I’m an American high school senior, I will complete my college education in America, and I hope to one day live in Western or Northern Europe (particularly Amsterdam, if the cookie crumbles that way, but I’m not picky).
I have a few questions:
(1) Will my American degree(s) do diddly-squat for me in Western/Northern Europe? (Particularly, something like Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, etc., or (I know this is coming out of left field) CS.) Will I need a master’s degree or PhD if I choose to study a social science? What kind of jobs will social science degrees earn me in that part of the world?
(2) How long will I have to learn the local languages, and will it be fairly easy for an English-only speaker?
(3) Should I study European languages in college? How much will that help?
(4) Should I try to study abroad in Europe during college? How much will that help?
Sorry if this is unclear. The bolded part means, roughly: In what timeframe will I have to learn the language, after moving to a European country? ie. six months, a year, five years, etc.
IMHO, an employer would have no particular inclination to send you to Europe if you were unable to demonstrate any kind of ability with at least one foreign language, and so it would be highly advisable to study European languages.
That brings up another question. After college, should I look particularly hard for a job in an international company in America? Will that make it substantially easier to move to Europe later on?
I know little about social sciences in particular, but there is one problem that you should be aware of in some European countries.
Until very recently Germany usually had only one degree per subject (but two types of colleges/universities.) Except dedicated degrees for teachers those were more similar to a Master in duration. Slowly the universities shift towards a Bachelor/Master system. From what I (university student) can tell, especially social sciences are not really eager to change away from the traditional degrees.
One consequence is that the people competing with you might have a “longer” degree just because there was nothing else available to them.
Regarding the languages, it depends on your particular career. In a scientific environment people who speak only minimal German plus (often non-native) English are very common, but other jobs will require better knowledge.
The main problem you’re going to run up against is immigration law. Most countries of Western Europe have very strict rules about the employment of non-EEA nationals: generally, you have to have a job offer first, and the employer has to be able to convince the government that it couldn’t find a suitable EEA national for the job. If your background is in computer science, you might be able to pull it off. Sociology? Forget it.
Well, it might help you find a European to marry, which is one of the easiest ways to immigrate there. It would also look good on your CV (that’s Euro-English for “resumé”). And frankly, it may well be your only hope of living there ever. Go for it.
It might. Some countries have laxer rules for intra-company transfers.
I would definitely recommend studying abroad in college, and spending time there during summers if you can. This could be as a student or doing some kind of volunteer work. Networking will be tremendously important. Get to know people, including other expats to find out how they did it. If you’ll be living at/near home during college, maybe your parents could host an exchange student.
My college had an international students association, which was a great way to get to know people from all over. You didn’t have to be an international student, they wanted a good mix of members.
In addition to international companies, you may want to look into the foreign service or other government agencies. Also, being a self-employed business owner as opposed to an employee may open up immigration options to you.
If you haven’t already started studying European languages, my opinion is you are behind the curve. It is really unlikely someone will offer you a job overseas if you don’t already speak the language (unless you are a super-specialized tech guru). So get started ASAP, play the tapes in your car, etc. In Northern Europe, it wouldn’t be uncommon for someone with a solid liberal arts education to speak 3-5 languages.
I speak from some experience. I’m about 90% sure I could have emigrated to Europe, but eventually decided not to pursue it for various reasons. Relationships and networking are key. It addition to the marriage possibility, relationships may allow you to spend extended periods of time overseas at minimal cost while workng on a more permanent arrangement.
I would think so, either a foreign company’s U.S. unit or a U.S. business that is big enough to have offices overseas. For example, I’m a journalist employed by one of the big providers of international financial news and information, which have bureaus all over the world. I started out working for one of my current employer’s competitors back in the U.S. and had the luck to be in the right place at the right time when that company created a new foreign job.
As ruadh has noted, national restrictions make it very difficult for non-Europeans to just bop on over to Europe and start looking for jobs. IMHO, there’s no doubt that getting hired in the U.S. by an employer, whether U.S. or foreign, who does business in Europe with an eye to an eventual foreign posting is your best way to have a shot at living there.