Burkens worked for the cabinet of the King's Commissioner of Gelderland between 1961 and 1964. He subsequently moved to the Ministry of the Interior where he worked in the constitutional law section until 1969. In September 1969 he was appointed as teacher of state and administrative law at the Netherlands School of Economics in Rotterdam. Two years later he was appointed as professor. In 1973 the School was renamed as Erasmus University Rotterdam. Burkens continued to work there until 1975. In October of that year he started as professor of state and administrative law at Utrecht University. He retired on 1 December 1995.
