http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...13043896796754

An interesting view of Spanish work ethics and associated issues.

Quite a few home truths in there, though being only one persons view,(ex employer), probably not an entirely well balanced article.

There is some truth to this

I have recently hired someone. I received 120 CVs in a 1 week period. 75% of the CVs hadn't even read the job description. Only about 8 were worth considering

In the interviews, two of the four people demanded a 25k euro starting salary despite being close to 30 years old and only having 6 month periods of work experience and no proper job. One said they could only work part time in the first year as he was starting a second masters degree (to go with one masters degree and two normal degrees that he already had)

And of all the applicants, only one of the 120 had even a good working level of English, despite the job description saying that a "native level" was essential.

It was very disappointing

Link doesn't allow me to read article, just the first couple of lines, then says I have to subscribe to read the rest of the story.

I'm afraid that is common with news feeds.

That's another reason why we don't allow full page quotes of articles that are not only copyright but also chargeable to access. If we did, it could be construed as a form of piracy.

I'm not seeing much difference between Spain and the UK in this regard.

I remember being desperate to hire at a time when I wasn't getting many CVs sent through. I asked the agency we were using to give me an example of the ones they were screening out. I thought I might see a few worth interviewing. I was shocked at just how bad the CVs and applications were. I thanked the agency for doing such a good job of saving our time. (And some of them had pretty poor English, despite being English and living in England, which is where I was at the time I am talking about)

I did post the full story originally for that reason, but Fred says not allowed for copyright reasons and so deleted it.

Maybe posting 2 or 3 excerpts would be in order, or if not then the key points, in which case I'll try and get around to it.

Having said that, I think Cmans post 2 is quite relevant and a fair reflection of key parts of the article.

One small excerpt here.....
"There is an abysmal difference between work ethics abroad and in Spain," a 30-year-old friend tells me as he leaves for Singapore. He alludes to the "lost" generation that isn't really lost; they just prefer to tweet and chat, not work."

also...
"Others enroll as jobless to claim benefits while earning money in the underground economy. "With or without sales tax?" is still a regular question asked not only by plumbers and electricians, but also by higher-skilled businesspeople. "El que defrauda es el rey" is Spain's unofficial motto: Those who defraud and evade taxes are king—lauded and admired by others"

Another,
"The majority of chachas, or housemaids, continue to be South American. It appears that Spanish women consider themselves too good for such domestic jobs. At anti-austerity protests, activists communicate with iPhones and smoke Marlboros. In a country that is supposedly in a critical situation, how is it that its inhabitants can still afford such luxuries?"

copy and paste the text below into google, completely legal BTW.

The Real Spanish Jobs Crisis ISABEL EVA BOHRER cache

The top two links should come without having to login

C'mon people. You could say both of these things about the UK too, surely?

50% of people now attending Uni, many to do useless things like Media Studies. I suppose they'd justify their enthusiastic use of Twitter as research.

Plumbers and the like in the UK don't carry swipe machines and most people haven't see a cheque for years, cash is the currency used to pay for tradesmen.

If the governments haven't worked out that abolishing cash would result in a few billion extra in taxes each year they must be asleep.

[QUOTE=Dick Dasterdly;11238069]One small excerpt here.....
"There is an abysmal difference between work ethics abroad and in Spain," a 30-year-old friend tells me as he leaves for Singapore. He alludes to the "lost" generation that isn't really lost; they just prefer to tweet and chat, not work."

also...
"Others enroll as jobless to claim benefits while earning money in the underground economy. "With or without sales tax?" is still a regular question asked not only by plumbers and electricians, but also by higher-skilled businesspeople. "El que defrauda es el rey" is Spain's unofficial motto: Those who defraud and evade taxes are king—lauded and admired by others"

From the same article....
...
In April, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy banned cash payments in amounts over €2,500 to try and cut down on the cheating. Yet the latest estimates suggest that Spain's underground economy is still worth 20-25% of GDP. That's double the European black-market average. No use upping VATto 21%, as the government did in September: Only a fraction of the population actually pays sales tax.

Quite a difference.

I've seen other articles claiming the the black-market activities have now moved well beyond that estimate and from what I've seen myself I'd tend to agree with that P.O.V.

If the black market is that size, it may well explain why the unemployment rate is seemingly high, yet the bars and terrazas are full of people drinking?

As for work ethic, I've worked with Spanish people both in the UK and in Spain, and on average they've been extremely diligent and good workers. What I don't understand is why I don't get Spanish people asking for a job or even work experience - and it's not just here in central Madrid. A guy who ran a bar on the coast told me the only people who came asking for work were other nationalities. Having said that I've seen Spanish ask in a tapas restaurant in west London, and leave their cv, but I just don't see it here.

All down to the bars again, eh ?

"El que defrauda es el rey" is Spain's unofficial motto: Those who defraud and evade taxes are king—lauded and admired by others"

"Efectivo" is the name of the game here in Spain.

Always has been, but now it seems to have taken over from football as the National Sport.

In general the Spanish both encourage and admire it, ALSO usually have a good laugh about it and would never dream of laying anybody in, which is always a big risk back in other countries.

I think one of the reasons that attitudes have hardened even further in the direction of efectivo and tax dodging is down to the massive corruption scandals of recent times extending right up to those in very high places.

What's sauce for the Goose eh ?