Best place to live in the Netherlands?

Hi Emanuele and welcome to the Forum.

As an EU citizen, you have the right to live and work anywhere in the member states, however, when I read your key-skills, I have to ask myself the question "Why on earth are you contemplating moving to Holland?"

Your degree in International Relations with its regional bias towards the Far East and your desire to not work your whole day would lead me to advise you to look for a job in national government, or perhaps the EU, but you don't speak Dutch and the EU administration is in Belgium and France.

Hi Cynic and thanks for your answer.. The reason why I want to move to Holland is not only work but even live in an environment I am fascinated by.. I love the culture and nature there and I don't want to choose my destination only according to my job.. I might work in some International organization based there..Do you know some? You think Dutch is a must? I really don't want to work in the national government here and I am not very excited about moving to France.. thanks!

Emanuele271191 wrote:

Hi Cynic and thanks for your answer.. The reason why I want to move to Holland is not only work but even live in an environment I am fascinated by.. I love the culture and nature there and I don't want to choose my destination only according to my job.. I might work in some International organization based there..Do you know some? You think Dutch is a must? I really don't want to work in the national government here and I am not very excited about moving to France.. thanks!

International organisations exist in Holland, it's finding one that can make use of your skill set.  My advice is to use the Internet to find the agencies (uitzendbureau) who can place you.  My opinion is that good spoken and written Dutch is extremely important if you want to find a decent job in Holland; many agencies won't deal with you without it.  The jobs that don't need Dutch are typically low-level on minimum wage which will not lend itself to your desire to not work the whole day - there are definite conflicts there.

You've mentioned your qualifications; what experience do you have?

I see. Could you please suggest me some website where I can study Dutch? I worked as a communications specialist at a chinese culture organization, translator and language mediator, I worked in an Italian company selling corals to China,Usa( I had to contact its customers and invite them to the exhibitions) and I am going to intern in the US consulate in Naples ..

Hi - you'll find lots of links to online language training via Google.

With regards to finding work, I've always looked at it in this way; to compete with the local population and get a well-paid job anywhere, you need the following:

Relevant qualifications
Relevant experience
Speak the local language
Luck

The more of those you have, the more chance you will have of finding that job; luck is always the one that is the great unknown.

Your unique skill-set and experience appear to be languages and sales, so I would start with those, but you should be aware that languages are a strong thing with many Dutch people, perhaps your Chinese skills are what will set you apart.

At the top of this page is a link to our Handy Tools section, within which you will find a link to our Expat Guides which contain articles written to help you plan your journey.

You should perhaps also consider whether you will be able to afford to live in Holland.  The Numbeo website offers help with this; this link will take you there.

I wish you the best of luck; once you've read our guides, if you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

Cynic
Expat Team