Getting a job in another EU country?

Dave!

Hey folks,

I've just lost the job that I've had for the past few months, and was thinking rather than trying to get another job here in Ireland, how difficult would it be to get a job for the next few months (til late June) in another EU country? I don't have another language, so that could be a problem. But I would think that there's some jobs that English would almost be as beneficial as say French -- like EuroDisney? Tourist areas like that would need English-speaking people, would they not? Or even say working on a farm, the language might not be vital.
(I would of course like to pick up the lingo over there, and probably do a course before I go over, but I don't have it ATM!)

So just wondering if anyone has experience in this, and maybe some websites that might help? Just toying with the idea for now.

Dave!

Anybody able to help me out here?

I've looked at EuroDisney's site: http://www.disneylandparis-casting.com/

But all the jobs seem to be advertised in French, which doesn't fill me with hope!

Thanks folks

mick.fr

That would be as difficult as a non english speaker coming to Ireland...
And in many other EU countries, there are too many jobless people and workers, so it is definitly not easy.

One EU country which is desesperatly looking for workers is Latva or Lithuania I do not remember sorry. The entire work force of the country is gone away, UK and Ireland.
The shops over here have no workers, they are so struggling to get workers that they authorised romanian people to come over and work...

Dave!

Thanks, anyone able to give me some information on this? Anyone gotten a job abroad before?

Afuera

The amount of hoops you have to jump through would depend on which EU country you plan on trying your luck in. You seem to be looking towards France which I can't imagine as being too straightforward (although maybe someone else can provide more details on this).
Currently I'm living in Barcelona and many of the expats here are doing dogsbody type work in bars and restaurants (often, but not necessarily always in touristy areas) or relying on the old fallback of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). Unfortunately without the local language it's difficult to get anything else unless you posess some highly sought after skill and are lucky enough to be able to find an internationally focused company which uses English as its lingua franca.
The good news, if I haven't already scared you away from the idea altogether, is that you can transfer your dole payments to any other EU country for a maximum of 3 months to see how things pan out. In the worst case scenario you'll have to come back three months later, without any money, a little bit wiser and after picking up on some of the culture and language of your destination.

Mr. Presentable

Well, England is another EU country, our closest neighbour, and you already know the language.

seamus

Speaking about France specifically, I'd say you'd be very lucky to get a job where you didn't need to speak French. For starters, the French can be very anal about their language. If you can't speak it, they won't make an effort to try and communicate with you, they'll just leave you struggling. I would also find it hard to believe that you could find a job *anywhere* with zero knowledge of the local language. Even here in Ireland, how many jobs can you think where someone with no English would get it? You would need at least a basic grasp of the language to get a job and then it would be the most menial, depressing thing you could find.

The UK is probably your best choice. Even then there are hoops to jump through, but it has more benefits than just the language;

1. You're a short hop home. Feeling homesick? Book a flight for tomorrow (or a ferry!), come home, go out on the lash, fly back to the UK.

2. All of your services are in English - public transport, taxis, government information, product packaging, etc etc etc. I'm in Brussels at the moment, and it took me nearly an hour last night to figure out properly how to get where I was going on a tram. Simply because there was no useful information anywhere in English.

3. It's a not a big culture difference. Now either is the EU, but it's a bigger difference than between Ireland and the UK. Living in another country is stressful enough without having to try and adjust to different cultural norms.

Jean05

I live in Italy and I would say definetely don't rush into moving abroad, even especially if you don't already have a job lined up.
English teaching isn't a bad gig, here in Italy it's got a better houly rate then many office jobs.
I think you would be putting yourself into a fairly vulnerable position not speaking the language, think of typical problems you might encounter in Ireland and how much worse they'd be if it happened in France (dodgy landlords, getting robbed, not being paid).
You'd probably want to think about accomodation too, (some English schools here help their teachers find accomodation) here in Italy the rents are about the same as Dublin but the wages wouldn't even be half as good as there. So think about the lifestyle you want to have once you come over.
I'd encourage you to buy some books (Magazenes?) about living and working in France. I think there's a series of books called 'Living and working in [country of your choice]...' that might be worth a look.
It is pretty cool to live abroad for a while, but it can work out being quite an expensive experience. Ideally, it would be great to get a job that relates to the work you intend to do once you come back to Ireland, at least that way you'd have some good work experience to show for it.

eth0_

seamus wrote:

Even here in Ireland, how many jobs can you think where someone with no English would get it?

In fairness, you frequently come across shop/service staff here in Dublin who have barely any English at all.

I wouldn't go to work in any foreign language country without knowing a basic bit of the language. Especially in France!

OfflerCrocGod

nipplenuts wrote:

Well, England is another EU country, our closest neighbour, and you already know the language.

Ye but it's hardly foreign now is it?

nesf

eth0_ wrote:

In fairness, you frequently come across shop/service staff here in Dublin who have barely any English at all.

Spoken maybe, but they might be able to read a lot better than they speak the language and even that much can make or break being in a foreign country.

eth0_ wrote:

I wouldn't go to work in any foreign language country without knowing a basic bit of the language. Especially in France!

Ditto. Especially regarding France.