For Utrecht, the depth of the regional labour market is becoming part of the retention proposition: people can change jobs without having to leave the place they have built their lives in.
A job brings an international professional to a region, but whether they stay often depends on what happens when that first job ends. Careers move, people are promoted, projects close, ambitions shift and companies restructure. When someone’s entire connection to a place runs through one employer, changing jobs can mean leaving the region altogether, taking with them all the effort invested in attracting them.
Robert Snoeijenbos, Managing Director of Utrecht International Center, describes a regional model built, in effect, to close that exit. The Utrecht region is home to universities, research institutions, established companies, start-ups, scale-ups and public organisations working on major societal challenges within a relatively small, well-connected area, with strong ecosystems such as Utrecht, Heart of Health contributing to innovation and talent development.
As he puts it, “people can develop their careers, expand their professional networks and explore new opportunities without having to leave the region.”
This points to a different way of thinking about retention. An employer can offer a job, but only a region can offer the next one, and the one after that, without requiring someone to uproot the life they have built.
Depth as a retention strategy
Most retention thinking focuses on the individual: helping people settle, supporting their families and making them feel welcome. Utrecht’s argument is more structural. The depth of the regional labour market can itself support retention by reducing the stakes of any single career decision.
In a shallow market, changing employer may mean leaving the region, so people who outgrow their role often move away entirely. In a deeper one, a professional ready for a change can find a new position, move into a different sector, take up a research role or join a start-up within commuting distance of the life they have already built: the home, the school, the friendships and the partner’s job. The career move happens within the region rather than beyond it. Utrecht’s central position in the Netherlands extends those possibilities further, putting much of the national economy within reach without requiring relocation.
This is why Snoeijenbos frames the offer as the region rather than the vacancy. International professionals, he notes, increasingly look beyond a single employer: “They want access to opportunities, professional networks, personal development and a place where they can build a future.” A vacancy may answer the first year; a regional market can support a much longer career.
Making the regional labour market work
A concentration of employers does not automatically create a labour market in which people can move easily from one opportunity to another. That requires connections between employers, knowledge institutions and other organisations, as well as support for people at different stages of their careers.
The Utrecht region coordinates some of this work through initiatives such as the Utrecht Talent Alliance, bringing public, private and knowledge partners together from recruitment and onboarding to career development and lifelong learning. The aim is to help people identify new opportunities, develop the skills they need and move into their next role without having to leave the region.
Utrecht International Center plays a role when international professionals and their families first arrive, helping with the practicalities of relocation and settling in. By helping people establish a life in the region, this work can also make a later change of employer more likely to remain just that: a change of job rather than a change of country.
A stronger way to retain talent
Seen this way, success is not simply a question of how many people a region attracts, but how many can build careers that outlast their first employer without leaving. That is harder both to achieve and to measure, yet it offers a more durable form of competitiveness than continuously trying to out-recruit rival regions. A place where people can continue to grow professionally has a stronger chance of retaining them as their careers evolve.
For Snoeijenbos, this is where the competition is heading. The strongest regional proposition may not be the most compelling recruitment campaign or the most generous relocation package, but a simple promise: here, you can change your job without changing your life. This is reinforced by the Dutch ecosystem approach, in which regional specialisations and national collaboration help talent build long-term careers and remain connected to both the region and the country.
For a mobile professional deciding where to build a future, that can be a more substantial offer than any single vacancy. It is also something no individual employer can provide on its own.
This article is part of Talent Attraction: Practitioner Perspectives, a series of six perspectives from people shaping talent strategy in cities and regions. For the wider picture, drawn from 43 places, see The State of Talent Attraction 2026: From Campaigns to Infrastructure.
Utrecht is also featured in the Talent Attraction Leaders Europe & North America special edition.
