American Expats Working in Ireland

epiped

I am graduating in a month from a U.S. university with a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. My grades are decent (above 3.5 GPA) and I have excellent work experience (NASA, lab research, etc.). I have even published some papers on testing FPGAs. Yet, I cannot seem to find any jobs in Ireland. Is it just impossible for an American to get a job in Ireland at the moment? Anyone have any advice that may help me find a job in Ireland, besides just searching monster.ie?

AARRRGH

Is the problem that no one will arrange a work visa?

You'd probably have a much much higher chance of getting a job if you were already in Ireland...

epiped

I think the visa issue is part of the problem. A lot of the jobs I apply to online (either through something like Monster.ie or a company's website) send me back a quick response saying they cannot "sponsor anyone at this time." My ideal job would be an electrical engineering job around Dublin with a company like Xilinx, Intel, etc. I just don't understand why they seem to be so reluctant to interview foreigners.

jon1981

theres alot of risk in the Electrical engineering job market in recent times and i dont see it getting much better, certainly not with the companies you have listed.

Tom Dunne

epiped wrote: »

I just don't understand why they seem to be so reluctant to interview foreigners.

You could say the same about companies in the US not wanting to hire foreign workers - one would imagine it would cost them more in terms of organising work permits etc.

machiavellianme

Intel are letting people go here. Xilinx arent much better. I'm Irish and have a PhD in Electronic Eng and I'm finding it hard to get anything in Dublin. I'm beginning to think theres nothing out there. Have you tried Ericsson? They seem to be the only people hiring.

AARRRGH

epiped wrote: »

I just don't understand why they seem to be so reluctant to interview foreigners.

Trust me, there are LOADS of foreigners working in Ireland

You just happen to from outside the EU.

I would probably have a difficult time getting a job in the US...

DublinWriter

epiped wrote: »

I just don't understand why they seem to be so reluctant to interview foreigners.

Probably for the same reason that US Companies are reluctant to interview foreigners - visa issues.

AFAIK we don't have the same H1B sponsorship scheme you have in the US.

Secondly, US Degrees are really discounted here in Europe and are looked upon as being lesser-qualifications, unless you graduated from an Ivy-League college.

You'll also have to realise the subtle cultural differences. Concepts like the GPA are completely unknown outside of the states.

AlphaMale 3OO

This might be bigotted and I'm not directing this at you OP but sometimes when I see Americans struggling to get a visa here I feel like the teeniest weeniest bit of satisfaction. I've been trying to find every little loophole in the system to work in the states but its just impossible despite good qualifications. Time you Americans got a taste of your own medecine!:) Of course I dont mean that in a bad way.

epiped

Ah, I was under the impression that Ireland's engineering economy was really booming. I did not know that major companies there were letting go of EEs. Any other suggestions in terms of companies that may be hiring?

How should I market myself in terms of grades? What is the equivalent of a GPA there?

What about the odds of getting into a PHD program at a school like Trinity or UCD? Impossible for a foreign average student?

I just want to get to Ireland! Gotta have that Dublin culture in my life...

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

epiped

Thanks for the list of companies. I have actually already looked into all of those without success. I am not limiting myself to Dublin at all, anywhere in Ireland would be great. Anyone else know of any more companies hiring at the moment?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

DublinWriter

epiped wrote: »

What about the odds of getting into a PHD program at a school like Trinity or UCD? Impossible for a foreign average student?

There are quite a number of industry sponsored PhD programmes in many Irish third level institutions. As a non-EU citizen, the fees would be out the window for you if you went for a unfunded PhD.

epiped wrote: »

I just want to get to Ireland! Gotta have that Dublin culture in my life...

I don't mean to be sound rude, but have you ever been over here, even for a holiday? Many Americans have a very skewed view of Ireland that seems to have been based on Derby O'Gill and the Little People.

Another company you might want to approach in the states to work here is APC.

AARRRGH

epiped wrote: »

What about the odds of getting into a PHD program at a school like Trinity or UCD?

This would be a route alright. It'd be expensive though!

Why not come on a holiday visa and spend a few months here?

epiped

DublinWriter wrote: »

I don't mean to be sound rude, but have you ever been over here, even for a holiday? Many Americans have a very skewed view of Ireland that seems to have been based on Derby O'Gill and the Little People.

Yes, I have been to Ireland many times. I have rented a car and driven all around the country twice. I even recently married in Dublin. My wife (who is also American) went to UCD and wants to move back to Dublin.

hunnymonster

.

Cadet?

.