ele23

Dear Expats,

sorry if this topic has been brought up many times before. I would like some input as I am currently agonising to make a decision.

Here is the deal:
I currently live with my family in London, UK. I have two job offers: one in Leiden, a permanent position in a company, salary around 37000 euros/year. The other one is in London, salary about £33000/year, a contract for 6 months with potential extension. The decision is quite obvious, right? I am however worried that if we move to the Netherlands my husband's career will be wrecked since he doesn't speak dutch. I am reading everywhere that even though english is widely spoken in the Netherlands, it isn't actually easy at all to come by english speaking jobs. Then again, I talked to some people in the Netherlands when I was over for the interview and they said it won't be a problem. So what should I believe?? He has some IT certifications, but doesn't have much experience nor a university degree. Any ideas please? Many thanks in advance!

lancsplumber

You should have nothing to worry about if his back ground is IT has theres a massive demand for IT jobs in the nederlands.

barn1ey6

Hi there. Please don't worry here. I have full confidence that your partner will find a job. There are a number of recruitment agencies that assist people seeking work and whose first language is English. Just google information here.

Red_Wine_Fairy

Define IT certification. SAP? Unix? No problem. Microsoft Cert? Plenty of bi- or tri-lingual natives here already to choose from. And speaking adequate Dutch, even in international companies, makes lunchpauzes much more cosy (gezellig) and so yes, without a specific skillset, he might struggle. Many, but not all, IT companies will be fine with English-only speakers. Those without international clients will be less willing.

One thing you really need to understand is that the Dutch think that everyone speaks English and if they say 'he'll have no problem' they might honestly believe it! But when you hit the ground here, they suddenly close shop: agencies will even put the phone down on you when you ask if they can speak English with you. I've been here 4 years and seen this many times - both with my husband (IT professional with a specific and rare-ish skillset) and myself (ex-teacher, now part of the expat admin. pool as I can't practice my career without fluent Dutch). For a non-career expat here, expect some (not all) Dutch to treat you in the same way a Daily Wail reader treats an Eastern european in an 'over here stealing our jobs' way. The Dutch anti-immigrant party are the 3rd segment in the Dutch government coalition.

You yourself won't experience much of this, but you might have to deal with your man's frustration when you get home at night, once the cultural honeymoon is over.

If I can give some hope to end on... most of the native English, office-type jobs at this present time seem to be in Zuid Holland: Leiden/Den Haag/Rotterdam. Amsterdam is NOT the place to be in this recession (even my Dutch-speaking, any-work-for-cash, teenagers are finding it hard) Hopefully your hubby will be sorted out with employment quickly, but, he needs to be prepared for his career to move backwards or sideways for a while before he sees progress again. Most trailing spouses have been there and got the T-shirt, sadly.

Lightfoot

One other thing to bear in mind - income tax is pretty high in the Netherlands, so the salary you have been offered might work out as less net income than what you have been offered in London (although of course London is an expensive place to be)... Definitely worth checking before you make your decision.

ele23

Thanks very much for everyone's input... Red_wine_fairy, what you say is exactly what I've gathered from all the info I could find on the internet from various expat forums. So I am very inclined to turn down the offer in Leiden...

llams

I studied dutch to the local equivalent of O level - sitting in class with the remedial early-20's was interesting.

After that, Brit friends who were having problem with uitzendbureaus (temp agencies) saying their Dutch was not good enough - it maybe wasn't so we did a bit of an experiment. I called them up with my MAVO-D Nederlands and got the same response. It's an excuse for anti-immigrant attitude. 10 years ago. Plus ca change.

NL was only ever tolerant and still roughly is (but a bit less than before). Which is different to the widespread (if not complete) acceptance that UK has achieved towards various groups that used to be discriminated against.

Unfortunately abad times means rising intolerance of immigrants everywhere. My 2 [euro-]cent.

Basilito01

I don't think there's a problem at all, i work in the IT industry here and i see new people hired everyday that don't speak Dutch. I've never been asked to speak Dutch in IT.. most companies are international and you will find about 2% of Dutch people in there and the rest expats.
however.. i would rather go to London, but it's up to you.

Rose51

I have been here 2 months and am finding it very hard to find a job if you only speak English. I am lucky that my Dutch partner is working but I find it very lonely & frustrating being on my own all day & no friends at the moment. You have to take into account it will take a while to learn Dutch.

Gumpy

Hi,

I am moving out with my partner at the end of August to Nijmegen. I will be looking for work but also wondering what other halfs do during the day?

If you have any tips let me know.

Geoff