Has anyone worked abroad?

Munday

Munday

Munday

Associate
Joined
3 Jan 2004
Posts
352
Hi,

Thinking of going to work abroad for a few months just to get away from England and experience life a bit more. Has anyone done this?

How did you go about doing it all and what sort of jobs did you do?
What country did you go to?

Thanks in advance :)
 
Which country... err England

What jobs did I do: Security Guard, Waiter, Barman, that kinda crap, now Marketing for a Technology provider
 
I spent a year working in Germany during my Uni placement year.

I worked in internal marketing for HP. However, there were loads of folks ut there who were just working for large companies do everything from IT contracting to customer service (because the spoke english).

I also bumped into a lot of English and Irish barstaff, surprisingly enough.

You'll find that there are recruitment sites out there that specialise in overseas work.

If you are an EU citizen going to an EU country then you have complete freedom of financial movement.
 
That is something that I would love to do, however I was wondering how you dealt with language barriers?

Before you went, were you fluent in German?
 
squawkBOX said:
That is something that I would love to do, however I was wondering how you dealt with language barriers?

Before you went, were you fluent in German?
Click to expand...

Language barrier?

Everyone in Germany speaks English. I had the benefit of GCSE German and I had lessons when I was there, but even on days when I decided I would only speak German, people still replied to me in English because they knew their English was better then my German.

Even if I was getting served in Aldi.
 
My dad always works abroad as an accountant. At the moment he is working in Saudi Arabia (he wasn't fluent in Arabic, but the average standard of English there is good).

Before that, he worked in Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Jordan, Barbados, and probably a few other countries too. The language barrier wasn't so much a barrier as a fishnet, he could get around due to English being spoken well in some of the countries, and him being able to speak some of the language beforehand (although I don't think it was to a good standard).

He goes to European countries as well when he is required for conferences (sometimes even back here to speak with BT - he works for Saudi Telecom at the moment :)).

It's definately a good way to see the world. :)
 
Hi

I worked in Zurich, Switzerland for Alstom Power Generation. Was the best year of my life. Met loads of amazing people, really hot girls, did a lot of Euro travelling and earned a lot of money. I reckon everyone should work abroad at least once in their life to experience it.
It does help to know a little of the language at least to get by. My German is fairly good, but in Switzerland the speak a different dialect, so my German was rendered pretty much useless.

Mine was a uni placement, so a lot of the paperwork was arranged through Alstom. I recommend you go to an EU country due to the ease of transition. :)
 
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