Job Fairs & Career Events in North, East & South Netherlands

August 14, 2026 by admin Career Coaching 0 comments

Not every opportunity is in the Randstad. Brainport Eindhoven is the most international tech hub in the country, the North has a labour market so tight that employers actively seek out English speakers, and university cities like Enschede, Nijmegen and Maastricht run substantial career events of their own. What these regions have in common is that their events are organised by regional Werkcentra, expat centres and universities rather than commercial fair organisers — which is exactly why they're hard to find.

Below is everything running outside the Randstad between now and spring, updated weekly. For each event you'll find who it's actually for and which language you'll need. Based in or around one of the big western cities? See our companion guide to job fairs and career events in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht.

Last updated: 14 August 2026.

August and September 2026

Energy Performance Advisor — information session with job guarantee — 25 August, 14:00–16:00, Nijmegen · Dutch · free
Who it's for: anyone with a technical or construction background looking for a switch. A practical retraining route to energy performance advisor — inspecting homes and calculating energy labels — with a job guarantee attached. The kind of concrete entry point that rarely becomes known outside its own region.
Jij naar zorg — healthcare orientation — 15 September, 13:30–16:00, Nijmegen · Dutch · free
Who it's for: career changers considering healthcare or social care but unsure where to start. Regional employers walk you through the options that fit your background. If you speak Dutch, healthcare is one of the fastest routes to a permanent contract in the Netherlands.
Meet & Greet Icare — care assistant — 17 September, 14:30–16:30, Straussplein 1 Zwolle · Dutch · free
Who it's for: anyone considering care work who wants to meet the employer before applying. One company, one role, one afternoon, at their own premises — the clearest example of a format worth seeking out, with no fair around it.
Ontdek jouw kansen in de bouw en techniek — 22 September, 15:00–17:00, Streekweg 22 Nijmegen · Dutch · free
Who it's for: anyone curious about construction and engineering. A monthly walk-in afternoon built specifically so that people can meet regional employers face to face. The sector has urgent shortages and offers job security and progression.
Open Bedrijvenmarkt Zwolle — 24 September, 11:00–17:00, Zwolle · Dutch · free, no registration
Who it's for: anyone looking for a job or a placement in the Zwolle region. A low-threshold vacancy and internship market where you meet regional companies and talk to employers directly. Just walk in.
Care & welfare orientation day — 29 September, Eindhoven region · Dutch · free
Who it's for: career changers exploring healthcare and social care in Southeast Brabant. Repeated on 1 October.
Banenmarkt De Kempen — 30 September, 14:30–17:00, Bladel · Dutch · free
Who it's for: job seekers in the Kempen region just south of Eindhoven. Small-scale and local, but the area borders Brainport and many of its manufacturers run international teams.

October 2026

Banenmarkt Kijk Binnen Bij Bedrijven — 1 October, Atik Stadion Bergen op Zoom · Dutch · free
Who it's for: anyone in West-Brabant. This job fair is the front door to a week of company visits (see 10–16 October). Meet briefly first, then arrange a proper visit — an unusually effective format if your CV doesn't speak for itself.
IamExpat Fair Eindhoven — 3 October, Klokgebouw · English · free with registration
Who it's for: internationals living in or moving to the Netherlands, and their partners. A career zone with recruiters alongside relocation, tax and housing services. One of the few events where practically every exhibitor already hires internationals — worth travelling for from anywhere in the country.
Kijk Binnen Bij Bedrijven — 10–16 October, West-Brabant · Dutch · free
Who it's for: anyone who interviews better than they write. Over a hundred companies around Bergen op Zoom, Roosendaal and Steenbergen receive visitors for a tour, a presentation or a one-to-one conversation. No CVs are collected — the employer decides who to receive and when, and the conversation is about what you can do.
Brabant zoekt Talent Festival — 29 October, 15:00–19:00, Eindhoven region · Dutch · free
Who it's for: job seekers in Southeast Brabant. The largest labour-market event of the regional Werkcentrum, bringing employers, training providers and job seekers together. Dutch-language, but Brainport employers are well represented and many of them also recruit in English.

November 2026

Banenmarkt Zeeland at Contacta — 3–5 November, Goes · Dutch · free
Who it's for: job seekers, career changers and people retraining in Zeeland, particularly technical profiles. Run with UWV and the Zeeland vacancy bank.
Open Bedrijvendag Emmen — 7 November, 10:00–16:00, Emmen · Dutch · free
Who it's for: anyone in the north. No invitation, no CV, just walk in. Employers here compete hard for people and are increasingly open to English speakers — and you get to talk to employees rather than recruiters.
Nationale Werkbezoekdag (National Company Visit Day) — 18 November, nationwide · Dutch, with an English sign-up page · free
Who it's for: everyone. Hundreds of professionals and organisations across the country open their doors for a networking conversation or an open day, and you choose which one to visit. The 2025 edition drew 260 employers and over a thousand meetings. This is the purest version of "companies opening their doors to future employees" that exists in the Netherlands.
Werkfestival — 19 November, Rabo Theater De Meenthe, Steenwijk · Dutch · free
Who it's for: anyone in the Zwolle and Steenwijkerland region. A full day where everything to do with work takes centre stage, designed so you meet a large number of companies in one go.
Nijmegen Career Event — 24–25 November, Nijmegen · partly English · free
Who it's for: students and recent graduates across all disciplines, and companies recruiting early-career talent in the Nijmegen region.

December 2026 – February 2027

Ontdekdezorg Week — 8–13 February 2027, nationwide · Dutch · free
Who it's for: career changers exploring healthcare. A national week of open days and taster sessions, designed for orientation — so it works even if you're still deciding. Dutch is almost always required in this sector.

Spring 2027 — already worth your calendar

Open Bedrijvenfestival Zwolle — 4 March 2027, 11:00–17:30, Zwolle · Dutch · free. Employers from technology, hospitality, healthcare, logistics, facilities and government, all with live vacancies. No registration needed.
The Northern Job Fair — 5–6 March 2027, Martiniplaza Groningen · English track available. 150+ northern employers plus retraining options, with an English-language track run by Make it in the North. The one northern event that genuinely works for internationals.
Kom Binnen Bij Bedrijven — mid-March 2027, Noord-Holland Noord. A week of company visits around Alkmaar, Hoorn and Den Helder.
Open Bedrijvenfestival Emmeloord — 25 March 2027, 11:00–17:30, Congreshal Luimes · Dutch · free, no registration.
Open Bedrijven Dag Kempen & Peel — late March 2027. Around 60 companies south of Eindhoven, explicitly welcoming career changers. Many are manufacturing and supply-chain firms in the Brainport ecosystem — useful for technical profiles looking beyond the big names.
Open Bedrijvendag Doetinchem — late March 2027, Achterhoek. A multi-day open house in a region with a strong manufacturing base and persistent technical vacancies.
Open Bedrijvenfestival Meppel — 15 April 2027, 11:00–17:00, Grote of Mariakerk · Dutch · free, no registration.

The unofficial route: meetups hosted at company offices

There's a way into a company's building that nobody advertises as a career event. A large share of the tech, data and engineering meetups around Eindhoven — and increasingly in Enschede, Nijmegen and Groningen — are hosted in the offices of the employers themselves. An evening talk at a scale-up, a user group at a software company, a workshop on the High Tech Campus.

For an international this is arguably better than a job fair. It's in English by default, because that's the working language of these teams. You talk to the engineers who do the work rather than to a recruiter running through a script. And you're in the building, which tells you more about whether you'd want to work there than any careers page will. Nobody is assessing you, so the pressure is off — but the person you spoke to over a beer is exactly who a hiring manager asks when a vacancy opens.

Search Meetup for your field in your city and look at the venue rather than the title: if the address is a company office, it's worth going. Free, informal, and usually on a weekday evening. In the Brainport region this is one of the most reliable ways to meet the smaller high-tech employers who never appear at a fair.

Announced, dates still to come

These run every year in these regions and the organisers publish the new date closer to the day:

MedTech Career Event Brainport — autumn 2026, Eindhoven · English. Medtech employers across hardware, embedded, QA/RA and clinical engineering, from students to experienced engineers.
Banenmarkt Veenendaal — autumn 2026, Veenendaal · Dutch. Regional job fair in the FoodValley, home to Wageningen UR and an international agri-food cluster.
Leer & Werk Markt Helmond-De Peel — autumn 2026, Helmond · Dutch. Companies, training providers and apprenticeships in one low-threshold market. This Werkcentrum also maintains an English-language agenda page.
Open Bedrijvendag Veendam — autumn 2026, Veendam · Dutch. Local companies in East Groningen open their doors, in a region with a structural shortage of technical staff.
Business Days Twente — Career Fair — February 2027, Enschede · English-friendly. One of the largest student career fairs in the east, with 160+ companies at the University of Twente. Technology, engineering and business.
KindVacature — spring 2027, Brabanthallen 's-Hertogenbosch · Dutch. Sector job fair for childcare and youth work.

Two tips for internationals

At an open company day nobody expects you to be job hunting — which is exactly what makes it work. Ask employees what their week actually looks like, take a card, and follow up on LinkedIn the same evening. That follow-up is where the value is; the visit is just the reason to send it.

Outside the big cities, the biggest hiring events are organised by regional Werkcentra, expat centres and universities rather than commercial fair organisers. Following the one for your region is the single most reliable way to catch company visits and job markets as they're announced — and most of them never appear on a national calendar at all.

Wondering which of these fits your situation, or how to approach the employers you'll meet there? Orange Expats helps international professionals build a career in the Netherlands. Book a free introductory call.