Years ago when I was in college I went through BUNAC to work in London.  It’s a very good deal and one of the few ways for an American to easily get a working visa.  Any specific questions?

Thanks!  No specific questions yet.  I’ve got figure out how to get an overseas job, questions may be yet to come.

I had a BUNAC work visa as an undergrad student too, and it worked fine.  I got that before I got a job.  It’s good for 6 months from the day you enter the foreign country.
 
Armed with that visa I contacted temporary employment agencies in London.  One wrote me back and said they would interview me if I came to London.  I went, they interviewed me, sent me out on jobs, and even got me a 3 month contract.
 
Remember to go through the proper channels and register yourself in London at the police station and I think at the national employment office before you start working.
 
 

I guess you must be American so don’t have much of a choice but to go through BUNAC but I just wanted to point out that it’s a huge waste of money if you’re from a country with a regular Working Holiday Program in place. If you’re able to get a visa on your own through the country’s High Commission or Embassy then the cost of the visa will be less than half of programs like BUNAC (and SWAP, for that matter). I guess this advice is mainly for people from Commonwealth countries, but Americans who are going to NZ can also get the visa pretty easily on their own from what I understand so save your pennies, do a bit of research and don’t be duped into thinking programs like BUNAC and SWAP are the only way.

What do you mean “getting visas on their own?” I am also an American looking to find work in Europe for a six month basis, and would like to find the cheapest, preferably legal, way. Thanks.

Lots of countries have reciprocal arrangements for working holiday visas (WHV). The only country the States has a working holiday arrangement with is New Zealand. So for most countries that have the WHV programme, citizens are able to go straight to the embassy or high commission of the coutnry they want to go to, get the applications and apply for the visa ‘on their own.’ For US citizens to get a visa to the UK though they can’t do it on their own, they must go through BUNAC because there’s no WHV programme in place. There’s some other visa programme but it’s administered through BUNAC so any Yank who wants a visa to the UK has no choice but to go though BUNAC. This is a lot more expensive than what a Canadian would pay to ‘do it themselves’ and the visa is 6 months instead of the 24 month visa granted to Canadians (and other COmmonwealth nations). Does this all make sense?
 
Just to let you know though, there’s no European working visa… you’ll need to pick a country and see if they issue visas to Americans. As far as I know, Ireland and the UK are the only choices but I could be wrong. Have a great trip!

You can also try aipt.org