CURRENT SURVEY by the International Community Advisory Panel

How volunteering can positively impact your job prospects and professional life Application, interview, job offer — wouldn’t it be nice if getting a new gig was always as simple as this? As internationals in this country, we need to do more to stand out as candidates and enhance our skills while making valuable connections. Volunteering can be a smart way to help you ease into the job market and provide you with the necessary support network. Many job seekers do not realize the value of volunteering for building relationships, extending their network and discovering new career opportunities. It might seem as their skills are not needed in volunteer work, or any time they spend volunteering takes away time that could be used for job seeking. Taking time out of your own life to help others is a sure-fire way to impress prospective employers and challenge yourself too. It’s often the case that once you display your passion for the organisation and its mission, and have demonstrated your abilities, you’ll earn strong consideration when a paying position opens up that can benefit from your talents. In this workshop you will discover: how to leverage volunteering for career success; hidden career opportunities; strategies to adopt when considering at which organisation to volunteer; ways to build confidence and help the community; Speaker bio: Tetyana Benzeroual, BSc (Hons) Psychology, has lived in The Hague since 2015. She started her career path in The Netherlands as a volunteer and later was hired as a project manager of Volunteer The Hague (https://volunteerthehague.nl), a project that connects internationals with meaningful volunteer opportunities at the local non-profits. Tetyana is a true citizen of the world who lived, studied and worked across North America and Europe. She is keen to share with you her experience and expertise, as well as to give you some insider tips on how volunteering can benefit your career.

The Volunteer The Hague team is thrilled to announce that we will be partnering with The Hague Humanity Hub for their annual Just Peace Month ! The theme for this year's event is "Hope in Times of Adversity," and will kick off on 21 September and conclude on 24 October. With The Hague being the city of peace and justice, Just Peace Month aims to highlight peace advocacy and peace initiatives through this monthlong program of events and activities. There are many types of events in the works, including the "Party for Peace" on 22 September, a Career and Talent networking event on 7 October, and an "Open Day" on 16 October, where local peace and justice organizations will highlight their missions and current projects. There are also panels and workshop planned, and several events still in the works! As the coordinator of Just Peace Month, The Hague Humanity Hub is partnering with several local organizations for a variety of purposes, including for running events and for event promotions. As part of our partnership, VTH has opened up our volunteer platform and database to The Hague Humanity Hub and its Just Peace Month partner organizations. This means that you should expect to see many more volunteer opportunities from peace advocacy NGOs and other local organizations working on peace and justice initiatives! We'll keep you updated as more events are scheduled for Just Peace Month. In the meantime, we highly encourage you to take a look at the event website and save the dates for the fun and informative events that have already been scheduled!

After more than two years of cancelled or online-only events, it's been great to see the annual social and professional events we know and love finally make a comeback. And we're so excited to announce that one of our favorite local events, The Hague Online's Feel at Home Fair, is making a comeback in 2022 as well! Taking place this year on 6 November, this fun and informative daylong event is geared towards internationals living in The Hague region, and brings together local organizations and businesses for a day of networking, entertainment, and information exchange. The organizations include sports, community, and cultural clubs that will showcase themselves to the local international community. The fair will also include performances and workshops, a kid’s corner, and plenty of networking and socializing space. There will be some changes with the Feel at Home Fair this year: First, the talented events team at The Hague International Centre will be taking over the logistics of the event. While the team at The Hague Online has run this event successfully for over ten years, the organizers want to safeguard the event for the future by integrating it into The International Centre's year-round event agenda, thus helping the event reach a wider audience. Second is a venue change: While the event has been held at The Hague City Hall for the last several years, in the coming years The Hague International Centre will hold the fair at various community-driven locations. This year the fair will be held at the British School in the Netherlands, Junior School Vlaskamp campus. The Volunteer The Hague team has had our own booth at this event every year since our inception, and we're excited to say that this year will be no different! The program is still being decided, but previous fairs have also seen the VTH team running panels and workshops as well. We'll keep you updated about the fair and our planned involvement as we get more information. In the meantime, save 6 November on your calendar and check The Hague International Centre's event website for updates as we get closer to November!