Had the T shirt.

I see not speaking Spanish as a big hadicap as working in a kitchen is based on teamwork, or in the case of head chef, shouting orders from the umpires chair.

It would be easy enough being a lowly kitchen assistant or dishwasher without knowing any Spanish, but then the wages would reflect it, but to be part of a busy hotel or restaurank kitchen would be difficult without the language, especially as it is high pressure work.

If Gordon Ramsey came to Spain, he would only have to learn about three words!

It's funny you mention Gordon Ramsey HBG. We had been thinking about moving to England and my OH sent his cv in for a sous chef vacancy at the Savoy Grill - not really expecting a response. He was contacted and then had a phone interview. They wanted him to come to London for a test day but for another position (the original had already been filled). It was for a junior sous chef position at one of his other places in London but with a salary of only £26 - 28,000 per year. How they would expect someone (let alone someone with a family ) to live in London of all places on that salary I'm not exactly sure. OH turned it down. That salary in Spain on the other hand.......(as if).

If your husband speaks dutch I do believe it will be much easier for him to find a job. Also I don´t think that he needs to speak spanish to have a job offer from a dutch employer. There´s a big dutch community around here, they usually only speak dutch and english, most time they only offer jobs to dutch speaking people. My partner works in the construction business, he´s english ( I´m not as you´ve problably noticed... ), he works mostly for the dutch and although there are many many spaniards without jobs, he has a job. The crisis and unemployment rates are much lower in the netherlands so they do have money to spend.
My partner has some contacts in the dutch community, his boss is dutch and has many friends in the catering trade, maybe he can give you some contacts.

Does he have a contract or is it just cash in hand ?

The area to the south of Torrevieja, Orihuela-Costa, has many British and Irish bars and restaurants. It’s a ‘working class’ area and the wages are low, but so is the cost of living, especially the cost of renting.

And you would have no problems getting your child into a local school, they are well used to foreign children from the UK and Ireland.

The local online papers include the Costa Blanca News, the Round Town News, the Coast Rider, the Euro Weekly and others. Chefs are frequently the only jobs advertised in these troubled times. And, apart from tonight, it hardly ever rains.

Where we live, on the Costa Blanca just north of Alicante, there are several areas where there are a lot of Dutch people and Dutch run restaurants.

As HBG said, look in the local newspapers. Here is the CB News online jobs section

http://www.costa-news.com/index.php?...=1307&Itemid=1

And this for Round Town News

http://www.roundtownnews.co.uk/index...nd=0&Itemid=95

As you will see there are not many jobs advertised but it is worth keeping an eye on these.

junior sous at those wages with GR on your C.V. i think you were mad to leave it,"short term pain,for long term gain", love him or loathe him, his name opens doors.
My old head chef worked for him for 6 months in the same position,living in London with a family,scrimping and saving throughout the time but now the reference and name has got him a top top top job in Dubai.

Is there any other way for pleople to work???????
As far as I know you need a contract and you have to pay ss, and your taxes.
What´s your problem? What exactly in what I wrote sugests he´s working on the black???? I know I need to improve my english writting skills but you should work your reading skills....
If you´re really good in what you do, you´ll have a job.

What a helpful post. Someone with knowledge separate from the Brit knowledge is really useful.

Rosemary

No it's not.
Many of the posts here show a lack of knowledge in the catering industry.
Language is NOT an issue in any large kitchen.
There are head chefs in greasy spoon cafes and michelin star restuarants, therefore the issue is the chefs ability, only.

Yes, I agree with you on that.
But, unless you´re talking about the main cities, you don´t have that many large kitchens. And believe me , no one is going to hire a chef he can´t comunicate with.
My point was if you´re going to work with the dutch, spanish isn´t important.
On the other hand, if you don´t speak english or dutch, it´s difficult for you to work with them.
And also I was talking about the area I live, we don´t have many large kitchens here, and the owners want to be able to speak with the staff.

In my experience, a head chef needs language ablility, as his duties are very varied.

Or are we taliking about a "head chef" of the chef in charge, if you know what I mean.

Because the job description of "head chef" is more finance, budjet, keeping inventory, sourcing, menu planning, instructing, negociating with suppliers, shouting out the customers orders etc.

the actual cooking is secondary, and delegated to the rest of the chefs.

This link is a good description of duties.

http://www.ehow.com/about_4687736_jo...head-chef.html

Thanks to everyone for the steady supply of info and opinions.
Budsturga: It's good to hear the info about Dutch speakers (I kind of knew that the Dutch prefer to hire other Dutch speakers) If you do have any contacts that would be really helpful and appreciated. Do you get the feeling that there is resentment from the Spanish labour force directed at immigrants "taking" their jobs? Or foreign business owners hiring non-Spanish people?
It's also nice to hear from people in different areas of Spain. I don't want to give the impression that we just wish to move to Spain to have more sunshine. Although my husband does not yet speak Spanish (just English, Dutch, German and some French) he would try to learn it as quickly as possible and not assume that everyone could just speak English or Dutch with him. I've been trying to tutor him a bit (although my Spanish is a bit rusty).
Its also good to hear (for a chef anyway) that chef jobs seem to be the main vacancies being posted at the moment. Being a true head chef is not just about cooking, it's managing staff, GP, supplies, costing etc. And its hard work. My OH is still behind the fires in the kitchen and does all the rest too (quite often from home).
He's already heard from 3 different restaurant owners in Spain that if he was already there they would hire him and once he is to let them know. I guess that is a positive sign. I just worry that if we wait until our daughter finishes this school year (end of June) that most of the vacancies will already be filled.