Every day more and more Europeans are feeling like working and living in a European Country other than their own, with the aim of expanding their horizons and growing, but also with an understanding of how crucial is to bring a fresh perspective into a new working environment.

Today, we would like to talk about the EURES TMS project’s positive role in supporting employers in the complex search for professional profiles in other European Countries. For this reason, we interviewed Remco Leurs, a physiotherapist, entrepreneur, and manager of Fysiopoint. This time, we move to the Netherlands among windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, and a lot of bicycles.

The winner of TEmpL 2021

Offering a quality traineeship and fair remuneration, offering an integration programme, and hiring the candidate after the experience with EURES TMS: these are some of the criteria that made it possible for Fysiopoint to receive the Top Employer quality Label 2021. We contacted Dr. Remco Leurs for a brief online interview to have him talk about his work and his experiences with the trainee and with EURES TMS: “Our main focus is on manual therapy and rehabilitation. In the studio I founded and have been managing, there are also other specialized professionals who complete the team.”

The EURES TMS project

We asked Remco Leurs how he got in touch with the EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme project: “Giuseppe, the Italian physiotherapist I hired as a trainee, contacted us because he was interested in collaborating with us, and he introduced us to EURES TMS. To find out about this project was a wonderful surprise and a chance to have a new experience.”

The relationship with the trainee

“Giuseppe is an excellent worker and, in fact, after the traineeship, I decided to hire him and make him part of my team. He is currently putting a lot of effort into learning Dutch, which is necessary for him to be completely integrated and to continue growing both personally and professionally. As I said, he is an excellent physiotherapist, I see a lot of growth opportunities for him. Although learning Dutch is really challenging and takes time, I’m sure that with practice, he will manage soon to interact with patients.”

Traineeship means…

We continue the interview by asking Dr. Remco what it meant for him to dedicate himself and his time to a trainee: “Hosting a trainee means having a lot of time to dedicate to him, and it’s not always possible when you run a business with many people and many patients to follow; I chose to do it because I needed a new figure to include in my team. Another reason that prompted me to host Giuseppe is that, as often happens with other professions, it is not easy to find physiotherapists in the Netherlands. Few younger Dutch choose “manual” profession like physiotherapy; instead, they prefer to work in the field of technology and innovation.” In conclusion, EURES TMS is a great opportunity to locate motivated new employees — we never get tired of saying it. The importance of networks like EURES and projects like EURES TMS is crucial in the European labour market that is becoming more dynamic and wider. To maximise chances of matching employment supply and demand, we would like to link companies and jobseekers across Europe. We are managing this by offering support, information, and financial benefit.

The benefits

The profession of physiotherapist needs a high level of communication with patients. Therefore, it’s important to be fluent in the language of the nation you want to work in. Remco Leurs agrees with us, saying that: “A benefit proposed by EURES TMS that I believe is very important is the language course. It is crucial, especially in our work, to have the possibility to speak the language you need with your patients.” This benefit allows request for up to two courses’ worth of reimbursement (of different levels). As the last question, we asked Remco how he felt after learning of the TEmpL’s recognition: “Receiving a label is quite satisfying. It feels good to be picked and have your training effort acknowledged as being of a top-quality.”

We thank Remco for the time he has dedicated us and for his quality work. We wish him and Giuseppe to continue their professional adventure together!

Receiving a label is quite satisfying. It feels good to be picked and have your training effort acknowledged as being of a top-quality.