Check the website of the government of the country you're interested in. For Germany (and therefore I assume for most, if not all, Schengen countries), there actually are two (three if you take studying into account) possbilities:
- a visa where you have a valid job offer for Germany. In this case, the employer must show that they can't find a suitable candidate in one of the Schengen countries. Quite hard to do with current unemployment rates, i.e. they must want _you_ pretty bad.
- a jobseeker's visa, which will permit you to stay here for some time, looking for a job. Two conditions:
1) the jobseeker's visa is no work permit, you're not allowed to work while under this visa
2) you need to be highly qualified (generally speaking, Ph.D. level) in order to get that visa
Even then, getting a suitable (basically, sufficiently well paid - yes, that's the actual criterium) job within this time limit will be challenging.
Europe is made up of 50 individual countries, there is no Work Permit that covers the entire continent!
To get a Work Visa for any country, you must first apply for and be offered a job. Then the employer will assist you with the visa process. The problem here is that, to give you the job, the employer must prove to authorities that there are no qualified European citizens available to fill the position. This will make getting any job extremely difficult, especially since there is high unemployment in Europe. You must have good qualifications and work experience and, you must speak the language of the country in which you wish to work.
Spain is strongly hit by unemployment and it will be hard to get working visa if your credentials are not really of high quality. That does not mean you may not get a job but that it will be hard to get the permit.
If the company that is going to hire you is multinational and you are send there by the mother or affiliated company it will be far easier to secure it.
If that is not the case, then before moving out make sure you will be given the position and that the prospective employer will be willing to go through the process of obtaining the permit.
Spain's unemployment rate is over 24% at the moment. For any Spanish employer to employ a non-EU citizen they have to prove they advertised a position across Spain for a minimum of 8 weeks and NOT ONE qualified EU citizen applied for the job. When McDonald's is getting over 800 applications for every job posting you can see what you are up against. Unless you have some very specialised skills in medicine, engineering or science, it's going to be pretty much impossible. There are no visas for unskilled or semi skilled work. The ONLY exception is if you work for a US company at a managerial level and they transfer you to one of their offices in Spain. I have a friend living Spain who works for Deloitte, but she had worked for Deloitte in the States for 10 years and speaks fluent Spanish (her parents are Cuban) and they transferred her to their Madrid office
You cannot just pick up and move to another country. If you are not European, you will have to arrange a visa in order to move there legally. European regulations require employers to advertise jobs and demonstrate that there are no viable European candidates for a job before they can offer a position to a non European. In the best of times non-Europeans have to have specialized skills, education and/or experience that cannot be easily duplicated by European job seekers. You're more likely to get a job that takes advantage of your education and skills than an entry level job; however, it's very difficult. Expecting a job when you don't already speak the local language or expecting employers to go to the time and expense to get you a work permit when that wouldn't be necessary for European candidates is unrealistic.
Right now, the overall unemployment rate in Italy is around 12.7% and it's around 42.7% for young people. In Greece, the unemployment rate is 26.5% overall and 56.9% for young people. In Spain, the unemployment rate is 25.3% overall and 53.9% for young people. In Portugal, the unemployment rate is 15.2% and 35.4%. In France, the unemployment rate is 10.4% overall and 23.4% for young people..
My direct experience is with Italy where I lived for the past 13+ years (working for a Swedish company); other countries here in Europe will have similar rules. It's not all that different anywhere else. The site for visas in Italy is: http://www.esteri.it/visti/index_eng.asp . The site has links to the application, the additional information you need to supply in order to get the visa and where to apply. It also includes education visas which are somewhat easier to get than work visas. You can find similar information for other countries on their consulate websites.Visa information on the website of the French Consulate in New York is here: http://www.consulfrance-newyork.org/-Vis... . You can find other consulate websites with a fairly simple search. Note that you'll need to apply to the consulate that has jurisdiction over the state where you live, but you can find the necessary information on any of the consulate websites.
A work permit is separate - you cannot apply for that yourself in many countries. The company has to apply and they have to be able to demonstrate that there is not a viable EU candidate for the job. As a result, jobs for foreigners including Canadian or US citizens are pretty much restricted to people with special education, knowledge, or experience ... and you would have to be able to speak the local language. However, the level of English is high in Scandinavia and most adults speak it very well. You would be able to manage well while learning the language. Right now, as noted above, the best bet would probably be something in the healthcare field which is a fit for you. When I moved here, it was through a transfer of the job I was already doing in the US to the Italian office. Even so, it took 8 months to put all the paperwork in place to apply for a visa. If you already have a job offer, the company will provide you the information you need for your visa application and take care of things like work permits.
It's useful to check the expat sites for information about living and working in the places you might be interested in:
http://www.expatsinitaly.com/
http://www.escapeartist.com/
http://www.expatica.com/
You can find other sites by searching for "expat" and the name of your target country. These sites will tell you how to register your address, provide information about healthcare, banks, and so forth to ease you into daily life.
You need to be aware that if you are a US expat, you would need to file tax returns in the US as well as in your host country and that can get to be expensive. You may also want to compare the cost of living in potential host companies to where you are now. http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/
No chance.
Your chances are below zero.
