bill Good show. I have been enjoying staying ‘in the loop’ on what’s going on at home. The weather forecasts for Vancouver are usually very similar (if not the exact same) as they are here.

So Saturday was a beautiful day in Amsterdam. The five of us walked across town to a downtown shopping strip where I bought a new jacket and hat. I had been warned clothing is not cheap here yet I got a deal that I couldn’t have beaten at home. For a decent jacket and hat I paid 25€. Even with the conversion, I couldn’t have found this at home for $35-40.

Then we headed to Vondelpark, the largest park in the city and very close to my previous hostel. It was a perfect way to spend the day; great weather, fun company and a lot of laughs.

Out of the five of them, there was one person in particular who I really bonded with; João, the film student. I am not tall by any means, but I stand 3-4 inches taller than João. He is one of the most animated and truly happy people I have ever met, with a contagious energy. He has a constant stream of interesting stories to tell, and in his animated fashion with his level of excitement, most of them are very funny. Add into the equation his rabbi-like beard, and you have a real character. Standing behind João in this picture is Daniel.

I am writing this entry (Sunday morning) while on a train, on my way to visit Nina. This will be a short visit as I am coming back to Amsterdam first thing Monday morning. I have an appointment with the tax office on Monday where I will finally get my SoFi number, meaning I can legally work. Then in the afternoon I am heading to The White Door’s office to meet my employer. I was hired solely based on a few Emails, a telephone interview and the test. But it will be nice to meet face to face.

Monday I will return to the same hostel where João will also be for this next week. This week I will start working, but I have been warned the work comes in spurts. I will continue applying for appropriate part time jobs, assessing the amount of work I will have with the new job, and meeting people to create a social network.

I left home two weeks ago and I am now at a place where I feel very comfortable here.