General questions about moving/living/working in NL

[HYB]

So in July I was visiting Amsterdam for 5 days and it got me thinking a lot about moving there. Currently my bf works as a postman and I'm doing slave labor that doesn't leave me with enough to buy even food for the month, so moving out of Finland would be a viable option for both of us. From what I gathered, the rents even in Amsterdam centre are SUPER cheap compared to the apartment prices in Helsinki, also any job seem to have a better salary and the food is cheaper. Also we regularly spend like 200-300 eur a month just on weed (thank god for postmen's salaries) if someone gets their crop in, if not you don't exactly have other options unless you want to deal with the black market shit.

Now originally I was thinking about studying, but that leaves me with the question of how I'm able to afford my tuition. Tuition in Finland is free (though you have to live on a student loan so that you get really deep into debt) and the rate of unemployment especially for people under 30 is incredibly high so I have nothing saved up. There's also the fact that since I would most likely be applying for an art degree, the requirements for a portfolio are huge! I would probably need a year at least to work on one, even though getting in would be easier as an international student. I might be interested in some other UNI programmes as well, but I haven't looked into them much at this point.

Which brings me to my point, working in NL. There is no way I'm ever going to find a job in Finland, as I have no degree, the art schooling here is detestible, other good career options are way overcrowded with people trying to get in and good tattoo shops are overcrowded with apprentices. My english I would like to think is quite good; speaking fluently takes a while to get used to unless I monger with a Kimi Räikkönen accent. I was told it was quite easy to get a job in NL with good english, but I would still like to have an actual job before I move (don't the dutch have some kind of requirement like this anyway?). Is it a virtual impossibility to get a job with just a "high-school" education (and quite a bit of piercings and tattoos as well, but NL seems to be a bit more lenient on this than Finland)? Quite frankly I'm kind of tired of studying and racking up my debts so working would be the best option for me. If there are any sites that list job applications and such they would also be welcome, but most I can probably find with google. Also, my boyfriend really likes his job as a postman since he really enjoys cycling (which is why he loved the Dam), so if anyone has tips on getting a job as postman or anything that involves cycling it would be awesome. So basically any general tips about finding a job/apartments, calculating taxes etc. would be very welcome, as moving abroad is always a hassle. Easier when you're a citizen of the EU, but tough anyway.

[sensi315]

Yea you can try it why not.
Prices for renting a room starts from 400-450 per month if you are lucky on location/flatmates.
I dont know about school system but if you want to work here and find a decent paid job you better speak more than just english. Well english would be enough in international companies in Amsterdam but if you want to work outside Amsterdam you have to speak Dutch unless you are an expert in your profession but even then you better speak Dutch its an requirement in every job application outside Amsterdam if you check it. Also if you want to work for any government/public services its the same even for post office.
The current situation in Amsterdam when it comes to finding a job even as bartender or hotel staff from what ive heard is not that good at all even the hotel staff requirement are like you have to have finished hotel school plus you have to speak dutch. You can check for yourself on these sites:
http://www.hotelprofessionals.nl/
http://www.werkenineenhotel.nl

But on the other hand maybe in some hotels near the RLD the requirements are not that strict?

[HYB]

Yea you can try it why not.
Prices for renting a room starts from 400-450 per month if you are lucky on location/flatmates.
I dont know about school system but if you want to work here and find a decent paid job you better speak more than just english. Well english would be enough in international companies in Amsterdam but if you want to work outside Amsterdam you have to speak Dutch unless you are an expert in your profession but even then you better speak Dutch its an requirement in every job application outside Amsterdam if you check it. Also if you want to work for any government/public services its the same even for post office.
The current situation in Amsterdam when it comes to finding a job even as bartender or hotel staff from what ive heard is not that good at all even the hotel staff requirement are like you have to have finished hotel school plus you have to speak dutch. You can check for yourself on these sites:
http://www.hotelprofessionals.nl/
http://www.werkenineenhotel.nl

But on the other hand maybe in some hotels near the RLD the requirements are not that strict?

Well I would most definitely be renting an apartment with my bf, so something like a 1000e on rent/month is really really cheap for us (I pay 620e on 23,5 sqm that's not even near the center and my apartment is fucking cheap), and most of the ducth apartment sites have like fucking luxurious houses for rent at that price. Schools do offer english teaching for intl students so that's a plus, I wouldn't have to worry about that. I think you wouldn't need dutch working as a postman either, since you really aren't in touch with the customers (we have more than our fair shair of people that don't speak a word of finnish working in our post offices) but I'll have to look into that. I think they recently also let a bunch of people go so they might not be hiring. NL does one of the tiniest unemployment margins in europe though, nothing like the black hole of finland where unemployment has skyrocketed since the 90's and will be going up like mad.

In my mind hotel staff usually do need some sort of schooling (at least in finland) so that ruled it out for me in the first place, also it would be hell on my knees. I've been mainly looking at CS jobs for electronic companies etc. since they usually look for native speakers of different languages, and I do know a fair bit about electronics. Speaking Dutch is something I'll plan to learn eventually, right now though I can't afford or even attend any language courses because of my working hours. I'm the type that doesn't learn a language from being taught it via pronouns and stuff like that, I learn much better and faster if I just have to listen to a language all the time. Finnish is a tough language to learn so I know how frustrating it is when you can't get a job because you can't speak it well enough, I think it's only common sense to learn the language of the country you're staying in. Amsterdam was my no1 moving location choice but I think I would have fallen in love with Utrecht if I had visited, and I want to keep my working options open.

Do you think it would be a good idea to take a week or two to come to the Dam and search for housing and jobs that way? My mother-in-law paid for our last trip and yesterday she said it might be a good option and she would most likely be willing to give us that opportunity.

[Marco]

FYI, there are no Dutch postmen. The Post was privatized ans mail delivery is outsourced to very low paying temp jobs.

And you will need to speak Dutch for almost any job you seem qualified for. English only jobs are for really specialized professional jobs. Sorry, what you want to do will,be very, very hard.

[HYB]

FYI, there are no Dutch postmen. The Post was privatized ans mail delivery is outsourced to very low paying temp jobs.

And you will need to speak Dutch for almost any job you seem qualified for. English only jobs are for really specialized professional jobs. Sorry, what you want to do will,be very, very hard.

The Post was privatized here in Finland too, but we only have one company pretty much ruling the whole biz. Usually they only hire you for a low paying temp job, but my bf is actually so good at his job that he got a full time job and two raises by the time he had been working for 6 months. Obviously he has to work this one out on his own, as I told him getting a job as a deliveryman might be hard.

I was actually surprised by the amount of people that worked in the Dam that told me that you can get a job easily if you just speak good english. I do feel like NL in general is much like Finland in the aspect that at least some degree of understanding dutch is needed for a majority of the jobs, and the people who tell you it's easy just got lucky. It's not like I'm moving right away though as I'm not one to do things without careful planning, for things to come togheter it may take a year or two or it may not happen. If things are continuing to spiral downward in Finland however, politically speaking, there is no way in hell either of us is staying on this sinking ship.

Also I think I should clarify that we're not just some teens who want to do this because "woo amsterdam smoke pot every day and work in a coffeeshop man", we're both sensible adults. Me less so because I'm only turning 23 this year but my bf is already 26 so he's definitely not a little kid anymore who does things only for fun. We would like to make this work, but of course we're looking at things realistically and not planning our whole life around this one thing.

[winnie]

http://www.elynx.nl

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