What is Amsterdam like for graphic designers?

[Rachel_Ansell1]

What is Amsterdam life like for a graphic designer? I have been working in sydney for 2 years as one, and would like to move over there. What is the best way to find a job in design in Amsterdam? Is there an online 'seek' job search engine?

Thanks

[Gigi_Picazio]

Digital is quite big in Amsterdam, a lot of huge/massive coorporations have their European HQ here (UBER, Booking.com, Philips etc.) and there're a lot of start-ups too.

In terms of websites you can use, LinkedIn is really popular, you will find a lot of offers there. Monsters is big too, but less than LinkedIn.

If you are interested in "freelancing" also, there's a recruiting company (https://www.newpeople.nl) that offers a kind of service in which they act as "man in the middle", helps you finds clients and deals with a lot of burocratic stuff.

If you are more willing to work in a company instead (regardless if it's a big coorp or a start-up) make sure to ask to be enrolled for the 30% ruling (a huge tax benefit for people that get a Dutch contract before moving to the Netherlands (more info here: http://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontenten/belastingdienst/individuals/living_and_working/working_in_another_country_temporarily/you_are_coming_to_work_in_the_netherlands/30_facility_for_incoming_employees/)

Good luck!

[Karin_van_Soest]

Hey Rachel,

If you are looking for a job in the tech schene, you can use some of the sources i noted here : https://teleport.org/community/t/how-to-find-a-job-in-amsterdam-when-being-an-expat/395/3

I worked as a graphic designer here, and coming from Ireland I was also an expat, even being half dutch. The design studios are extremely close knit and hard to get into. There are a lot of designers here in the Netherlands which studios seem to prefer, if they take anyone new into their studio, which is barely ever. So you are better off focussing on the tech sector.

Let me know if you want a referral to any of the Rockstart startups, I can give and intro to them.

Best
Karin