Getting a Job in Italy
If you are a resident in Italy and are looking for a job the first thing to do is to report to the police station, informing them that you are seeking employment. Next go to the U'cio Stranieri (Foreigners' Division) of the provincial police headquarters and apply for a three-month Permesso di Soggiomo which will permit you to stay in Italy while looking for work.
The next task is to obtain a Libretto di Lavoro (Employment Book) by taking your Permesso di Soggiorno (Permit to Stay) to the Comune or Municipio (town hall) where you are registered as a resident. Then take the Libretto di Lavoro (which is eventually retained by the employer and returned to the individual during periods of unemployment) and register as a job seeker at your local U'cio di Collocamento, which is the government employment office responsible for placing workers. (The Italian equivalent of the Job Centre is the Sezione Circoscrizionate per l'Impiego ed il Collocamento in Agricoltura (SCICA). Privately-run employment agencies are not generally allowed to operate in Italy.)
In order to be registered in the correct category you will be asked to present copies of your qualifications, either with an official translation or a certificate of equivalence (certificato di equipollenza). The Uficio di Collocamento will issue you with an Attestato di Iscrizione (Registration Card), which must be stamped regularly, and a Certificate of Unemployment.
Go to the Ufficio di Collocamento regularly to see jobs that are advertised. Also look for advertisements in newspapers such as La Repubblica and La Stampa or the Friday job page of Corriere della Sera . You could also place an advertisement yourself, Sunday is the best day.
Other Italian publications worth looking at are the monthly magazines: Bolletino del Lavoro, Campus, Trovalavoro and Tuttolavoro. The widely-read, weekly magazine Mercatone places advertisements for no cost and has a good section on vacancies.
More and more employers are searching the Internet for employees and there are many online agencies specialising in the whole of Europe. Two useful sites specialising in Italy are:
- www.monsteritalia.it
- www.recruitaly.it
