Questions about Human Resources and relocating overseas for work.

[clee1982]



What does "too good" mean? Who are you to measure how good is too good, for yourself or anyone? We don't let ourselves FEEL good, it's a sin. Life is for living, is it not? I find that Americans who have never lived abroad are comptemptuous about the European lifestyle because deep down they can't admit that they are getting the short end of the stick! Sorry :/

1. I am not American, I come from the "we like to live as slave of work" Asian countries
2. I worked in London, though only for 2 years, worked in the US longer than that
3. They can have it however they want I suppose, but I "personally" (just me, no one else) find it to be too big, sorry if it insulted you

edit: Realistically they can have it however they want subject to competition from the world

 

[clee1982]



This is a tricky one and the answer will very much depend on the country (and even the city), the company, the department...

A few tears ago, I moved with my wife (non-German) from the US to the Fatherland. And as it turned out she had little issues finding a job in supply chain engineering at a major German industrial corporation (also had competing offers and none of the companies cared about lack of German skills). In my department (corporate finance at a major German corporation) a large share of my colleagues do not speak German at all. So based on my observation, you can get ahead at work without the native language most likely if
1) You work in a pure white collar department (R&D, engineering, finance etc.) rather than in a department, which requires frequent interaction with less educated colleagues (manufacturing etc.)
2) You do not need to communicate regularly with local customers
3) You work for a large company with global activities or a medium-sized/small company with very international business
Getting along in everyday life with English only will usually be easier in metropolitan areas, especially if they are home to many international companies, international institutions and / or attract substantial numbers of foreign tourists (which luckily applies to our hometown).

How does it look in other European countries? This is now, of course, highly subjective based on my own work experience in other places and also what I learned from colleagues. I would say that for English-only-speakers it is easiest to work in:
1) UK and Ireland (ok, that was a no brainer)
2) Netherlands, Luxembourg and the Scandinavian countries
3) The German-speaking countries
4) Eastern European
5) Belgium and France
6) The Southern European countries

Agree with this assessment, though I would swap 2 and 3. That's only base on two friends' experience.

 

[AlexE]



Agree with this assessment, though I would swap 2 and 3. That's only base on two friends' experience.

On a side note, the countries in 2) and 3) are also your best bet for actually finding a job, since there the economies are still (relatively) healthy.

 

[clee1982]



On a side note, the countries in 2) and 3) are also your best bet for actually finding a job, since there the economies are still (relatively) healthy.

haha yup, though limited to engineers? It's a great time to be engineer in America as well though

edit: no longer in engineering, so it's word of mouth from old friends rather than personal experience

 

[clee1982]



Contrary to popular believe the French are not the vacation champs in Europe, these are actually the Germans. By law you get 4 weeks paid vacation per year, but in reality the standard in almost all companies is 6 weeks paid vacation plus all national and state holidays (depending on the state this means 10-15days p.a., but there are no make-up days if the holiday happens to be on a weekend).

In my limited interaction with German, it's the work ethics that impressed me the most. If it's a 9 to 5 job, then the German will work from 9 to 5 for real, not coffee break every 3 hours, plus some newspaper half hour in the morning or random chats in the afternoon for another 30 minutes, twice... Though it's great fun to work with the Italians, they always got some ridiculous news/youtube video/nonsense joke to tell you...

 

[AlexE]



haha yup, though limited to engineers? It's a great time to be engineer in America as well though

edit: no longer in engineering, so it's word of mouth from old friends rather than personal experience

Can only speak for Germany, but there is a significant shortage of all sorts of engineers / scientists, but also medical doctors (ok they do not make a lot unless they have their own practice and obviously they should speak the language) and different types of skilled craftsmen. For business majors, things are OK if you are operational (supply chain management, operations research, factory operations).

 

[ballmouse]

Quote:
Interesting. So you don't have to read any German documents or create files in German despite working for a German corporation in Germany?

 

[AlexE]



Interesting. So you don't have to read any German documents or create files in German despite working for a German corporation in Germany?

No, internal documents must be in English. In some cases such as local HR policies they also issue German translations.

External documents will be obviously in the language of the target group, but I already mentioned that German would be required if you are working frequently with local customers (even though the German sales materials are usually translations from the English master documents).

This is quite common here in larger companies since most are export oriented with considerable shares of sales / employees coming from / being located abroad.

 

[Trompe le Monde]



I thought there was a 35 hour work week in France..

It's the standard basis of a working week - which doesnt mean its the strict enforced-maximum. (Just like the standard American work week is defined as 40 hours)

Based on that reference point, large companies and MNCs issue a "RTT" allowance of ~10 days to offset the reduced hours. Combined with 5 weeks standard days of vacation = lots of leisure time

The Germans dont have this. And by no means are they the vacation champs - especially compared to the French.
Though what I have seen in German companies is a strict enforcement of *maximum* hours of the 40 or 38 hours (depending on collective bargaining [i.e. union]). Access badges are used to track employee hours to discourage them from exceeding this limit, for which the employer may face penalties.