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Subject:summary: salaries and job hunting in Europe From:Sandra Farkas <sandra -dot- farkas -at- informix -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Tue, 13 Jun 2000 12:24:59 -0700
Enough people expressed interest that I thought I would share
the information I've gathered about finding work in Europe.
Here are some Web sites that have tech writer listings:
Both www.jobserve.com and www.kudos-jobs.com list
lots of tech writer positions. These are recruiters, mostly
based in the UK.
Someone in the UK also suggested the ISTC web site http://www.istc.org.uk/ (click the "Links" button on the
home page) for links to various recruiters and other tech
writing organizations in Europe.
A suggested mailing list is the Technical-Communicator's
Forum at tcf-gen -at- listserver -dot- tc-forum -dot- org .
For resources in German, there are the http://www.tekom.de/
Web site and the Tech Writer's Home mailing list at
t-allgem -at- twh -dot- nbg -dot- de -dot-
I've surveyed job postings for a while now, and it seems that
top salaries in France are in the high 40s (USD). Salaries in
Germany seem to be about the same; here is one response I
received: "Salary depends on experience and age. In general
you can count between DM 54.000,- DM p.a. for beginners up
to 120.000,- DM p.a. for the head of the TW department."
(The ratio between USD and DM is almost exactly 1:2.)
Holland seems to be a bit lower; the UK and Switzerland
a good bit higher. I got conflicting data on Austria.
I was repeatedly warned to expect a big tax burden. The
trade-off is much more vacation time (starting at 5 weeks
in most locations), and, depending on the country, shorter
work hours (not in Switzerland, where they have a 42 hour
work week).
On relocation...
When moving job overseas, try to negotiate full relocation
costs, including moving (and insuring) your household items,
temporary housing (for at least 6-8 weeks) and possibly
deposit money for your new housing. Make sure you are
given time to search for housing. You can also try asking
for a car, free language lessons, and flights home.
Other random thoughts...
Coming from a non-EU country can make things tough. Some
companies are happy to sponsor visas; others won't consider
it.
Some companies have English-speaking offices; others expect
you to be multilingual. Some companies want native English
speakers; others prefer to hire talented multi-linguals.
Expect cultural differences, possibly including: smoking in the
office, more formality, less directness, lack of political correctness,
standardized work hours, etc.