He was a civil servant and was going to school to become a judge. He was a "sit in" Judge (meaning it was part of his schooling) and he always had someone over seeing his court work before a judgement would be set in a case he over saw. He went to Holland to take his finals to be a full time judge and he failed his exams, this also took him away from being a sit in judge. (He failed about 1 week before Natalee came up missing when he failed his exams)
Think of a doctor in training... before he earns his PHD. The doctor in training takes his exams at the end of his on the job training and if he fails he has to start back over with training. PVDS does not get a second chance to become a judge, so most likely he would have returned to his civil servant job (possibly a teacher on the islands payroll), but they suspended him after Joran was arrested. So he most likely never went back into his old position before he decided to try and become a judge.
Go back and read a few pages back for more info.
I have read elsewhere that PVDS' "regular" job was liaison between the Aruban gov't and the Dutch gov't.
Didn't Greta say that Daddy VDS told her that he was a judge?