Job hunting in Brussels

The nEUrosis has a very nice piece on the job market in Brussels. (Unfortunately) everything in this article is true, even though one should not forget the positive side of the topic or as The nEUrosis puts it:

Brussels has a very dynamic job market, probably the biggest in Europe, for those interested in international and European politics. Although there are many cultural, linguistic, and job-seeking differences, the uniting factor for this city-within-a- city is indeed the EU. In between one job add and the next, Brussels-based Europeans live their lives discussing the past, the present, and the future of this one political body. In a sense, they are the citizens the EU does not have.

However, it is truly a shame that well-qualified graduates are often exploited and not properly paid (especially outside the EU institutions). Moreover the “networking obsession” is a rather bizarre business here in Brussels. In that context I can’t stop thinking about the famous quote by George Soros (not sure if it was him though) who once said: “Networking is not working!”.

And, as far as I can recall there is even a law in Belgium that prohibits any internships for university graduates…!