“We need someone junior” isn't a complete sentence. Junior can be an intern, a working student or a starter on a permanent contract from day one. Each solves a different problem, and the wrong choice costs more time than it saves.
When should you choose an intern?
An internship exists to teach, not to carry structural work: the Dutch government says an intern may not replace a regular employee [1]. Choose it for a bounded project with a clear start and end, like market research or a standalone tool, and only if you have time to guide someone properly. The government's business portal lists guidance, work that fits the study programme and agreements in an internship contract as the host company's duties [2]. An internship allowance is not mandatory by law unless a collective agreement says so [2]. The government wants to change that [3].
When should you choose a working student?
For work that recurs structurally, too big for an intern and too small for a full-time role. Think of running a sub-market, a recurring part of finance or content production that goes on every week. A working student has an employment contract and so a right to at least the minimum wage [1]. At VOIDS, working students typically work 4 to 24 hours a week; the cases on our website describe a duration of six months to more than a year [4]. Working higher-education students averaged 18.7 hours a week in 2023 [5].
When should you choose a starter?
A starter has finished studying and is available for full-time, structural work (at VOIDS, 40 hours). That fits a role that has outgrown part-time capacity, or when you want someone to own an outcome from day one. It's also the biggest step: a full-time contract, a higher salary and less room to “just try it out”.
What's the difference in cost and risk?
For an intern an allowance is not mandatory by law [2], but guidance takes time and the work may not replace that of a regular employee [1]. A working student sits in the middle: regular pay over fewer hours, on a fixed-term contract within the chain rule [6]. A starter is usually the biggest investment. As an employer you can't simply terminate a permanent contract; for business-economic reasons or long-term incapacity for work, for example, UWV permission is needed [7]. The bigger and more structural the work, the sooner a starter fits.
A simple way to choose
- Is the work temporary and bounded, with a learning goal? Intern.
- Is the work structural and does it fit in 4 to 24 hours a week? Working student.
- Is the work full-time and too big for part-time capacity? Starter.
- Do you want to get to know someone before making a permanent offer? Working student, with a path to a starter contract.
Can someone grow from intern to working student to starter?
Yes, and it's a logical route. An internship shows on a small scale whether someone fits, a working-student role shows whether they can also carry structural responsibility, and a starter contract is then a step with someone who already knows the organisation. That saves hiring and ramp-up time. Mind the chain rule, though: after more than three fixed-term contracts, or if the contracts together (gaps of at most six months included) cover more than 36 months, the last contract counts as permanent [6]. Clients in the cases on our website describe a move into a permanent role, for example at HotelPlanner [4].
In practice, these overlap
At Mila Health, three working students in Marketing each owned their own market (the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany) during the international expansion: too big for an internship, not yet ripe for three full-time starters. At Joulz, working students took on order-to-cash and purchase-to-pay, work that comes back every month. At Hubby, two working students went further than the average working-student role: as founder's associates they thought along at a strategic level. The pattern is always the same: look at the nature of the work, not at the lowest number on paper.
Sources
- Rijksoverheid: Heb ik recht op het minimumloon als ik stage loop?, accessed 11 October 2026.
- Ondernemersplein (Rijksoverheid): Checklist werken met een stagiair of stagiaire, accessed 11 October 2026.
- Rijksoverheid (2026): Kabinet wil stagevergoeding verplichten, accessed 11 October 2026.
- VOIDS: Voor bedrijven: werkstudenten, cases en werkwijze, 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.
- wetten.overheid.nl: Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, artikel 668a (ketenregeling), geldend per 1 juli 2026, accessed 11 October 2026.
- Rijksoverheid: Wanneer eindigt mijn arbeidsovereenkomst?, 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.
