turkey no clue

April 1, 2008 5:42 PM

I'm considering re-locating to Istanbul and need recommendations on how I would go about finding an American company(or anyone actually!) to hire me.

I have experience in packaging design, graphics, art direction and news design and have been searching extensively online job boards(craigslist, monster, etc) without much luck.
I guess I'm looking for:
- a list of American companies located in Istanbul(which seemed like it would be easy to find but I'm not having luck,)
- any experience with working in above fields in Istanbul, do these jobs exist?
- general suggestions relating to anything about this! all welcome

posted by beckish to Work & Money (4 answers total)

Check out US clothing and textile companies. Look for ones that import textiles and or manufacture garments in Turkey. One I can think of off-hand is Horny Toad. There are others. A reference librarian should be able to help you with US companies that do business in Turkey.

Horticulture and tourism are also big industries in Turkey.

Do you speak Turkish? Have you spent much time in Turkey? Do you know anyone in Istanbul? If not, it may take some time to lay a bit of groundwork before you commit to moving there. If yes, you have a head start!

Check out the various ex-pat sites--I'm not aware of one specifically for Turkey, but there are ex-pats everywhere, trading info on relocating, jobs, housing, and ex-pat life in general.
posted by subatomiczoo at 6:16 PM on April 1, 2008

If you have any interest, Istanbul is a hot spot for ESL teachers, and that is also an excellent job for networking through the locals. If that interests you drop me a note. I haven't taught there but several friends have.
posted by dawson at 6:51 PM on April 1, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks for the comments--I'm learning Turkish and although I haven't spent anytime in Turkey I will have a pretty large network of people that I know in Istanbul.
posted by beckish at 10:59 PM on April 1, 2008

I haven't had a good look at the site in a long time, but you might want to check out Escape Artist, specifically their Moving to Turkey section. I know there used to be some good resources/links on the site on how to move abroad. It may just be a good place to start anyway.

And I would second teaching English. That is often the easiest way to get into a country and after awhile it could lead you to other jobs. A friend of mine moved to Japan and taught English for a couple of years, but ended up transitioning into a really good, high-paying job in finance.
posted by triggerfinger at 10:50 AM on April 2, 2008