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‘I know the struggle of moving to a new city’

Having moved to Austria ten years ago for love, Andreas Tattersall’s transition into his new life was difficult at first. The native Englishman felt isolated in the cultural hub of Vienna as he only knew one other person - the woman he moved for. He spoke to The Local about how significant the presence of an expat group has been in his life.

Published: 20 July 2015 09:16 CEST
'I know the struggle of moving to a new city'
Andreas Tattersall. Photo: Private

A shift in Tattersall’s outlook on life occurred after he sought out and got involved with the expat community in Vienna. After a decade of participation, Tattersall now volunteers with the non-profit organization Vienna Expats, where he serves as a moderator.

How did you end up in Vienna?

About ten years ago, I met an Austrian girl while I was living in Germany. We got on well, so I asked her to come and live with me in Germany. She said no because she preferred Austria, specifically Vienna, so the next day, I quit my job and moved to Vienna with no work lined up.

I didn’t know anybody except my girlfriend and a few of her friends, so I did some research on my own and looked for events and groups to join in town where I could meet new people. I found a few expat groups and I went to a number of events regularly. The Vienna Expats group turned out to be the one where I felt the most relaxed and the people were very friendly. Soon enough, the people I met really made an important difference in my life at that time.

I used to spend time just walking around alone in the streets of Vienna, which was a very isolated way to live in a vibrant, really interesting, lots-of-things-to-do sort of place. It was incredibly hard being on my own.

What are some of the other reasons expats are attracted to Vienna?

I think a lot of people choose Vienna because it’s a capital of culture – it’s a really interesting place with fantastic architecture and it's well organized. Maybe it feels like a holiday for some, and their time in the city is often treated like a holiday experience, but many decide to spend a significant amount of their lives here.

The most normal reasons for people to leave their own country and come to a new one is for socio-economic reasons – if they get a job abroad, this comes up fairly regularly. Others are here for love and decide to stay on whether their relationship works out or not. I’ve made many good friends through the expat service who came here because of love and after 6 months or a year their relationships broke down, and suddenly, they need to find a new apartment and new friends and support in general. And what do they do? They do some research just like I did, and usually, find the Vienna Expat group fairly quickly.

How did your casual involvement with Vienna Expats turn into a leadership position?

They asked me to join the Moderators about six years ago because of how active I was both online and at our events. The reason I do it is that I meet people from all around the world – it’s my raison d’être, in other words. I do it to give back to the expat community that I feel affiliated with and that helped me to integrate and organize myself in the early years. And I like to take that experience that I’ve built up, buying property, living in this country, dealing with the medical insurance system, and all the other complex things in life and help others.

Since becoming a moderator, I’ve been organizing events and doing work on the web forums. This is where international visitors who come to Vienna can ask questions or they can browse the older conversations that have been posted.

It’s interesting because our site is visited fairly frequently, with around one million hits a year, and the forums are very popular. To throw some statistics out there, we have about 5,500 topics going in our forums, about 60,000 posts in total, and about 9,000 members of which about 1,200 are active in any one year.  

Check out the Vienna Expats group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ViennaExpats

By Negina Pirzad

For members

WORKING IN AUSTRIA

First steps: What to do when searching for a new job in Austria

Whether you have just arrived in Austria or have worked here before but are now unemployed, this is how you should start your job search.

Published: 17 January 2024 16:05 CET
Updated: 4 April 2024 14:11 CEST
First steps: What to do when searching for a new job in Austria

Austria is known for its welfare or social system, and even people who do not have a job can receive assistance – but the full entitlement depends on factors such as previous work in the country, for example. 

If you are moving to Austria or have lost your job, there are tools you can use to help you get into the labour market again – especially with the help of the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS). Here’s what you need to know.

Registering as unemployed

The first step is registering as an unemployed job seeker with the AMS. It’s not a mandatory step, but the AMS can give you professional counselling from a personal advisor. You can also be recommended courses and get job adverts that fit your profile. 

A person can register as an unemployed job seeker with the AMS regardless of any entitlement to a benefit from the unemployment insurance scheme, so even if you have just arrived in Austria. Here’s a list of the regional offices of the AMS.

READ ALSO: Unemployment benefits in Austria: Who is eligible and how much can you get?

If you are entitled to unemployment benefits (for that, you need to have contributed to the social system in Austria), then you must register with the AMS by the first day of unemployment. If you register online before the start of unemployment, you have ten days after the start of unemployment to confirm the registration at an AMS office in person. 

Even if you are not at first entitled to benefits from the unemployment insurance scheme, some circumstances may entitle you to several forms of help from the agency. 

This is why it is recommended that you reach out to the AMS regardless of your situation.

AMS’s chatbot

Austria’s AMS also recently launched a new AI bot that usesChatGPT technology – and information from AMS – to help people looking for jobs and training in Austria, as The Local reported.

The bot uses ChatGTP knowledge and AMS’s sources to help users. It can also ask further questions to get specifics on each case, creating a dialogue and exchange of information.

The bot can give answers on training, salary, careers, visas, and more to anyone asking questions. It also provides links to the pages with the source information – all in whichever language you choose to interact with it. 

READ ALSO: How useful is Austria’s new AI tool for foreign job-seekers?

Looking for jobs

Besides the assistance of your advisor at the AMS, you can also use the agency’s job search tool to find employment. Several positions are advertised there, especially for service and trade jobs. It’s possible to narrow down the search based on work hours, place of work and state, among others.

READ ALSO: Six official websites to know if you’re planning to work in Austria

Besides the official site, people in Austria also use other ways of finding jobs online, including websites like LinkedIn and even posts on FB Groups (though be careful with false advertisements if you are in doubt when it comes to employment and work contracts, you can always reach out to your local Chamber of Labour).

In Austria, two sites are also popular among job seekers: Karriere.at and Xing.com. You can also use sites with classified ads such as Der Standard or Willhaben, for example. The Local has a page with English-language jobs in Austria as well.

It’s often common to find jobs through personal contacts in Austria, where the “friendship culture” is prevalent. 

READ ALSO: What is the ‘friendship economy’ in Austria and how does it work?

Even the official government website says, “Personal contacts should also not be ignored when it comes to successful job placement. It can be very helpful to ask around among family, friends and acquaintances for vacancies.

“The more people who know about the job search, the greater the chance of success”, it added.

You will also need to prepare a CV and, depending on the job, even a motivational letter – your AMS advisor can typically help adapt and write both documents. 

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