Anyone living in Brussels?

seachto7

Hi guys unt girls,

Anyone living in Brussels? I am thinking of heading over in September. The usual story. I've been told you are better off being on the ground when it comes to looking for a job.

Would Air B&B be a good recommendation for getting short term accommodation or is there a local type of site I could be using?

I come from a communications and languages background, and was tipped off that it would be worth my while heading over. (while I'm getting my documentation together for a Canadian visa!)

Asmooh

seachto7 wrote: »

Hi guys unt girls,

Anyone living in Brussels? I am thinking of heading over in September. The usual story. I've been told you are better off being on the ground when it comes to looking for a job.

Would Air B&B be a good recommendation for getting short term accommodation or is there a local type of site I could be using?

I come from a communications and languages background, and was tipped off that it would be worth my while heading over. (while I'm getting my documentation together for a Canadian visa!)

Excuse me? Belgium doesn't have jobs.. do you speak Dutch or French? if Yes, you would make a chance but Belgium does not have that many jobs, maybe for the holiday at the sea side but Brussel is a big city with a lot of people without jobs.

seachto7

Well, I can only go on what I have heard first hand from people working there in a particular area. Dublin isn't much better!

Asmooh

seachto7 wrote: »

Well, I can only go on what I have heard first hand from people working there in a particular area. Dublin isn't much better!

I don't really know, I am a native Dutch speaker and I get job opportunities in Dublin (and area) all the time, don't even have to search for them.

seachto7

I would imagine it's an advantage being a native Dutch speaker in Ireland. How many Irish people speak Dutch!?

Is it that bad in Belgium? I applied for about five or six jobs in Brussels in the last few weeks, but no guarantee I will hear back from any of them though.

Asmooh

seachto7 wrote: »

I would imagine it's an advantage being a native Dutch speaker in Ireland. How many Irish people speak Dutch!?

Is it that bad in Belgium? I applied for about five or six jobs in Brussels in the last few weeks, but no guarantee I will hear back from any of them though.

Actually in Belgium specially in Brussel they are more looking for French speaking people with knowledge of Dutch, maybe you are lucky (Which I hope for you) but it won't be easy, specially because they refuse to speak English/Dutch in Brussel and stick to French

seachto7

Well,I speak French,so who knows. I just need to get out of Ireland!

Magico Gonzalez

8.5% unemployment steadily from 2013, Brussels is not necessarily the obvious choice. I should stop now though, I really really don't like the place.

seachto7

That bad? I would have though, being an international city, there'd be a buzz about the place.

London it is so and it's prohibitive cost of living

Magico Gonzalez

seachto7 wrote: »

That bad? I would have though, being an international city, there'd be a buzz about the place.

London it is so and it's prohibitive cost of living

Don't take my word for it, am sure there are many who will say differently. Not a place I ever warmed to, been a few times either for tourism or work. I did like Antwerp and Ghent so it's not a problem I have with Belgium in general !

Different topic, for me the easiest way to work abroad is join a multinational company, do well and express an interest in an overseas posting. It can be hard to turn up without a job and try to better the local job candidates. Why are you better than someone fluent in the local language, why are you better than someone currently working in the country (more "rooted" than you, less likely to up and leave) etc...all questions you'd need to answer. Benelux countries don't suffer from lack of English speakers and have very good education systems so english speaking / irish educated is going to be a hard sell for you in Benelux countries.

seachto7

Very good points

SpaceTime

It depends on what you're doing.

There's the Brussels Bubble effect around the EU institutions but you need specific skills, qualifications, experience and interests.

The general Belgian job market is far more locally focused and wouldn't be particularly easy to break into without Dutch and French.

I'd agree too, there's no shortage of English speakers but there is a perception that certain jobs need native level English but, that's also very sector specific stuff.

Antwerp is nice but the local politics are quite openly hostile to non-locals. It even attempted to impose a non-Flanders tax for anyone moving there from outside the region.

I actually think Brussels itself gets an unfair reputation though. It's not the worst spot and can be quite good fun. You just have to accept that it has an area around the city centre which is equivalent to Dublin's North inner city and is a bit grim and run down. The suburbs are nice and aspects of centre are very nice.

Cost of living is not that bad, more so in terms of quality of apartments for the price.

Public transport is absolutely excellent and overall I found it quite an ok spot with a lot of leafy suburbs and parks.

It's not as pretty as some places and it's definitely got social problems but it makes up for that by not taking itself too seriously and having a fairly buzzing international community, quirky places to eat, lots of artsy stuff going on.

It's not a city that you'll find all that's stuff straight away in though. You'll need local knowledge.

The biggest downside to it for me is I find it quite dirty and disorganised. We used to have tons of garbage blowing down our street in winter and it was entirely down to having bins collected in little bags.

Paving is also shockingly bad in places. One of the only places I've ever fallen flat on my face due to dodgy paths!

Roadworks also seem to go on indefinitely. So get used to the infamous diversion signs!

Overall the local authority is not really a model of efficient or competence.

Overall I found the Belgians pretty friendly though. Just you will absolutely need to speak French at least and certainly know a few polite phrases in Dutch just as a social lubricant with shop keepers and that kind of thing.

Living in an English speaking bubble is possible but it'll cut you off from the locals big time.

Basically if you just see Brussels as what it is - a bit chaotic and a by gritty but with nice parts, you'll start to see a different side to it.

Amsterdam is a bit like that too. You can be very put out by the tacky tourism and the seedy sides of it. Brussels wouldn't be quite so seedy but it's certainly gritty and often grotty!

On the plus side at least they finally upgraded the infamous "pi$$ tunnel" - an underground connection between the metro and main rail station at Gare Central which literally would nearly turn your stomach with the smell due to it being used as a public toilet by various people.

There's a fair bit of that kind of stuff which can be a bit gross to put it mildly.

Brussels also definitely has a very visible drugs problem and there are areas I wools strongly suggest staying clear of.

Again ask for local advice before renting anything !!

Central Brussels isn't the best part by a long shot.

My overall impression is a very "living" city that you'll find plenty of nice things about but lots that will annoy the hell out of you too.

seachto7

Funnily enough, I have a skype interview for an English language job in Brussels tomorrow

SpaceTime

seachto7 wrote: »

Funnily enough, I have a skype interview for an English language job in Brussels tomorrow

Good luck!