Moving to Europe for Work:
Here are some ideas/resources that may be helpful in your job-search:
(1) Websites to help with job-search overseas:
www.bunac.org
www.goingglobal.com
www.workingoverseas.com
www.expatwomen.com
www.goabroadfair.ca
greateuropeanjobsite.com
www.ihipo.com > International Careers
www.aiesec.org Someone said that if you are a student, it is good to get involved with AIESEC, which is a student organization. She said it looks excellent on your resume when applying to certain global companies and that it offers great networking opportunities.
(2) One bw commenting online wrote that social workers from around the world are in high demand in Britain. She said she believes the employers want them to have a master’s degree. Here are some links she posted for social workers doing a job-search in Britain:
http://www.uk-pro.net/
http://www.gscc.org.uk/Home
http://www.basw.co.uk/
(3)Books to help with job-search overseas:
The Big Guide To Living And Working Overseas: 3,045 Career Building Resources
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Guide-Living-Working-Overseas/dp/0969600135/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?
International Jobs: Where They Are and How to Get Them
http://www.amazon.com/International-Jobs-Where-They-Sixth/dp/0738207462/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b
(4) You can be an English teacher’s aide through the Language Assistant Program in France. If you are looking for a position that offers a high salary, the language assistant program (or, from what I’ve heard, any position teaching English in Europe) may not be a good fit. By the way, one bw online said an acquaintance told her that the 5 women who she knew who joined the language assistant program in France are now all married to French men. She also said that though French proficiency is listed as a requirement to be accepted into the program, she knows people who were accepted who could barely speak French. My thoughts: If you’re going to live in a foreign country, you help yourself immeasurably if you know the language before moving there, so order the Rosetta Stone software for learning French and get cracking if you want to pursue this program. Here are helpful links for the language assistant program:
http://www.ielanguages.com/assistant.html and
http://www.ciep.fr/en/assistantetr/index.php
It seems that if you are a language assistant, you are now allowed to have a 2nd job to supplement your income—use the following link to see relevant comments on a discussion board: http://www.assistantsinfrance.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=24&sid=ef5c43c29bac5f681c409831cf7ea31. It seems the language assistantship is a program run by the French government and you have a set salary, whereas many of the private language schools pay you depending on how many clients they sign up for you, so the money is not stable. Don’t forget to research, research, research.
(5) For other jobs teaching English in Europe, here are a couple of websites:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job
http://www.tefl.com/
http://www.esljobs.com/
I found out about these 3 websites from the following post: http://www.travelblogs.com/articles/teaching-english-in-europe-an-overview. If you google “teaching English in Europe,” you will find tons more websites.
As I mentioned previously, it is my understanding that many of the private language schools pay you depending on how many clients they sign up for you, so the money is not stable. You may need to supplement your income.
(6) Do research on any organization in Europe that offers you employment –you don’t want to be suckered into getting involved with some criminal enterprise. When you find a job in Europe, if you have a situation where they hire you without asking you to fly over there for a face-to-face interview, ask other Americans/Canadians who’ve found jobs abroad whether that is suspect. The forum below would be one place to ask a question like that. Even though it is a forum for language assistants in France, there are clearly people there who know about finding jobs outside the assistantship program in France. Perhaps someone on the forum can refer you to other forums where you can ask similar questions for jobs outside France:
http://www.assistantsinfrance.com/forums
Even if you find from your research that it is normal for an employer to offer a job as, say, an English tutor, without a face-to-face interview, don’t be satisfied. Still travel to the country on your own dime to meet your future employer. Also, research the company online, which should include posting questions about it on message boards/blogs.
(7) Contact the U.S. Embassy for your target country and visit their website: You can possibly work for them or ask them if they can refer you to a place where you can find a job for an English-speaking person.
(8) If you work for a multi-national company, you can try to transfer to one of their offices in Europe
Moving to Europe for School:
(1) One disadvantage of enrolling in a university abroad to get a degree: if you come back to the U.S. immediately after graduation to work, you will not have had the advantage of participating in On-Campus Recruiting via the Career Center at a U.S. university. On-Campus Recruiting (OCR) at a U.S. university is advantageous because employers in the U.S. commit to interviewing students from specific university campuses. They may go through 200 resumes from one school, for example. Job applicants who are applying outside of OCR at the company’s websites have perhaps tens of thousands of people they are competing with for a first interview, but with OCR, a student has maybe 199 competitors for an interview. See my short post called “Job Search in U.S. After Graduating in Europe.”
(2) An alternative to enrolling in a European university to get your degree is to do a brief study abroad program.
(3) If you’re going to get a degree in Europe and hope to return to the U.S. to work as a plan B, realize that some degrees are not so easily transferrable from country to country. A math or physics degree is very transferrable because math and physics are the same in every country. A law degree, for example, would not be so easily transferrable. My understanding is that when people get a degree from outside the US that is not so easily transferrable, when they get to the U.S. , they typically pursue a more advanced degree in the field; they do this to integrate themselves into the U.S. system and they then take any professional certification exams required. Talk to people in your chosen field who received their degree from outside the U.S. and came to the U.S. What did they have to do? The professional certification body in your field may also be able to answer similar questions.
(4) If you plan to go to school abroad, get advice from people who’ve done so already. I heard that they only have exams once a year at European universities. A person will have to make sure they are disciplined to make sure they’re studying material all throughout the year and not just cramming just before the once-a-year final exam. Contrast that with the U.S. universities that have some in-built checks against youthful irresponsibility by having you take tests about every month and a final exam each semester; for most reasonable people, this continual testing means that you will be studying regularly throughout the academic year. I also read that, in Europe, when the syllabus has some additional books under the title “Optional Reading,” the books are really required reading.
(5) If your program of study is more than a year long, don’t forget to speak with your university’s career center about when you’re supposed to start looking for an internship. (Your college/department may have a career placement center separate from the general one that caters to the whole university, so check with your department admin office first.) Whether you graduate from the U.S. or Europe, an internship will help you get a full-time job after graduation. The career placement center should have job postings and seminars on the job application process.
(6) I’ve heard they don’t have resumes in Europe—instead they have a much more detailed document called a cv that goes into details of what you did in high school and sometimes, even elementary school.
(7) Ask the career placement center when to start looking for a full-time, post-graduation job. In the U.S., students are supposed to start their job search the September prior to graduation, regardless of whether they are graduating in May or December (ex. Sep ‘09 for Dec ‘09 and May ’10 graduates).
(8) I remember one guy from Spain saying he completed a one-year graduate degree program in Spain that was designed to be more accelerated than if you got the degree in the U.S.; in the U.S., that specific graduate degree usually takes 2 years full-time. He was so busy that he basically didn’t have time for anything else. Depending on what your field of study is and how accelerated the program is, you may not have time for looking for a new boyfriend. If it’s a one year, accelerated program, hunker down and get excellent grades, which will increase your likelihood of getting a job offer from an employer in that country. After graduation, with job in hand, then consider romance.
(9) If you plan on trying to get a job in the European country after graduating from a university there, research how difficult that is for a foreign student in your field of study to do so.
A Small Aside:
If you get engaged to a non-black guy who is in Europe, consider having the wedding in the U.S. Think of all the bw who will attend your wedding or hear about it in some other way if it is held in the U.S.—the knowledge of your wedding may contribute to some single bw finally opening up to IR dating. Having your wedding here will also increase the number of bw/non-bm marriages reported in the U.S., which in turn can contribute to encouraging more black women to decide to date outside their race.
When you do get engaged, if the guy is a non-bm, be sure to put an announcement in a U.S. newspaper. Not only will it encourage other bw, but it will also contribute to the normalization of bw/non-bm couplings in the eyes of other segments of society. For example, as I said in another post, as the number of bw entering dating relationships with non-bm increases, the number of non-bm approaching bw will also increase. There are non-bm in the U.S. reluctant to approach a bw they’re attracted to because they assume she probably doesn’t date outside her race.
More Blogs from BW Living in Europe:
There are other blogs authored by bw who are in Europe who are living outside their home country. (Some of the blogs are by bw who used to live in Europe and their blogs chronicle their stay there.) Here are links to a few of these blogs:
http://letrangere-americaine.blogspot.com/ (She joined the Language Assistant Program in France that I wrote about earlier.)
http://bisousfromparis.blogspot.com/
http://www.blackandabroad.com/
http://vakkerkvinne.blogspot.com/
http://mycrazycoollife.blogspot.com/
http://letrangere-americaine.blogspot.com/ (She joined the Language Assistant Program in France that I wrote about earlier.)
http://bisousfromparis.blogspot.com/
http://www.blackandabroad.com/
http://vakkerkvinne.blogspot.com/
http://mycrazycoollife.blogspot.com/
Check out my other posts: http://forthesistas.blogspot.com/.
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