Ok, the reality of living and working in Rome :)

I’m starting a degree in unversity this September in Business Studies & Italian and have the opportunity to come to Rome for a year to study/work as part of the degree.

How easy is it for a UK citizen to get a job in Rome?
Does it help that I would have a degree?
What is the job market like in rome? What sector is strong at the moment for employment? (Banking, IT, Marketing, etc).
Is there a website I can look at for ‘places to live’ in Rome? Cost, areas of Rome etc. Are house-shares a popular option?
How easy is it for me to make italian friends who speak good english?
:)

How easy is it for a UK citizen to get a job in Rome?
Does it help that I would have a degree?
What is the job market like in rome? What sector is strong at the moment for employment? (Banking, IT, Marketing, etc).
Is there a website I can look at for ‘places to live’ in Rome? Cost, areas of Rome etc. Are house-shares a popular option?
How easy is it for me to make italian friends who speak good english?
:)

Well, in Rome is very difficult to find a job especially for a young unxperienced person. The strong sectors are: real estate, tourism and media and showbusiness.
Rentals are extremely expensive but you can find easily an apartment to share with other people (there are 3 huge universities in Rome). Italians are very friendly so I'm sure you'll make many friends. There's also a large Anglo-American community in Rome. English is spoken everywhere... 'broken English' very often.

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply... :)

I wouldn't say i was inexperienced, i have 10 years work experience in various sectors of which recently i have been working for HM Revenue & Customs for the past 6 years so have extensive work experience......not necessarily in showbiz or real estate though!

What about teaching? Is there not a huge demand for english speaking teachers to teach 'english' in Italy? What's the banking industry like?

There is a very complicated system to become a teacher in Italy (many graduatories), if you mean private lessons, I think you could find something but the market is somewhat saturated.
My suggestion is to go for a tourism related job, something like a tourist guide (for English speaking tourists naturally). Tourism is the field where you can find a job quite easily.
As for banking industry, I'm not really sure but I suppose it's a hard task to get a job there.

Ok, the reality of living and working in Rome :)

I’m starting a degree in unversity this September in Business Studies & Italian and have the opportunity to come to Rome for a year to study/work as part of the degree.

How easy is it for a UK citizen to get a job in Rome?
Does it help that I would have a degree?
What is the job market like in rome? What sector is strong at the moment for employment? (Banking, IT, Marketing, etc).
Is there a website I can look at for ‘places to live’ in Rome? Cost, areas of Rome etc. Are house-shares a popular option?
How easy is it for me to make italian friends who speak good english?
:)
It's been a few years since I lived in Rome (I left in 2003) but English teaching jobs were posted often. Though, I'm not sure they paid very much. Check Wanted in Rome, a local publication, (also on line www.wantedinrome.com) for jobs. There is a lot of competition for these but you might get lucky. One of my friends did. She picked up a copy while on vacation, had an interview while she was there, and got a job offer before she left. Check with John Cabot University and American University for jobs. Good luck and let us know how you're doing!
Martha

"How easy is it for me to make italian friends who speak good english?" (As opposed to bad English?)

The best thing is to have with you one of those pocket size bilingual phrases dictionaries and remember that italians will try to understand.
A lot of people in rome - especially in the tourist and archeological areas - speak english, but even when they don't, speak very slowly and
help yourselves with your hands... they will do the same. Have a map to help you with if you need to ask for directions, and a small notepad
to write numbers. and if there's something specific you can use the little phrase book - either read from there or let them read.
most importantly the majority of people will try to understand and answer, just be nice and smile and you'll win them over.

You can make friends in Italy by going to a gym, the library,
church, markets, a university or any place else public you can think of.
Sometimes libraries have programs where you teach a person English and
they teach you Italian.It's easy to make friends of fellow English speakers
living in Rome too. You'll run into them at the above mentioned places
and at laundry mats. I met several good friends at the laundry mat in Perugia.

.... and the Romans are pretty friendly too.