simonsd25

Hello all,
Myself, my wife and our 4 children are looking to move to Spain in June 2015. I have done the budget based on 2 years Spanish living expenses and just need some general advice from people who have done this before.
I need to know what to do and when in the run up to next June and especially about schooling.
If anyone is living in and around the Benidorm area, it would be great if you could give me the heads up on any suitable job opportunities and indeed any properties that will be coming up to rent.
Any constructive advice is welcome and I look forward to speaking to expats.

Neptuno

I assume you have already researched finances, health cover and taxes, which are huge concerns. If so, then use the search facility on this, an other forums, such as eye on Spain, Expat forum spain , as well as sites such as UK in Spain, Anglo info, just Google.You will be inundated, overwhelmed and confused!
How old are your children, do you have to work, or can you finance your lifestyle for at least a year?

Casa Santo Estevo

What work at you looking for?

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.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

simonsd25

Hello and thank you to those who have replied so far.
Our children will be 3, 5, 10 and 13 when we move so getting a private Spanish tutor next month for the eldest as they will all have to go into a Spanish mainstream school.
Work wise, I have a wealth of qualifications and so am pretty flexible. I am finishing a BSc (hons) in social science soon so have written to the British consulate in Alicante in case any jobs there. Failing that I have sales and management qualifications and experience along with teaching qualifications in music. We are going over this August so going to try and get the feel for what work is available in varying sectors.

simonsd25

Sorry, forgot to answer one more question from 1st reply to my post. Whilst we would have enough living expenses for around 2 years upon moving, I would prefer to work as this money can then be put aside for later issues that may arise, in addition to this my wife is spending the first 6 months not working in order to let the kids have some support for integration.

me me

I don't really want to burst your bubble, but you make it sound like your wife is choosing not to work for the first 6 months, then she will find work.

Due to the crisis, it isn't that simple, it is not actually people themselves who decide when to work, it is the job situation that decides.

So with 4 children, and a shortage of jobs, especially ones compatible with childrens timetables, be prepared for your wife NEVER to work

simonsd25

Hi, I see and agree with what you are saying about the job situation with my wife and suitable work, she is a qualified nurse and at present the NHS are actively bringing nurses over from Spain and Portugal. What we are looking at for her is the possibility of either starting a private nursing outfit for British expats aimed at more care than treatment or even to just be there for the kids permenantly. I think the key thing we need to respect is that we are going to someone else's country and need to fit in with them rather than to expect them to adapt to our situation all round.

johnnyone

Meme's post is fair reflection on the position. There are many delusional Brits who believe they can come to Spain and get work etc without realising how difficult that is.
However you seem like an exception to that generality and I wish you luck.

agoreira

I too wish them luck, however I think they underestimate the enormity of the task they are taking on. Lots of qualifications, but they are not transferable, without fluent Spanish they are obviously restricted to the Brit market, and that's already full of well established companies. A quick google of something like "UK nursing care+Alicante" will throw up a list of companies already doing what they propose to do. Just about everything we read in similar posts here has already been tried and many have failed. Someone here will surely tell them to go for it, you only live once, what if etc, and that's fine if it's just a couple, but with four kids as well, I'd need cast iron assurance that I had a decent job sorted before I'd even consider it. ¡Espero que tengan suerte!

Casa Santo Estevo

Some qualifications will need to be translated into the Spanish equivalent. There are jobs around just look at the adverts in The Local on-line newspaper. Or Think Spian
Get you self on Linkedin

I have not had to worry about applying for work here, so i hope you find something that is suitable and pays sufficiently.

mikelincs

The first question really, and it hasn't been asked, is how good is your Spanish, if you want to get work then you will have to be pretty fluent unless you get a job working for an Englsih company where Englsh is the normal language. Even in this case you will need some knowledge, or be prepared to pay for the services of a translator. You would need a job with a contract to give you access to the Spanish health service, or be prepared to pay for private insurance for the family.
For rentals I suggest you look at Kyero.com they have places all over Spain, and for living in the area I would suggest looking at Albir, Altea ec, just north of Benidorm, but a whole different world away from the tourist trap of Benidorm.

agoreira

Which of the adverts in the Local do you think the OP could do if he doesn't speak Spanish? The company concerned "PR giant Adecco believes that some positions will be vacant this year", that's hardly the same as saying there are definite jobs available, and if they were I'm guessing the 26% Spanish speaking locals might just be interested. Also where you are living is very different to where the OP is looking to settle, there are thousands of Brits where he is looking, unlike where you are. Are you married to a Spanish lady?
As I said, I wish him well, but I doubt it will be anywhere as easy as you suggest.

Casa Santo Estevo

Well that is for him to search, not me. I am giving him positive leads on somewhere where to look.

How do you know that. If the work was that easy to fill would there be a need to advertise anywhere? PS Adecco is a human resource company, not a PR company.

True, but that does not come into the answer I gave. Maybe you have read something into my reply that is not there. And no I am not.

Like the quote above you seem to have read something I said in my post which I have not done. I never suggested it was easy and I never said it is impossible. My post was neutral, to the point I said "I have not had to worry about applying for work here, so I hope you find something that is suitable and pays sufficiently.".

The OP said "Any constructive advice is welcome and I look forward to speaking to expats." ; based upon that I feel I just gave some clues as to where to start looking for work, and yes there are a lot more places to find work.

flotsum

Hi I moved with 2 children and they are in mainstream school. My eldest was 10 at the time and it was very hard for her to keep up with the work whilst learning the language, she is now 14 and to be honest at this age she would not have coped in a mainstream school. The children had Spanish lessons before we came but it was not enough. My youngest was 6 and was fine in school. I would suggest that as soon as you get here you will need to find a tutor for them to continue learning spanish, if you come in June they will start school in September so they could get 3 months immersion, and build a relationship with a tutor who you are going to need at least for the first year of both your elder children if they are to keep up at school. The first year of our children being at school was a total nightmare, they were the only British children at school, they were certainly made to feel welcome and were happy but it was a huge struggle with the schoolwork.... I mean 4 - 6 hours some nights to get homework done ............together with a lot of tears and heartache.(Spanish children have a lot of homework and constant exams to study for). The other thing to budget for is school books, stationary etc we spend over 700 euros a year for 2 children just for text books and stationary, then there are school trips and after school activities. My concern is your 13 year old, she is going to struggle, in retrospect we should have got a tutor for our 10 year old when we moved it would have saved so much stress and been much fairer on her. The school advised us to enroll the children in outside activities where they would be able to speak and listen to spanish outside school and this helped a lot, also the teachers were insistent that they went to summer school during the holidays which was like a large kids club so that they maintained spanish throughout their first summer.