13 October 2021 3 min

Relocate together to the Netherlands

Cristian & Laura

Bol.com focuses on talented people from all over the world. This time we landed in Romania, where we met two of our tech colleagues who changed their lives to work in the Netherlands. With our relocation policy, we helped them step by step to move to Utrecht. In this blog, they’ll tell everything about this adventure and their experiences with relocating during Corona. Interested in working at bol.com as well? Or do you have any questions about relocating? Don’t hesitate, just ask!

We talked to Cristian and Laura, both Software Engineers at bol.com. They used to live in Romania but left their country eleven years ago to study in the United Kingdom. That’s where they met and where their love story started. After three different countries and nine different cities, Utrecht will be their tenth city to live in. This time, they’ll settle for the long run. They feel Utrecht is their place to be.

Falling in love with the Netherlands

“One of the cities we lived in, was Dusseldorf (2018). This place is located close to the Dutch border. On weekends we often crossed the border and enjoyed some trips to this beautiful country. We’ve been to Amsterdam and Utrecht a couple of times. We had no further plans yet, but we said to each other: we would like to live here one day. We fell in love with this country and decided to relocate to the Netherlands.”

The relocation process

“Relocating during Corona was quite exciting. We had a lot of questions and a couple of stressful moments about whether it was even possible to relocate. We were afraid that the borders would close and that flights would be canceled. We thought that we would be stuck in Germany. Fortunately, Rutger, recruiter at bol.com, was our main point of contact and he helped us a lot. He understood our situation and answered all of our questions.”

“We received a lot of help while moving and settling here. Bol.com works with EMG for the relocation process. They helped us with everything, including finding a nice apartment. Also, the bol.com colleagues were being very supportive and kind to us. We chose a very strange time to change jobs. But everything went well and we’re here to stay!?”

Tech at bol.com something for you?

Syreetha Mijnals Recruiter

Working at bol.com

“We were both very interested in working at bol.com. We applied together and we work in the same home office now. Working at home as a couple can be an advantage, but the risk is that we never disconnect. In our free time, we still talk about our workday together. It helps that we’re working in different teams. We both have our own topics, in that way we keep things separated.”

“Bol.com has a large volume of customers so it’s a challenge from a technical and business-wise perspective. Besides that, we loved the culture and wanted to be a part of that. There are modern technologies, the people are very open and you’re free to make your own choices with your team. We really appreciated that.”

“We’re sure that every software engineer wants to work at bol.com. Very modern technologies in this company give you a lot of opportunities. You can always learn in this company because of the big tech community and there’s a high focus on quality. It’s also important that everyone is doing a good job. Besides that, the work-life balance is taken into account. We really enjoy our free weekends. In our spare time, we often explore this beautiful city and the rest of the country.”

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