Beranda

Hi all,
As you can see I'm entirely new to this, but this definitely seems to be the place to seek out advice. I'm British (duh), 23 and currently working in London. However, I really would love to move to South America to work for a few years (if not longer) within the next couple of years. So, I have a few questions:

1)Which countries would be the most suitable? I'm currently struck by Ecuador and Chile, although totally open to suggestions.
2)How difficult is it to find work in South America for a Brit?
3)How difficult is it to establish a life if you move over on your own (which I will be doing)?
4)Would you guys who have taken the plunge recommend it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - I have always had a fascination with South America and truly think that may be where I am supposed to be! I speak fairly good Spanish, and I'm currently working hard at improving it so hopefully would be at a good standard before the move.

Thanks in advance!

Oregon4now

Hi, I sent you a link that I hope you find helpful.
Chile is a fantastic country BTW.

http://www.allchile.net/chileforum/moving-chile.html

Mods feel free to delete the link if I have violated any rules.

dfjordan

Beranda

I´ve replied to your questions but on the forum mentioned by Oregon4now. Good luck

Mitzyboy

Well, I would have been a huge lot happier if you had answered some questions on here rather than refer a new poster here to another forum.

jdupa

Check out the Uruguay, a fantastic pace to live.

Beranda

Hi guys. As an update I've decided I'm definitely leaving my job and London in November, and I would love to spend some time in South America. Does anyone have any advice job-wise? Are there any MNCs that may employ me - i'm not exactly sure how the application process there will work.

Many thanks

dfjordan

As you don´t say what your qualifications and language skills are, it´s difficult to answer your question. In general, I can say that in Santiago, business continues to boom, and life is very pleasant. If I remember correctly, I gave you quite a bit of info on Chile back in Dec 2011. I know of other Brits who have arrived on spec and been able to get jobs with MNC without too much trouble, but they speak Spanish. Residency is very easy to get as long as you have a job offer. If you arrive in Nov, you´ll be really impressed by the wonderful climate that Chile has.

Beranda

Thank you very much for your reply. I will also go through the information you kindly offered before. I have an honours degree in accounting and business finance from a top 10 uni as my best qualification. As for my Spanish, currently it is upper-intermediate, but I am going to be working very hard at my level before I come to SA. I am contracted here (housing) until November, so I would be looking to move then - I am confident I can attain a very good level of Spanish by that time.

What kind of MNCs have people got jobs with? I don't want to come over with no return ticket etc if I don't have employment lined up, as I dont want to jump in too haphazardly!

Thanks very much

dfjordan

Beranda, your level of Spanish would sound to be sufficient to start with and naturally,once you´ve been here speaking it for about 6 months, you´d no doubt be pretty fluent anyway. There are many MNC here; Santiago is a very fast growing city and MNC are using Santiago more and more for their Latin American headquarters due to the very efficient infrastructure, good working legal and tax systems and availability of highly qualified staff. There´s a lot of competition from locals as well, but many MNC prefer foreigners for their work ethics etc. Anglo American is a good example, but you could also maybe get into one of the corporate finance depts of major banks or stockbrokers. One thing is certain though, you wont be able to get yourself a job setup before you are here. Once here there are offices of major acounting/finance recruiters like Michael Page, which could be a good place to start your search. It will be cheaper for you to buy a return ticket than a one way, so I wouldn´t worry about that. You could always make the return booking for say 6 months later and if everything falls apart ( which I´m pretty sure wouldn´t be the case), you can jump on the plane and go home again. You´ve got to get out, take some risks in life if you want to get ahead