Schiphol security companies turning down applicants over long commute
Despite some 800 vacancies still open for security guards at Schiphol, security companies at the airport are turning away applicants because they live too far away, De Telegraaf reports. Staff shortages in security have caused hours-long lines at the Amsterdam airport since April 23, the first weekend of the May holidays.
“This is very stupid. The tighter the market, the bigger your pond has to be,” Joost van Doesburg, the campaign manager for trade union FNV at the airport, said to the newspaper. He has often criticized the airport for not improving working conditions to attract more staff.
In August, Schiphol CEO Dick Benschop and financial chief Robert Carsouw said that money was not the problem in the airport’s struggle to fill vacancies. “There are just no hands to be found.” But that is not the case, according to De Telegraaf. Companies at Schiphol are just too selective in who they hire.
Lelystad man Bjorn Blom had applied to be a security guard at Schiphol but was turned down because the commute would be too long, his father Bert told the newspaper. “Bjorn has worked at Schiphol before. When it turned out they were looking for hundreds of people, he applied for a job at I-Sec, but was rejected because he lived 18 kilometers too far away,” Bert Blom said, showing the newspaper the rejection email with the reason included.
The persistent hours-long queues at Schiphol’s security checks have prompted the airport to limit the number of departing passengers time and again. Airlines now have to restrict their passengers until at least March next year. Dick Benschop has since stepped down as CEO of the Netherlands' largest airport amidst criticism that he was too absent at the height of the chaos.
