joeydav

I am only 19 years old but since I left school I have always wanted to live and work in either Cyprus or the Canary Islands. I know it's not a full-time party and I am prepared to work a lot harder for the lifestyle.

I am a fully qualified City&Guilds Electrician. I have a small amount of experience.
Before enrolling onto the course I mentioned my ambitions to my tutor and he told me that my qualification would be recognised around the world.

Basically, I want to know a few things to get me on the right track;

WHEN - When would be the best time for me to start looking for work in Cyprus/Canary Islands? After how much work experience? What time of year?

MONEY - How much money should I have saved realistically before I look for an apartment to rent? Flight money? Will my job cover the costs?

WORK - Am I likely to find a job within the electrical industry? Are there any better options for me?

I'm sorry for not being very specific but this is all new to me, I've only ever lived in England and haven't discovered the big bad world.
I'm just looking for some advice to get me on the right road.

Thanks,
Joe.

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

First of all do you speak Spanish fluently? Finding work with out this language skill will not be easy at all. You would not be able to sign off any electrical work because although your qualifications would be recognised in as far as you are competent you would not have the correct ones to legally sign off the work.

Spain and the islands have high unemployment the same as the rest of Europe.

Make sure that you have money to last you for quite a while whilst searching for work and you might have to be prepared to work for very low wages in very boring temporary jobs in order to live.

Saying all that you may be really lucky and find work and if this happens you will enjoy living here.

Good luck with your research and I hope that you find what you want to have a happy life.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

mikelincs

As Rosemary has said, you UK qualifications will not be of any real use, the Spanish way of electrics is totally different to the UK ones, you may be able to do a course to sort that out though. Unemployment in Spain is way worse than in the UK, and the language barrier will be another stumbling block, even if working in a Ex-Pat area you will need Spanish to deal with suppliers ect and the enormous beaurocracy there is as all and any alterations officially require permission from the local town hall.