Question:
I am a 25yr old English female who is extremely interested in movingand working in Amsterdam. I currently work for a Multimedia company incentral London.......I would love any information on working and living in Amsterdam and anyhelp any one can offer....Unfortunately I cannot speak dutch will this be a big problem? Ithought that if i just jumped in the deep end i would eventually pickup the language. I have travelled in the past but I have not actuallybeen to any European city for any length of time, I think living in amajor European city would be good for my self development etc..... andbroaden my outlook on life (don't want to get stuck on this littleisland!!).What kind of work is available?Will the language barrier be a problem?How easy is it to find accomodation?and thousands more questions........cheers in advance to anyone who helps

Answer: Not speaking Dutch can be a problem in some professions, especially when youhave to communicate with the public. I don't think it is a problem when youwant to work in the internet/multimedia/telecom industry. I have worked inthe aerospace industry for 13 years, and we always had lots of colleaguesfrom the UK, even some of the meetings were held in English. On the streetnearly everyone speaks some form of English. Amsterdam is the mostcosmopolitan city in the Netherlands.

At the moment there are more then 200.000 vacancies in the Netherlands andno people to fill them, so there is enough work. Finding a affordable placeto stay in the centre of Amsterdam will be a problem. You mentioned that youworked in central London, If you live there too, you will find thatprices are quite resanable compared to London standards.Amsterdam is not that big so living away from the centre is possible too.

Have a look at these websites:

agency for non Dutch speaking personel:http://www.undutchables.nl/

Coolest multimedia company:http://headquarters.lostboys.com/default2.html