Chris Carmicle's job won't last much longer. He is an executive vice president of ABCpoint.com Inc., a Louisville, Ky., Web site for builders and contractors. The start-up, whose work force has shrunk to eight from 30 in November, is shutting down.

So the 27-year-old recently began job hunting among Internet companies abroad. "I definitely see opportunity over there," Mr. Carmicle says.

The dot-com downturn drove many Americans back to the Old Economy. Now some workers are seeking start-up success in Europe, Asia or Australia. These dot-commers think their experience makes them more employable overseas where, they believe, most countries are six to 18 months behind the U.S. in development -- and in some cases, decline -- of Internet businesses.

Mr. Carmicle's prospects look promising. After posting his resume on several job sites with global reach in June, he received calls from British, Japanese and Australian dot-coms. "They want to hear the war stories and talk about how I can apply what I learned to their operations," he says, adding the dot-coms hope that with workers with U.S. experience "they won't make the same mistakes." He received 10 inquiries and has arranged several telephone job interviews.

Recruiters say Americans seem most avidly sought for foreign Internet jobs in sales and finance or involving technology -- especially in Germany, Switzerland, France and Scandinavia. Moreover, U.S. dot-commers with a year or two of experience have a better chance of getting hired by a foreign Internet business if they're already living in that country, in part because it is cheaper and less complicated for small start-ups to interview candidates who live nearby.

But some succeed despite geography. Doug McCormack, 29, began looking for an overseas Internet job in early 2000 by contacting European headhunters and searching online when he was still regional sales manager at the San Francisco office of 24/7 Media Inc., a New York Internet-advertising company. After several phone interviews, Mr. McCormack in May was hired as European sales director for Expatica.com, an Amsterdam Web site for English-speaking expatriates in Europe.

Some dot-commers working overseas earn much less but enjoy their job much more. Alana Oldham, 31, from Shreveport, La., joined Amsterdam Internet consultancy NetlinQ Framfab last fall. The systems architect earns less than half of the $130,000 she received as chief technology officer of the New York dot-com she left in June 2000. A "less neurotic" environment was the trade-off, Ms. Oldham says.

However, foreign dot-coms are starting to ease their recruiting efforts, as they begin to weather their own downturn. Moreover, Europeans "have started to accumulate information too, so there's not such a need for Americans," says Michelle Hazlett, managing director in the Madrid office of MRI Spain, a division of Cleveland's Management Recruiters International Inc.

Some Americans hired earlier by European firms also have been laid off. Yet when their European dot-coms went bust, some of these casualties say they weren't worried because they felt their experience made them more marketable candidates.

Craig Darling, 26, had left his business-development job in San Francisco, then became director of strategic alliances for E-loft.com, a student Web site in Madrid. But when the pan-European site shut down in June, Mr. Darling wasn't as worried about finding his next job. Instead, he is taking time to explore Europe. "Being here has made me realize there's more to life than making money," he says.