I had a chat recently with my cousin, a 22 year-old about to graduate from college. She is of the same age as I was when I started to develop this urge to see the world far beyond my front door. We are both immigrants, and America was supposed to be that world. But after a certain time, even America can get a bit small. Like many 20-something Americans who followed the rite of passage from the New World to the Old World, I too, had my nose sniffing for opportunities in this old continent. The most popular route was to participate in a study-abroad program or take a year gap and run off to clean tables in United Kingdom. The difficulty was never the lack of option but to actually do it. “What am I going to do in a foreign country, let a lone in a foreign continent?” “I should stay and get a useful job to put on my resume, to impress my interviewer.” Excuses and justifications.  I know this feeling all too well since it prevented me from packing my bag and leave during my years in college and then right after my graduation. I feared, procrastinated and delayed my inevitable trip until I was 24. You can’t stop something inevitable anyway, and it’s never late to leave and discover the world.

Below are some of the most common ways that you can live and work in Europe. The focus of this post is about Europe only because I’m familar with this place more than any other. You can use the ideas from this lists for Asia, America and Australia.  

11 Ways to Find Work in Europe

1. Study-abroad: Most universities have programs to send their students on one or  two semesters studying abroad. If you have financial aid or scholarships, you don’t pay any extra costs other than application fees and flight tickets. You might have to pay from your own pocket if you attend a summer program as financial aid doesn’t cover summer program. This was the reason I missed out on my summer study abroad in Italy.

2. Reciprocal Student Exchange Program: You and your foreign exchange partner switch place. You go to his country and study at his school and he goes to yours. A Czech friend of mine who studied at Czech Technical University participated in this program. He relocated to the US and studied for a year in Arizona while his partner from Arizona moved to Prague.

3. IAESTE, AIESEC Internship: I can personally vouch for these programs as I did both. Both internships offered me the opportunity to use the skills and knowledge I learned from school, the money to finance my living and traveling in Europe and life-long friends I made while working there. Working in Eastern Europe will not earn you a lot of money, and you will dip into your own saving. If money is your priority, choose Western Europe, especially Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium or Netherlands. A friend of mine earned more as an intern in Zurich, Switzerland than as a regular employee in Hamburg, Germany. (By the way Hamburg is the richest city in Germany). Check out IAESTE and AIESEC’s local chapters at your school.

4. Au-pair: This option was very popular for young students 10 years ago. I guess it still is now. These au-pair programs find you host and arrange your paper work. It’s a plus if you speak fluent English as parents like for their kids to practice English with you. I

5. Teach English: This option works best for those who are native English speakers and don’t cringe by the thought of living in Eastern Europe due to the higher demand for English teacher in this region. I live in the Czech Republic and can vouch for this profession. Ads for English-teaching schools and private teachers can be seen everywhere in the city. Many teachers have certificates, but there are also many who have only their native-tongues as credentials. If you want to live in Western Europe, your best option are France, Italy, Spain and Portugal since the locals don’t speak good English there. Central and Northern Europeans are very fluent in English; you can find janitors and shopping clerks in remote place speak good English, thus I am not sure if there is a great demand for English teachers. A lot of English teachers I met in Prague just show up, find temporary gigs before getting more stable positions in schools and either move on to new destinations, return home or stay longer.

6. Temp/Seasonal work: The most common destinations are the United Kingdom and Ireland where you can find jobs in bars and restaurants. You pick fruit in Norway and can earn a decent money. If you can teach people to ski, snowboard, canoe, kayak, the customs and border control is your limit.

7. Volunteer: This isn’t my favorite option because you won’t get any money to finance your stay in a foreign country. Many agencies even charge you a hefty application fees to find you a position. However, many people choose this option because it and many hosts offer free boarding and food. Check out www.transitionsabroad.com and  www.helpx.net

8. Work for food and board: You don’t earn any money; in return you get free boarding and food with the host family. Working on farms is more common in Australia than in Europe though I don’t want to dismiss farming entirely from Europe. A friend from New Zealand came to Czech Republic to work first on a farm near Prague for three months before moving to Prague to teach English at a school. I visited the farm with her, worked there for the weekend feeding rabbits, calf, stacking hays for the cows, gathered chopped woods, fought with the goats in return for 3-time-a-day Czech meals and wonderful hospitality. In the evening, we went to the village’s dance prom, a very common activity for Czechs. www.helpx.net

9. Freelance: If you work for yourself and your work is location-independent like graphic designers, web designers, computer programmers or writers, it doesn’t make any difference where you work. I met a lot of such people in Prague and on my traveling. These people have two things in common: the love of traveling and laptops.

10. Regular job: You arrange a job prior to the move or get it after you come to the new country. This is what I did when I moved to Prague. I heard about the company through a friend of a friend. I submitted my half-finished resume, and a recruiter contacted me immediately. I was lucky because it was before the financial crisis and my company hired a lot of people. Many people I met here did similar thing by just showing up.  I kinda showed up too, but then I had an ex-boyfriend who gave me a roof over my head and loaned me pocket money for the first three months while I was waiting for my working visa.

11. Relocate: If you work for a multi-corporation, use the opportunity to get a transfer. This applies to many of my co-workers who moved from the US and Malaysia when their projects finished or outsourced to Europe.