Amsterdam...Job & Accomodation websites

Rowley Birkin QC

Hi, I might be moving to Amsterdam for a few months, possibly longer.

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations of job sites and daft.ie equivalents?

Also, what kind of rent/cost of living etc. can be expected there? I've visited before for a week with college but to be honest the details are hazy at best.:o:o


Cheers.

Typewriter

I lived in Amsterdam (from the age of 19 -21) for 1 and a half years and my advice is don’t go there!

Everybody especially employers just label you as a druggie sex pervert once they hear that you lived there. It doesn't matter about your skills or weather you even look twice at a coffee shop.

I’m 24 now and finished my degree and i still get 'dude where's my car?' treatment.


But If you’re still up for it try 'Manpower' or 'Kelly services' (recruitment agencies) for jobs. And there was a company called 'students for students' that i used to find my first place.

Rowley Birkin QC

Really?? Are employers really that bad??

My girlfriend got offered a great contract there for 12 months and I wouldn't mind living abroad for a few months as I never did the J1 during college or traveled to Oz or Asia. The main attraction for me is the fact that living there opens up the whole continent for easy travel.

Rowley Birkin QC

Any other views?

I had a meeting with some of my lecturers this morning and they recommended that I go for it. I did my dissertation on a topic thats highly relevant in the Netherlands so that's a bonus too.

The more I think about it companies would have to be pretty immature to take a dim view of someone based on the fact they lived in Amsterdam for a few months. It is one of the more progressive cities in Europe in my profession.

The Gnome

Hey Kev, thinking of moving out there myself soon. Here's a few of the sites I've been using to suss things out.

Accomodation
www.koopsmakelaardij.nl
www.xpatrentals.com
www.woonhuis.nl
www.estata.nl

Work
www.jobsinamsterdam.com
www.xpatjobs.com
www.undutchables.nl
jobs.expatica.com/nl

eoinshan

Kev,
The daft equivalent, with most of the rental listings, is Funda; http://www.funda.nl/huur/ Most of them will be long-term lettings.

For short term lettings or sublettings, try the classifieds and forums on Expatica - http://www.expatica.com/nl/main.html

Rowley Birkin QC

Cheers dude. My girlfriend got a contract there for 12 months with Tourism Ireland and I have a Masters lined up here but it doesn't start until January of next year so I'm thinking of heading out there with her in the meantime. If I get a job then that's pretty sweet and if not I have the safety net of the MSc.

The head of my course is Dutch too so he is being pretty helpful too, setting me up with a few contacts out there and giving me a reference in Dutch.

craichoe

eoinshan wrote: »

Kev,
The daft equivalent, with most of the rental listings, is Funda; http://www.funda.nl/huur/ Most of them will be long-term lettings.

For short term lettings or sublettings, try the classifieds and forums on Expatica - http://www.expatica.com/nl/main.html

+1

http://www.funda.nl
Don't bother with any other websites ... NVM Bonded Makelaars are your only port of call, the non NVM makelaars are well dodgy.

For freelance contracts try
http://www.freelance.nl

I lived in Amsterdam (from the age of 19 -21) for 1 and a half years and my advice is don’t go there!

Everybody especially employers just label you as a druggie sex pervert once they hear that you lived there. It doesn't matter about your skills or weather you even look twice at a coffee shop.

I’m 24 now and finished my degree and i still get 'dude where's my car?' treatment.


But If you’re still up for it try 'Manpower' or 'Kelly services' (recruitment agencies) for jobs. And there was a company called 'students for students' that i used to find my first place.

Absolute boll0cks.

Rowley Birkin QC

craichoe wrote: »

Absolute boll0cks.

Was kind of thinking that myself, employers would have to be pretty immature to be thinking along those lines.

Cheers for the tips craichoe.

Tuesday_Girl

craichoe wrote: »

+1

http://www.funda.nl
Don't bother with any other websites ... NVM Bonded Makelaars are your only port of call, the non NVM makelaars are well dodgy.

For freelance contracts try
http://www.freelance.nl



Absolute boll0cks.

Never heard the likes of it myself either. Dozens of my friends have moved back to Ireland over the years and have all done very well career-wise based on their experience gained here. Don't recall any of them being labelled as druggie sex perverts :rolleyes:

craichoe

Hey bigkev,

One other thing, when you come to Holland you'll want to meet people of course,

http://www.legalaliens.eu/amsterdam.asp

I've been here for 2 years living in the South of Holland, theres around 900 people in the group and a mailing list +events and stuff that's organised.

Handy to have a large base of expats for help and questions too

Tuesday_Girl

craichoe wrote: »

Hey bigkev,

One other thing, when you come to Holland you'll want to meet people of course,

http://www.legalaliens.eu/amsterdam.asp

I've been here for 2 years living in the South of Holland, theres around 900 people in the group and a mailing list +events and stuff that's organised.

Handy to have a large base of expats for help and questions too

I'm in Amsterdam so if you need any information specific to there let me know!

Rowley Birkin QC

Razzle wrote: »

I'm in Amsterdam so if you need any information specific to there let me know!

Cheers Razzle, reviving this thread as we are heading over in a few weeks.

I've tried e-mailing a few Irish bars but haven't got many replies, is it tough to pick up this kind of work in Amsterdam at the moment?

I'm also e-mailing consultancies in the Netherlands with a view to working in the field of my professional qualification, my question is would it be feasible to work in say Rotterdam or The Hague and live in Amsterdam? I spent a week there about 18 months ago and we travelled pretty widely around the Randstad, I was extremely impressed with the travel infrastructure but what would it be like on a workday basis.

Thanks in advance.

craichoe

bigkev49 wrote: »

Cheers Razzle, reviving this thread as we are heading over in a few weeks.

I've tried e-mailing a few Irish bars but haven't got many replies, is it tough to pick up this kind of work in Amsterdam at the moment?

I'm also e-mailing consultancies in the Netherlands with a view to working in the field of my professional qualification, my question is would it be feasible to work in say Rotterdam or The Hague and live in Amsterdam? I spent a week there about 18 months ago and we travelled pretty widely around the Randstad, I was extremely impressed with the travel infrastructure but what would it be like on a workday basis.

Thanks in advance.

The Public Transport is pretty reliable, maybe less so in Winter. Commuting from Amsterdam to The Hague would be tough after a while, one person i know working with me did it, and it took him over an hour to get home and he lived very close to Centraal, not only that but if you miss your train by even a minute your stuffed and have to wait another 30 minutes.

Your employer should cover most of your travel costs, although I'm not sure if it applys if you didnt have accomodation BEFORE you got the job.

You could do it, but expect to spend 2 - 3 hours of your day travelling to and from work.

If your looking for a Job in your profession than ask the employer about the 30% Ruling !

Makes a huge difference and you cant apply for it after you get here !
http://www.belastingdienst.nl/variabel/buitenland/en/private_taxpayers/private_taxpayers-109.html

Its basically and extra weeks wages every month for 10 years

JamMasterG

Hey Bigkev,

Just happened upon this thread a few weeks ago.

May I ask are you in holland now? How did you get on with the job hunt?

I'm heading there in a couple of months myself and will be in the same boat pretty much, just looking for casual work around amsterdam or one of the towns to the south and just wondering how easy or hard casual work is to get?
Cheers

Rowley Birkin QC

JamMasterG wrote: »

Hey Bigkev,

Just happened upon this thread a few weeks ago.

May I ask are you in holland now? How did you get on with the job hunt?

I'm heading there in a couple of months myself and will be in the same boat pretty much, just looking for casual work around amsterdam or one of the towns to the south and just wondering how easy or hard casual work is to get?
Cheers

No worries man. Yeah I'm here now, spent the first 10 days trawling the jobs websites, missed out on a grand job teaching English by two days, other 9-5 jobs were pretty hard to come by. I ended up falling back on my experience as a barman and I'm now working in an Irish pub off Dam Sq. Got that by going in for a pint and chatting hurling to the manager for a while.

As for accommodation, it's a nightmare. Every single ad on Craigslist seems to be fake. Use the websites that the lads in this thread recommended to me.

Best of luck.

While I'm here, does anyone know of an equivalent website to adverts.ie over here? I'm looking to buy weights and they are horribly expensive in the shops.

denhaagenite

Hey try www.maarkplaats.nl , or maybe the kringlopen will have them if you're lucky!!

Tuesday_Girl

bigkev49 wrote: »

While I'm here, does anyone know of an equivalent website to adverts.ie over here? I'm looking to buy weights and they are horribly expensive in the shops.

http://www.marktplaats.nl/ or http://www.tweedehands.nl/

Search on Gewichten

Good luck with the job, I'll probably see you in there over the weekend

JamMasterG

B.T.W.
Anyone know what these letters stand for when it comes to renting a room? Agent keeps slapping these extra charges on the price. I was getting the place for 400 a month, then 80 extra for water/gas and whatever and now there's a mysterious extra 19% BTW whatever that is?

I'm just a bit wary cause that dude that saying how his rental agent was trying to shaft him for every euro.

Apologies for my exasperating amount of questions

Tuesday_Girl

JamMasterG wrote: »

B.T.W.
Anyone know what these letters stand for when it comes to renting a room? Agent keeps slapping these extra charges on the price. I was getting the place for 400 a month, then 80 extra for water/gas and whatever and now there's a mysterious extra 19% BTW whatever that is?

I'm just a bit wary cause that dude that saying how his rental agent was trying to shaft him for every euro.

Apologies for my exasperating amount of questions

Hi JamMasterG,

BTW (Belasting over de toegevoegde waarde) is the same as VAT and it can indeed be as high as 19%.

It's been a while since I rented but normally a rental price like the 400 you mention would include any such taxes, I've heard of friends paying 19% BTW on commission to rental agents but not on the monthly rent itself unless it was a business premises. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know whether what he's doing is right or wrong but it's worth following up on.

Regarding service costs, gas, water, unless specified these are not included in rent and need to be paid additionally (either as per the bills or a fix amount agreed with the landlord)