sally phil

Hi
Im Sally and my partner Phil and I are moving to the costa Blanca with our son Emilio who is 18months
Our main worry is finding work,people say get a job before you go but theres hardly anything online,others say find work when you are there as most jobs arent advertised,we will probably do that

We are saving enough money to last us 2 years,without work...worst case scenario ....then we have the interest on our savings to fall back on from the house sale,but we really dont want to touch that

We know we wont live like kings and it will be hard but surely if you are not fussy about what you do there are jobs out there ...as long as we can put food on the table,we do have Qualifications (childcare,hairdressing)and skills (tool hire maintenance,food production,gift of the gab)between us and Phil is learning Spanish
Our initial thoughts were head for benidorm there will be more jobs there but is this necessarily so,I like the look of further up coast Denia Javea...where is our best chance of finding work
What skills could we aquire now that will help us find work once we get there
Thanks for your time
Sally 37 Phil 31 Emilio 1.5

TheArmChairDetective

Hi Sally and Phil,
Welcome and nice to meet you.
For me I would say.. learning spanish is the main priority.

sally phil

Yes thats def a priority,but then which spanish do you learn ,isnt there valencian catelonian etc,I guess you just learn the basics that are taught here in England ,we went to Gran canaria a few months ago and Phil was so looking forward to trying out what he had learnt,but half of it they didnt understand and had completely different words for things!!!v.disheartening

Thanks for the welcome

onlineamiga

Actually I found it really easy. Maybe im just really really lucky and having a wealth of IT Support experience behind me helped. But I dont speak spanish, and i landed in Malaga knowing no one, and got a job in 8 days. Then after the new year i started looking for another job and got offered one last week.
But as i say, I think ive just been lucky.. infact Ive been far too lucky.

sally phil

Sounds like you have been lucky,would it be worthwhile getting some sort of basic IT qualification (we are planning to relocate in 2 years so we have time,)it does seem alot of the vacancies I see online are in IT,but as you say you already had alot of experiene in the area

sally phil

How did you find work Im guessing they dont have job centres from hat Ive heard and read?
Thanks for the reply

SueG

To be honest we started off the in area that you are thinking of heading to and you will be able to find work in call centres no problems at all but otherwise it is a case of who you know rather than what you know.

onlineamiga

Hi, any IT qualification is worthwhile. I just had been doing IT Support for 9 years in the UK beforehand and can come across very well in interviews. I actually only have a GNVQ in I.T myself.. Never went to uni. Yet I seem to be very employable for some reason.

TheArmChairDetective

I have always been told to concentrate on learning
Conversational spanish.

its what youll use to buy food etc.


Andrew, What "IS" IT support mate, can old people re train in it?
Does it mean I would get a job saying "Hello (insert IT co name) can I help you" or would I get to play with computers all day in Gib

Econ

It can be a lot more difficult getting work in Spain than people imagine, there are areas where you can get work easily but it takes you to fit in the right slot for that job and there are few slots here like that.

General forms of employment as you mention can be much more difficult, Spain has started to suffer from employment problems caused by immigration and the construction industry is starting to wind down big time in some regions here, so there are many more people now looking for work in some of the areas you mention. Employers tend to want cheap and immigrants give them cheap, so you will probably find that will make things even more difficult for work. Another thing to be aware of is there are a lot of people already here filling those jobs you mention, many expats go directly for those jobs.

Generally Spanish is important if applying for work with a company here, without it there will be even less available and so close down your options even more.

I don't want to put you off, I think you should know the reality of the situation, that is not to say you won't get a job for a reasonable wage fairly quickly, but I think you should understand it is unlikely unless you are very lucky or can do something that is in demand.

Good luck whatever you do.

sally phil

ok thanks for the info,Im under no illusion how hard it might be which is why we are working hard to save enough money to see us through a couple of years, have an NVQ in childcare and education so I may be looking for jobs in nurseries schools etc,pref mixed with Spanish and english speaking children at first til I get a better grasp of the language
What is in demand in the area then as we have time to retrain
and you mention call centres ,would you need spanish for that?

sally phil

nvq3 that is,Iknow people think it stands for not very qualified ha ha but I hear it i a relevant qualification in Spain...anyone know if thats true

TheArmChairDetective

and that might just be your passport.

Time to look into nursery school management/ownership and with the number of expats midwifery !!!

lcortez

NVQ's are recognised in Spain.
In fact they where originally set up as a Europe wide qaulification,to aid in qualification recognition.
With regard to work,ever though about becoming self employed?

sarahchirles

I have lived 20 mins outside Benidorm for 3 years. I too was very lucky to get an office job with an English company within a month of getting here. I was made redundant last March and have'nt managed to get another. Mind you as things have turned out thats Ok.

My OH work's for one of the many telesales companies that are in Benidorm and they always have vacancies for people. Nuff Said!

Othere options are plentiful bar work and restaurant work. Blanket trips (street inviters).

I spent 3 months daily learning Spanish this summer, although it is now good for social situations, no Spanish employer would look at me because I am not fluent.