Finding work in Italy is not as easy as you would think. Italians have a hard enough time finding work, let alone a foreigner who arrives without friends or family to help him find work through the grapevine.
A lot of work seems to be found in exactly this way: an uncle, or a friend of a friend, will recommend you for a job and bingo, you’re in. It’s called being raccomandato. But what do you do if you don’t have that network to help you?
When I first moved to Italy, I was scuppered right from the beginning. In the UK, the first thing I’d do when moving to a new town was have a look at the newspapers or walk into a couple of employment agencies. In my part of Italy, when I moved here seven years ago, no one had heard of employment agencies, and the only jobs advertised in local papers were those for cooks, waiters or hotel staff. The local ‘ufficio di collocamento’ is the Italian equivalent of a job centre, and, again, concentrates on blue-collar jobs, jobs for young students etc. Indeed, a general problem in Italian employment is that the majority of jobs are seasonal, driven by summer ¬¬– or winter – tourism in hotels, restaurants, bars, beach resorts, ski slopes etc. That’s all very well if you have more than one job on the go or if you are a student, but what about people who want stable employment and a prospect of a career?
This situation, thankfully, is changing and the Internet has been the driving force behind the change. There are several interesting websites now that advertise jobs in all sectors, in industrial, commercial and creative fields. You can have a look at www.kijiji.it.
www.jobrapido.it or www.manpower.it. You will be glad to know that Italian CVs, known as curriculum, are very similar to British ones, and are laid out in much the same way. While the general Italian population speaks little English, office workers in all fields have quite a good command of business English and will probably understand an English CV.
Having now entered the Italian tax system, I am starting to get to grips with how it works, thanks to a very kindly and compassionate Italian accountant (a commercialista) who takes pity on my ignorance and has realised that it’s best to just get on and do everything for me rather than hoping that I’ll understand what she’s doing.
In my case, as a freelance journalist with a fixed base in Italy, I can pay Italian tax in Italy and UK tax in the UK, thanks to the “Convention between the UK and the Italian Republic for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income”, article 14. In terms of the Italian tax system, as long as you make less than 30,000 euros a year (which is certainly my case for the foreseeable future!), the tax situation is quite simple. You register for a VAT number (numero IVA, not to be confused with your codice fiscale which everyone has to have to do or buy anything in Italy) and then issue invoices quoting that number and taking 20% off your invoice as a ‘ritenuta d’acconto’. This 20% is paid by the employer. Then at the end of the year, the government decides how much you’ve overpaid and gives you, hopefully, a rebate. This sounds very exciting, and indeed, I was very excited last month when my kindly commercialista announced that I would be getting 800 euros tax back for the 2008 tax year. Fabulous, I said! Just what I need with all the renovation expenses I’ve had to pay out! This is when the kindly commercialista realised the profound ignorance I live in, sat me down and quietly explained that I would probably see those 800 euros in about two years… Apparently, those who overpaid their tax in 2006 have just started receiving their rebates now.
I highly recommend the services of kindly commercialiste – I speak fluent Italian but would not dare try to tackle the tax system on my own. For example, the other day I received a letter from the Agenzia delle Entrate – the tax office – printed in enormous red, capital letters that just the look of it made you think it was a summons or a prison sentence. I went cold and could hardly read it. With trembling fingers, I dialled the number of my kindly commercialista, who sighed and told me it was simply a letter asking what bank account I wanted future VAT money to be paid out, or into, from. I rest my case.
Another fundamental thing to keep in mind is that it is generally the rule that invoices are paid in 60 days. It is not completely uncommon for invoices to be paid in 90 days, and I have often heard of invoices being paid after a year. The European Union was close to making a resolution requiring 30 days across Europe recently, but unfortunately this did not go through, and so the system remains as it is for the moment. Such is the life of a freelancer. However if you are lucky enough to get a job with a company, you will have the pleasant surprise of a ‘tredicesima’: a 13th pay slip which is paid out as a bonus to the majority of employees at the end of the year.
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