admin2023-01-31T16:21:59+00:00
Marjolein van Kraanen, 12-04-1984, The Netherlands
I was sitting in a job coach's office, for the first time in my life at 36, after being laid off for the first time in my life, rather expecting him to look through my cv and job experience to see what sort of things I was good at, and what sort of job that meant I should pursue. Instead, he asked me one thing: What is important to you?
It was late 2020 in The Netherlands, during what we now know was one of the brief interludes between Covid-19 lockdowns where things were starting to look up for a while, and face-to-face appointments were allowed.
I had lost my job of 13 years not long before - one of thousands of people whose employers could not afford to keep on staff if there was no work. Mine was an events organizer, professional and academic workshops and conferences rather than purely entertainment, though of course Covid-19 did not care much for that distinction. There was no one at fault, but it still left me with the consequence: how do I find a new job, without running into the same problem some time down the line, if...
