m-cause

Over the past few years I have had several people ask me how to find & get a corporate job in Europe. So I thought I would put up a couple of ideas and see if the post sparks more questions. If it does, I may do a follow-up.

First, it is funny how the grass is always greener on the other side. I have met several Europeans who also dream of working corporately in the USA. Indeed, there are advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios.

Generalized advantages of working in Corporate Europe:

1. 30+ days of vacation (in several countries) from the start + more paid public holidays: A recent OECD survey showed that Americans typically put in 1877 hours vs 1562 per year in France. OUCH!
2. Getting paid in Euros/Pounds/Swiss Francs: As the dollar continues to weaken, making anything but dollars becomes more attractive (maybe this will turn around as the Bush administration moves out)
3. Generally more job security (not as much churn/burn) though this can have a dark side as the labor pool tends to be more rigid.

Generalized advantages of Corporate US:

1. Lower taxes vs European countries (Generally speaking, though tax rates are coming down in some countries)
2. BIG upside if you can make it to director/VP or above (US executives tend to earn way more than their European counterparts)
3. Stock option packages offered earlier in career: Not 100% sure about this one as I don’t have the data, but from qualitatitvely talking with others and reading a couple of different articles this seems correct.

So, it does depend a bit on what you value more. Do you want to spend a few years potentially earning less, but having significantly more vacation days early in your career? I do read about more and more 20/30 somethings opting out of this more extreme US corporate version of the “deferred life plan” (working for 30+ years and then retiring to see the world). Tim Ferriss writes eloquently about this trend in 4 hour work week.

There is definitely no magic formula…one of the biggest challenges is obviously language. ‘Targeting the UK is your easist bet as there are no language barriers and there are plenty of US firms who have set up Pan-European operations there. Only drawback for the UK is the island location somewhat restricts your ability to do quick trips across several different countries (if that is your reason for spending a few years working in Europe). So, if you are looking to work on the continent my biggest tip would be to target multinational Pan-European headquarter locations. Pan-European organizations tend to leverage English as a common language and they offer fertile soil for your search…especially if you applying from abroad. There are really good specialist English speaking professional sites popping up every day. One that is particularly good for Genevan Jobs (and jobs across all of Switzerland/Europe) is jobsingeneva.com. There are also great expat sites like expatica that offer tremendous amounts of country info and job listings in English. Of course, Monster and other job sites also have international job boards where you can begin your search as well.

If you have already sent through several applications with no luck, you may want to consider extending your education in Europe. Top US MBA programs now have European campuses. I have talked with several people who have done a semester abroad, learned the local “ropes” (and language) and then gained internships. Via the internship they were able to demonstrate their value and so they were offered full-time jobs. This is certainly the longer road, however, you probably have a bigger advantage if you are already living within the country where you want to work. Plus, you can use the semester abroad as a “trial run” to see if you really want to work in Europe. Europe is very diverse and work cultures vary from country to country.

I have been in Europe for 10 years now. I enjoy working here, but I do have different reasons for staying (wife is European). The good news for current job seekers is that there are opportunities in English popping up everyday as the world continues to rapidly globalize.

Hope this helps a bit. These are just a few of my thoughts on the subject and of course I do have more tips. If you want to extend the discussion, send over an email (see the about me page for details) or leave a comment. I always like hearing about the experiences of others!

WEEKEND is here in Geneva. We are off to Annecy which is a small, cute city on a lake in France.