How to Work and Travel in Europe

How to Work and Travel in Europe

Recently I had a chat with my 22-year-old cousin about traveling and exploring the world. My cousin is of the same age as I was when I started developing this urge to see the world far beyond my front door. We are both immigrants from a developing country, and America was supposed to be that world. But after a while, even America gets a bit small. Like many 20-something Americans who followed the rite of passage from the New World to the Old World by taking a gap year backpacking around Europe or living in Europe for a year, I, too, wanted the same opportunities to explore Europe.

The most popular method was to participate in a study-abroad program or take a year gap and run off to clean tables in the United Kingdom. The difficulty was never the lack of options but to actually do it. “What am I going to do in a foreign country, let alone in a foreign continent?” “I should stay and get a useful job to put on my resume and impress my job interviewer.” Excuses and justifications. I know this feeling all too well since it prevented me from packing my bag and leaving during my years in college and then after my graduation. I feared, procrastinated and delayed the 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 work or study in Europe. The focus of this post is about Europe only because I’m familiar with this continent more than others. You can use the ideas from this list for Asia, America, and Australia.

11 ways to find work or study 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 extra costs other than the application fees and flight tickets. You might have to pay from your own pocket if you attend a summer program because financial aid doesn’t cover summer program, only fall and spring. This was a reason I missed out on my summer studying abroad in Italy.

2. Enroll in a reciprocal Student Exchange Program

You switch place with a matching foreign partner. 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 American partner from Arizona moved to Prague.

3. Join IAESTE or AIESEC and take up an internship in Europe

I can personally vouch for these programs as I did both. Both internship programs 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 lifelong friends I made while working here. Working in Eastern Europe will not earn you a lot of money, and you will dip into your own saving if you want to travel around during and after your work. If money is your priority, choose Western Europe, especially Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium or Netherlands. A friend of mine earned more as an intern working in Zurich, Switzerland than as a regular employee working in Hamburg, Germany. (By the way, Hamburg is already the richest city in Germany). Check out IAESTE’s and AIESEC’s local chawoopters at your school. You can still qualify even after you’re graduated.

4. Au-pair – Become a nanny

Babysitting in Europe was attractive to many students ten years ago, and I guess it is still now. These au-pair programs find hosts and arrange your paperwork. If you’re Americans, Canadians or Australians, it’s a big plus because you speak fluent English. The kids’ parents probably like to have a babysitter who speak English to their children.

5. Teach English

This option works best for those who are native English speakers and don’t cringe at 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 options 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 high 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. Use your skills and get a temp or seasonal work

The most common destinations are the United Kingdom and Ireland where you can find jobs in bars and restaurants. You can pick fruit in Norway and earn decent money. I know a guy who herded reindeers in Finland. If you can teach people to ski, snowboard, canoe or kayak, you can go anywhere not just Europe.

7. Volunteer

Volunteering is not 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 fee to put you up with some program. However, if you want an experience to travel and live abroad and don’t mind covering almost everything, then this option is ok. You mind find programs where the 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 the 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 excellent hospitality. In the evening, we went to the village’s dance prom, a very common activity for Czechs.You can work on a farm or room and board. Farming is hard work, though. Make sure you know what you’re getting into. Check out www.helpx.net or www.wwoofinternational.org.

9. Freelance and be a digital nomad

If you work for yourself and your work is location-independent like graphic designers, web developers, 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. Check out Hacker Paradise, a community of hackers, entrepreneurs, designers, programmers who work together in cool places.

10. Get a job or secure a job interview before or after moving to Europe

You get a real job before the move or get it after you move to Europe. 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 this was before the financial crisis and my company hired a lot of people. Many people I met here did similar things by just showing up. You might be asking yourself a question like “Should I consider moving to Europe without a job?” I think it’s possible. I turned up too in the Czech Republic without a job. I had some saving, and my boyfriend 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 to Europe through your regular job

If you work for a multinational corporation, use the opportunity to get a job transfer to Europe. It doesn’t have a to be a permanent or long-term move. You can try to get a job assignment for a few months or one year, and that should be enough. This applies to many of my American and Asian co-workers who moved to Europe from the US and Malaysia when their projects finished or outsourced to Europe.

You might be interested in reading an article I wrote about the 3 types of people who travel (work abroad) long-term and how you can do the same.

If you have other tips, please please them in the comment. Thank you.