Affiliations: [a]
Antes Center for Mental Health Care, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| [b] Department of Early Psychosis ABC, Altrecht Institute for Mental Health Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| [c] Foundation Rehabilitation ’92, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Venu Nieuwenhuizen, Antes, Max Euwelaan 1, 3062 MA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 612608082; E-mail: v.nieuwenhuizen@antesgroep.nl.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:People with serious mental illness (SMI) also want a job. Most employers shy away from recruiting staff with an increased risk of absence due to ill health. The Dutch situation may be of interest to other countries because employers are reluctant to hire staff due to the strong legal position of workers. This strong legal position protects workers in case of dismissal. In addition, employers are obliged to maintain salary commitments to workers in case of illness for an extended period of time. OBJECTIVE:What are the most effective strategies for employment specialists to use in order to make contact with potential employers? If it works in the Netherlands, we suggest, it will work in other countries as well. METHODS:We interviewed successful Dutch employment specialists: individually as well in a focus group. A three-step analysis process inspired by grounded theory was used. RESULTS:We describe nine effective strategies for establishing contact with potential employers. CONCLUSION:Networking strategies are considered to be the most effective.
