Help required for a soon to be expat
 

My wife and I are moving to the southern Spain next year. Can anyone let me know how easy/hard it is to find work. I don't speak spanish but I am starting to learn. Ideally we will be moving inland, mainly for the peace & tranquility.

Any help, advice would be greatly appreciated.

We know we will struggle, but we are determined to get away for the benefit of our soon to arrive child.

Kind regards

MJH

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

Such a BIG question, and not easy to answer, especially not knowing what you're trained/qualified to do. There are many threads on this forum that could give you a flavour - go to Search and see what comes up. Also look at www.andalucia.com which has masses of information about working on the Costa del Sol. You'll also find sites for the Costas Blanca and Calida, Murcia.
I've hearing a few people these days talking about checking out Galicia.

There are other websites, like the British Embassy, Expatica that give advice on starting a business, teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL course). There's a long thread on this forum by professional people who find it hard to obtain employment, even speaking fluent Spanish.

Have a good surf, that's my advice, and get a lot of knowledge from other people's positive and negative experiences. And don't forget to do as much visiting of Spain as you can.

Good luck.

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

Thanks for replying, (FYI, I'm a qualified joiner with experience in various fields inc. Working in a pub, supermarket, factory. I'm currently a teamleader in manufacturing with a H&S background).

Can anyone tell me how important H&S is in the southern parts of Spain?

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

i would love to hear from couples/families like yourselves who are planning to or have already made the move to southern spain with young children. Tips on schools, how they adjust to the hotter climate etc.

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

After seeing my villa built, I would think that Health & Safety doen't rank high on the builders agenda!! I had to look away in terror a couple of times as workmen walked accross single planks suspended over high drops with their wheelbarrows.

The concencus of opinion I have read on forums overall is that its not going to be easy to get a job. It seems to be a lot of who you know, not what you know and of course you don't know anyone until you get over there and start making contacts.
Don't mean to be negative, but you need to budget for a period of time when you might not have any work.

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

My wife is in her mid thirties, I'm just going over the hill at forty one and our two daughters are eleven and fourteen. We moved over to La alfaquira near Albox, Almeria seven months ago and we have not looked back as yet.

The children were in a Spanish school within the first week, all we had to do was take the kids show them round, they did ask for any of the kids reports, and they were dropped in the deep end as there were very few English there, the teachers do not speak much English. But seven months later they have come along way and We are very proud of them. The eldest is fluent and the youngest is halfway there, my wife is getting there.

The kids have made hell of a lot of friends, on top of that we have been lucky in that, a Spanish family have kind of taken us under their wing, so we eat out and spend alot of time with them at their country house, watching and helping them make salami and may other meat products from their pigs.

We purchased a new build which was supposed to ready last September, but still we are waiting :) but thats Spain lol. We have been renting all this time with all our possessions in the garage, well thats what the English use their garages for :) .

I have been told this week that it will b two more weeks before we move in, so we shall see.

My wife has found a Hairdressing job where her boss pays contributions which is great as personal cover is quite expensive.

I travel back and forth to the UK for work, I'm lucky that i work three nights and have four off so i go back to Spain every other week.
I am looking for work in Spain but it is not easy to find something that pays well, realistically I think I will start my own business. Unless Airbus decides to move to Almeria.

A friend of mine works on the building and it certainly is dangerous as there is no scaffolding as we know it, he earns in a month 1000 euros, and that is very hard work.

Any questions just ask

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

Not a lot of wood is used out here apart from doors, wardrobes and kitchens and everything is rustico, so leave your level in England.

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

We have been looking around various areas of spain. We noticed a few cave houses around southern spain for sale can anyone recommend buying one?

If so, are they comfortable during winter & summer?

Thanks

Mike

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

Hi, loved reading your thread because I am hoping to move this summer, maybe to the same area if I can get an English Teaching post there. My two daughters are 8 and 6 and my wife and I have had concerns about their education and how they would settle in, cope with the language, make new friends etc. So thanks for putting our minds at ease. Iain
[email protected]

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

Delete your email addy, you will get spam.
People can contact you through PM if they need to ;)

Re: Help required for a soon to be expat
 

Re joiner work. There is a Dutch joiner here in Chiclana whom I believe makes quite a good living. We had a dressing table made by him and were pleased with the result.