Keuringsdienst van Banen

Keuringsdienst van Banen (roughly, the Job Inspection Service) is Buurtzorg's campaign for career changers, launched in April 2023. With a wink, an “inspector” visits people in their office jobs and asks whether this is really the independent, meaningful work they were once promised. For those who answer no, Buurtzorg offers a way into care.

The campaign is aimed at people who have no care qualification. Accountants, communications specialists, policy officers and managers have already made the switch, and they tell their stories in short films on the campaign website.

Learning while working

• Career changers start work in a Buurtzorg team right away and study for a recognised qualification alongside: as a care assistant, or as a nurse at vocational or bachelor level.
• The training is given by regional colleges and universities of applied sciences; Buurtzorg does not run the courses itself.
• Most career changers get a learn-and-work contract of 24 hours a week: 20 hours with the team and 4 hours paid study time.
• They stay in the same team for the whole of their training, guided by one or two colleagues from that team.
• In the first year they are extra to the team. They go out to clients on their own once they and the team are confident, for some after two months, for others after six.

How people join

Applications come in through the campaign website. After a first conversation with someone from Buurtzorg in their own region, the application goes to the teams within half an hour of where the applicant lives. A team that is interested invites the applicant for a talk at the neighborhood office and for a few shifts shadowing colleagues, after which the team and the applicant decide together whether it is a match. There is also a weekly online drop-in hour for questions.

Sources

• keuringsdienstvanbanen.nl (in Dutch)
• Ruud Poels, ‘Wie komt bij ons minder werken in meer uren?’, Werf&, 18 April 2023 (in Dutch)
• Rodi.nl, Zij-instromers gezocht!, 11 April 2023 (in Dutch)