You find a working student through the channels where students already are: the career or internship office of universities of applied sciences and research universities, job platforms, study associations and communities, your own network and recruitment agencies. No channel is always best; it depends on the role, your time and how much you want to do yourself. In 2025/26 more than 770,000 students were enrolled in higher education (preliminary CBS figure) [1], so there's no shortage of candidates.
Which channels are there?
- Study programmes. For internships at university and applied-sciences level, the government's business portal mentions job platforms, the programme's own internship office and sharing the vacancy on social media [2]. For working-student vacancies the same channels are a logical starting point.
- Job platforms and social media. You reach many people, but you have to assess responses and schedule interviews yourself.
- Communities and study associations. A direct route to students who are actively looking. VOIDS reaches more than 4,000 students and starters through a WhatsApp community and a job board; that's the size of the community, not of a talent pool [3].
- Your own network. Fast and familiar, but the reach is limited to people your network already knows.
- Recruitment and selection by an agency. The agency searches, selects and presents; you choose and sign the contract. At VOIDS you receive a pre-selected shortlist after the intake [4]. See our article on recruitment and selection, temp agencies or hiring yourself for the differences.
How do you make your vacancy findable and attractive?
Working higher-education students in the third quarter of 2023 most often worked as sales assistants in retail (10%), in hospitality (8%) or as shelf stockers (5%) [5]. A role that fits a degree programme, with concrete tasks, a clear number of hours a week, an hourly rate or range and room around exams, stands out from that. Write about the role, not about the candidate.
What should you watch before someone starts?
- Check identity and right to work before the first working day. According to UWV, students from outside the EEA with a residence permit for study may work at most 16 hours a week, or full-time in June, July and August, and the employer needs an employment permit for that [6].
- Put the terms in writing; our article on hiring a working student contains the checklist.
- Plan guidance and a fixed point of contact for the first month; see our article on onboarding.
What does VOIDS offer?
VOIDS offers two forms: recruitment and selection, and placing your vacancy in our community and on our job board. According to the website, vacancy posting has a fixed price per placement, determined by the reach of the chosen channels, or an ongoing variant at a fixed rate [3]. You receive specific amounts on request.
Sources
- CBS StatLine (2026): Hoger onderwijs; ingeschrevenen, onderwijssoort, opleidingsfase en -vorm (tabel 85423NED), accessed 11 October 2026.
- Ondernemersplein (Rijksoverheid): Checklist werken met een stagiair of stagiaire, accessed 11 October 2026.
- VOIDS: Community & jobboard, accessed 11 October 2026.
- VOIDS: Werving & selectie (incl. cases), accessed 11 October 2026.
- CBS (2023): Scholieren voortgezet onderwijs werkten derde kwartaal 11 uur per week (met tabellen gebruikelijke arbeidsduur en top 3 beroepen), accessed 11 October 2026.
- UWV: Werkvergunning werkstudent, accessed 11 October 2026.
Transparency: VOIDS connects working students with organisations and therefore has an interest in this topic. We back up facts with sources and connect research and trends to our own experience from practice.
