In an interview with E52 Kavitha Varathan – one of the founders of Expat Spouses Initiative (ESI) on the High Tech Campus, explained the reasons for the current talent gap and provided solutions to the problem entailed in projects and initiatives ESI is working on.
Problem The main problem with the spouses of the internationals who come in Eindhoven because their partners have found a job here is that although they are highly educated they cannot find a job. “The root of the problem is that it is not fair to hire one person and leave out the other person and it is especially not fair when the present day society is so international”, stated Varathan. She believes that there are several reasons for this spouses’ conundrum.
Reasons First, according to her the environment is not ready. What she means with this is that companies want talent but they do not know where to look for it. There are talents in these international families who are unfortunately compelled to stay at home because they need a professional system where they can operate as equal professional players. Companies are still not ready to look at internationals as professional segments, Varathan elaborated.
Second, Varathan also pointed out that spouses do not feel ready to start working after they have moved here. Usually what happens with the spouses is that they need at least six months to settle in the new city and environment, to find schools for their kids, to try to build a network. Thus, they do not think about their professional development, “they do not think that they are making a professional decision by moving here but that they are just following their partners”, she added.
Third, in Varathan’s view a main obstacle for the professional development of these highly educated spouses is that the majority of the opportunities are not open to internationals since they are in Dutch.
