Jobs options for internationals
Groningen is a city with almost 40,000 students, many of whom are international. Due to the high cost of living, many students want to work in addition to their studies. The competition is therefore fierce. Also, few options are given to international students. For example, stores only hire Dutch speakers. For restaurants, it depends on the owner. Some of them are willing to give internationals a chance, but it is still very difficult to find a job in a restaurant if you do not speak Dutch. This is why the vast majority of European students who work are delivery drivers. If you have the nationality of one of the member states of the European Union, you are almost sure to be hired by one of the many food delivery companies (Thuisbezorgd, Deliveroo, Flink, or Gorillas). This job offers a lot of flexibility but is also precarious. The employees pedal for hours which is physically tiring. In addition, weather conditions are not often pleasant, so students must deal with rain and wind. Afterward, it is always possible to find a more prosperous job, either by persevering to work in a restaurant or by offering your services as a babysitter.
My working experience in Groningen
Where do I work?
Even before I left, I knew I wanted to find a student job. Indeed, in addition to gaining independence and providing for my own financial needs, acquiring a new professional experience is always very rewarding in my opinion. After my DUETI, I would like to integrate a Master's degree in connection with this international dimension which interests me particularly. Therefore, having worked in an international environment seemed to me to be a very good asset to add to my CV. So, I started around June to look for jobs in Groningen that I could do. I found a job in a ticketing company as a French agent in the customer service department. The person in charge told me during the various telephone conversations we had that he was very interested in my profile.
However, because of Covid, I learned later that the company was not going to hire new people after all, due to lack of funds. That's why I persevered and ended up finding a job as a French content marketing editor at Cookinglife. This online Dutch business provides everything for the kitchen, from cutlery, blender to a cheese grater, basically all the kitchen utensils that you can imagine.
I work in an international team composed of Germans, Dutch, Spanish, English, and Italians. I am the only French member but a Belgian student also works with me to ensure the best possible shopping experience for French users. Like I am the only French, my manager Esther often asks me questions about French culture and the relationship of French people with food. What does a meal look like in France? What do we eat? How do we eat? What kitchen tools are commonly used? What celebrations do we have? This makes me realize the importance of mastering the culture of the country you want to implement. Indeed, despite the geographical proximity of these countries, certain consumer habits differ greatly and the way of communicating and addressing customers must therefore be adapted. For example, in a newsletter, it is important to emphasize the points of the country in question so that the newsletter’s subscribers project themselves and want to buy the product.
My missions:
I am mainly in charge of translating content for the Cookinglife website ranging from numerous product sheets to newsletters, and pages including the FAQ to templates that the customer service department uses afterward for the French customers. In addition to translating a variety of content for Cookinglife, I also translate documents for other companies. Indeed, Cookinglife collaborates with a communication agency specialized in SEO, 050 Media. These two companies have a win-win relationship where 050 media takes care of Cookinglife’s communication and promotion while Cookinglife provides 050 media's clients with translation services for their website. The two groups also share the same office space to simplify communication.
In addition, I was also trained to work in customer service. I answer complaints and questions from French customers. I investigate the status of their package and offer them different options to satisfy them (refund, split the order into several packages if products are out of stock, ship a product again). Furthermore, I have to contact delivery companies such as PostNL or FedEx to find out the origin of a lost package. Especially during December when there are a lot of sales (Black Friday and Christmas), I have been working a lot in the customer service department. On the Cookinglife website, users can ask questions about the products to obtain additional information. One of my missions is to find the information they want. This can be done in different ways. First, I look on the French Cookinglife website if the information was not already noted somewhere and then I consult the Dutch version of the website where the content is usually up to date because more people are busy providing content to the Dutch people who are the main target of the company. I can also consult the website of the brand of the product because Cookinglife distributes mostly brands other than those it owns. Moreover, I often go to the warehouse to check the product myself (texture, dimensions, if accessories are provided or not). It also happens that in some cases, I have to contact the company itself because the information requested by the customer is not indicated anywhere. Also, I am a member of the International Marketing team and I follow training on Online Marketing, more precisely Link Building to improve the referencing of Cookinglife's website. These training sessions are very interesting and take me to understand how the Google algorithm works. Thanks to them, I have the keys to undertake different actions so that Cookinglife is as visible as possible on this search engine. Since the beginning of March, I am officially responsible for Link Building in France and my role is to audit the visibility and traffic of Cookinglife.fr and its competitors through the Arrhefs tool. I contact French blogs and websites to propose a collaboration. I offer them to exchange links or to buy their services (inclusion of links on an existing article, writing articles using one of our products, placing links to Cookinglife on their banner). I evaluate the proposals and with one of the Link Building experts of the 050 Media agency, I decide whether or not to conclude the partnership. I have a budget of €750 per month for buying links and I work for this department approximately four hours per week. I write articles in French using key words and anchors given by my Link Building manager to send to the sites that have agreed to work with us. These articles, which I write with the help of an artificial intelligence software called Jasper, are then published on our partner sites and aim to increase Cookinglife's organic traffic in France.
Moreover, I have also translated content for Google Ads, the ads that appear on Google, and that Cookinglife pays for. In addition, I also worked about 25 hours in total at the warehouse. Indeed, during the busy month of December, the office employees had to help the warehouse staff because the orders were so numerous and there were a ton of orders to prepare. Also, I chose to work some hours during weekends to help the warehouse’s staff. I learned how to prepare the orders and pack the packages.
Therefore, having worked in different parts of the company takes me to a better understanding of how it operates. By writing a better, well-translated, and detailed description, the product will be ordered by many more people. This increase in sales will have an impact on the warehouse workload. If an employee makes a mistake in preparing an order or packages the product incorrectly, the customer service department will be more solicited.
Also, the diversity of the missions I carry out, the flexibility of this work, and the general very pleasant and international atmosphere let me think that I am very lucky to hold this position in this company. More than just a way to support me, this job is a very rewarding experience and permits me to develop skills that will be useful for my future professional life. As a non-Dutch person who is mostly surrounded by international students, working in this company also makes this exchange even more enriching because I am meeting Dutch people of different ages and therefore, I am more immersed in the culture of the country I am living in.