Working in Italy

AnnyHallsal

I've been working on a (very) part-time for the past year and am increasingly thinking of greener pastures - specifically Italy. I've a degree and a PhD in a humanities subject but no TEFL or proper professional experience, other than tutorials and grinds. I also have zero Italian. Does anyone know anything about the state of the jobs market there? Is this pipe dreaming?

Miss Mimsy

AnnyHallsal wrote: »

I've been working on a (very) part-time for the past year and am increasingly thinking of greener pastures - specifically Italy. I've a degree and a PhD in a humanities subject but no TEFL or proper professional experience, other than tutorials and grinds. I also have zero Italian. Does anyone know anything about the state of the jobs market there? Is this pipe dreaming?

Hi OP,

My friend is currently in Italy (milan) at he moment and has been there for the past year. She is doing TELF for a college over there. I speak to her fairly regularly and she says that she is barely scrapping by. She has an MBA but is finding it impossible to get any full time paying job. Her main goal in going was to spread her wings and see the world and learn to speak italian. It has been a year and her italian has improved greatly but she says she still has problems because it is a learn as you go style she is using. Although she says nearly everyone speaks english out there so it isn't a major problem. She found it hard for the first few months to make friends etc but after a year over there she loves the place and you couldn't get wild horses to drag her away now But in terms of the jobs front well she says it is hard to get anything outside of TEFL or the service industry etc. Although the types of jobs she is going for is in marketing so that may be a factor.

AnnyHallsal

Thanks, that's really helpful! I suspected it would be as such - there isn't much you can do if you don't speak the language.

Miss Mimsy

I wouldn't give up hope yet my friend says there is a good few students studying in Milan in 1 year masters who have no italian and they are getting on grand so in may be a scary prospect in going over without the language but if you feel up the challenge then why not give it a shot. At the very least it would be an interesting holiday

Why don't you just start learning Italian if you're interested in Italy? It's one of the easier languages to pick up. Obviously you won't have your pick of jobs but it will greatly help and once you're there you'll improve quickly.

Nody

There are very few jobs in Italy to get even for the locals; during the boom years I had several meet several Italians over here working because they could not get a job back home. Some even returned home and returned to Ireland because they could not find a job either so I'd lean towards pipe dream honestly.

AnnyHallsal

Cheers guys. Izzy, I'm going to try the Rosetta Stone approach anyway as I love the culture and plan to return in the years ahead.

robydrupo

That's right, there are not a lot of jobs out there, but in Milan you will have the best chances to get one, as it is the main italian financial centre.

A very good suggestion is to start learning italian before going there as very few people are able to have a decent english conversation.

You might start watching movies in Italian with english subtitles to get used to the accent and, as soon as your comprehension is at least good, you can start listening to italian radios like "Radio Deejay" http://www.deejay.it/dj/radio/onair/lowdef?go=ow

Good luck!
Roberto

Tchaikovsky

You could try some of the smaller towns in the north (outside of Turin, Genoa, Milan); I get the impression Italy is the kind of place where you have to go and look for a teaching job, rather than applying from Ireland.

Italian should be no bother if you have a grasp of French or Spanish.. it's all Latin anyway

robydrupo

well the smaller town you go, the fewer working options you get.
I think Milan is a good choice and yes, starting as a english teacher could be a good solution.
For your italian might be a good idea a language exchange with a person interested in learning english, there should a fairly amount of people looking for a english mother tongue.