Job Discussion Forums

[nuevocastellano]

Hi all! Im considering leaving Buenos Aires for Madrid in March, mainly for personal reasons, as work here in Buenos Aires is actually plentiful from now until December. I realise that September would be a much better time to arrive in Spain to start teaching, but I'm curious as to how much more difficult it would be to find sufficient teaching work if I do have to arrive in March. I would need to be able to build up sufficient hours to cover all my costs quickly - say within 1 month, to make it viable.

Im British and so have an EU Passport. I have a BSc in Sociology, MA in Social Studies, Diploma in Social Work and a lot of experience in that field and in British Sign Language communication work. I also have the CELTA. I now have around 2 years TEFL teaching experience; 6+ months in Spain and over 1 year in Buenos Aires giving mainly business English classes. I'd want to do more or less the same in Madrid i.e. business classes rather than teaching kids in an academy as I first did in Spain. My Spanish fluency is close to native in all skill areas.

I'd appreciate any comments and advice that people might be able to give. Also, an indication of best rates of pay for someone with my background would be helpful.

Thanks very much in anticipation![/b]

[Moore]

You qualifications are excellent, but pay rates are relatively low here in Spain. You can expect to get about 16 or 17 euros an hour working on a contract for an academy, and private students usually get you 20 to 25 euros an hour (but they are mostly out in the sticks, teaching/babysitting).

The best way to get more cash as you are legal is to become an autonomo (self employed) and then you can slowly build up hours working directly for companies where you can charge anything from 25 to 35 euros an hour, but this does take a lot of time and contact-building. This also allows you to bill for other stuff like translating for example. You get paid more by the academies, but then that disappears in the extra tax and charges you have to pay. It is a bit of a pain to set up and to bill schools and companies, but not impossible. It also involves paying a monthly fee of two hundred and fifteen euros for your social security which is payable even in summer when there's no work or you're on holiday, so you have to be staying for the long-term in order to benefit from it.

With your experience and qualifications your best bet when you arrive is to try for a job at the British Council or International House as they offer the best rates of pay and block-hours.

At the end of the day though, if money is an important factor, then Spain is not the place to come and teach: with a European passport there are a lot more attractive countries in terms of earnings and contracts.

[nuevocastellano]

Thanks very much for your reply. If I return to Europe I would want to be in Spain because of the language. I was interested in your comments about becoming an autonomo. Given the costs and the effort involved, would it be better to start off as an employee and then, once more established, move to autonomo status? Also, is translating work easy to come by for someone who is fluent in the language but has no formal certification? Finally, is March going to be a particularly difficult month to arrive to get sufficient hours quickly enough in order to make a living? Very best wishes!

[Moore]

Definitely better to get yourself started as an employee and then move on to become an autonomo, especially as you're arriving not that long before summer, and so probably best to start that in October.

Arriving in March is a little problematic, but far from impossible, just a question of casting your net as far as possible and applying to as many schools as possible to increase your odds of getting decent block hours in reasonably locations for the best pay. In terms of summer camps, your best bet is to apply as soon as possible for camps both here and possibly in the UK too.

Translation work is something you tend to be offered by contacts and build up slowly. There are courses you can take to learn how to do it and they will help you with finding work too, but they do tend to be a bit pricey and long-winded. It's far from amazingly well-paid too, so think hard before making any sort of investment of time or money.

You will be fine with English teaching in terms of earning a living - just don't get burned over summer: plan ahead for lean times in mid-July, August and the first half of September and you'll be fine.