Doing more for students together

You understand the people around you, you can make friends more easily, and find work. She wishes that for all non-native speakers living in the Netherlands. It also means she speaks to everyone who calls in a cheerful and professional manner.

‘The best thing about my job is that I can help people and talk to them. Sometimes it's a bit of a puzzle when a student calls who doesn't speak Dutch well yet and doesn't speak English either.’ TopTaal offered Karamjit this job in the autumn of 2017, immediately after she completed the TopTaal vocational training for receptionists. ‘I went to an information evening at the municipality and saw a flyer there. I signed up immediately,’ Karamjit says energetically, as if acting so quickly is the most natural thing in the world.

Internship

The MBO course that TopTaal offered in collaboration with the City of Amsterdam lasted ten weeks and consisted of attending classes and doing an internship. Karamjit found the course quite intensive. ‘We had a lot of homework. We also had very nice teachers. It wasn't difficult, but it was busy, because in addition to the lessons, we also had to do an internship.’

Karamjit completed her internship at TopTaal. Her enthusiasm and customer-friendliness caught TopTaal's attention, and two months after completing the course, TopTaal offered her a job as a receptionist/front desk clerk. TopTaal believes it is important that people are given a chance and therefore sets a good example by regularly employing former students. ‘I was called and offered the job. I didn't even have to apply.’

Ambition

Before Karamjit started the vocational training, she already spoke Dutch reasonably well and occasionally gave computer lessons to both children and the elderly as a volunteer and freelancer. In India, where Karamjit comes from, she had MBO diplomas in both electrical engineering and ICT, both in English. When she followed her husband to the Netherlands in 2003, she had her electrical engineering diploma evaluated in the Netherlands. ‘But I hadn't worked in this profession in India, so my knowledge was outdated, which meant I couldn't find work in that field. I had already given computer lessons to children in India, so that's why I started focusing on that as a volunteer and freelancer.’

I think it's special that TopTaal gives everyone the freedom to express their opinion so that we can do more for students together.

Karamjit now works two days a week as a receptionist and also works two days a week with the intake team. She would like to develop further, for example in the field of administration or ICT. ‘I would like to do another course. The City of Amsterdam offers such a course. But because I already have a job, I don't qualify for it.’ She even offered to pay for the course herself. But that is not what the course is intended for.

‘If you speak the language, you can work and get to know new people. Because of that, I also have Dutch friends, for example through my son's school, but also through working as a volunteer and freelancer.’ This is despite the fact that Karamjit knew absolutely no one here when she first came to the Netherlands.
Karamjit is grateful to TopTaal for the opportunity they gave her. During the last staff day, the first for Karamjit, she participated fully. ‘I think it's special that TopTaal gives everyone the freedom to express their opinion so that we can do more for students together.’

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