Job Discussion Forums

[dulcenaia]

Hi, I'm just wondering if its possible for me (female, 21, BA- Meda Art/Psych, 2 years tutoring experience - some ESL, lots of experience with children) and my husband (AA- Liberal Studies, 30, 1 year tutoring experience) to get a job in a larger city (Guadalajara or Monterrey or such) to save any amount of money per month? Say around 2 or 300$+?

And how difficult will it be for us (especially him) to get a job?

Should we get TEFL certified or is that unneccesary?

Any advice you could give would be great.

[Wouter]

Yes this is possible but not easy. Most of the teachers I know in Guadalajara make around 5000 pesos a month but they dont work full hours. Average loan will be around 50 pesos an hour if you work for a school. I spoken with people who got paid 100 pesos an hour but this is in GDL not quite common. I dont think that you should go to Mexico thinking to save some money.

If you speak spanish you can find better jobs that pay more. Dutch friend of mine got several job offers between 8000 and 15000 a month. Also speaking english is an advantage. A lot of jobs they ask english.

I�m not sure if the saving amount is in pesos or in dollars. As a teacher dont expect to earn a lot of money.

Wouter

[smartbob]

I dont think can be difficult to find a job in Mexico especially for americans the question is why do you guys prefer a large city? in the school where I teach you can earn as a foreing as much as 500 dlls monthly and I bet you won�t have problem finding a job.

[dulcenaia]

as for why a bigger city, we just prefer a bigger city feeling and all of the things to do, places to go.

what kind of jobs would be offered if i only speak limited spanish (besides english teaching)? I'd be willing to do something besides teaching but I'm not fluent in Spanish. I can make myself understood but that is about it.

[smartbob]

You should try Veracruz, this is my hometown it is very safe and it is on the gulf, you can teach English meanwhile you improve your spanish(i bet it wont take you so long) you could try an office job believe me for foreing people is not diffucult, I have had some friends who got good jobs here.

[Flo]

I make what I think is an "average" wage working full time in a larger Mexican city, and I make more than $5000 pesos a month. I spend all of it and literally have not a peso left at the end of the month. I would not plan on being able to save $200 to $300 USD while you are here.

My question for you is: If you want to save money, why do you want to work in Mexico? Thousands of Mexicans cross the border every year since they can make more money in the states, so it doesn�t make much sense to come to Mexico to try to save money.

In the end, I am trying to pull together enough pesos to pay for a plan ticket home at the end of summer...

[dulcenaia]

in China, foriegn teachers make much much more than locals and although they still only make about 500$usd/month, the cost of living is so cheap that its possible to save on that wage. i was just wondering if the same is true of mexico. i guess it isnt...
the reason i wanted to come was not to make money but to experience a new culture and i love mexico. saving money is just a perk for relocating back to the states, maybe having a vacation in between, etc

[ls650]

Due to lack of classroom experience, I doubt either one of you could land a university job, but I think it's not unreasonable that the two of you could find work teaching for a private language school.

A typical wage might be about 5000 to 6000 pesos, depending a lot on location. If you were both working full-time, you could pull in say 10,000 pesos per month - but you could easily spend half on rent, food, utilities, etc. If the two of you were working and were frugal with your money, I think it's possible you could save 2000 to 3000 pesos a month.

My suggestion would be to work in Asia. You could easily save more money there in a year. With that year of teaching experience you'd also have much better luck finding good teaching jobs in Latin America.

[some waygug-in]

I think someone has to say something here about the difference between what is possible and what is likely.

While it is possible that you may both land full time jobs in the same location and pull in 5,000 a month each............. it's not likely.

Of course that depends upon where in Mexico you are planning on going.
It's probably a lot more likely in Mexico city than elsewhere. Or Monterrey.
I'm not saying it's impossible, I just think you have to be realistic or you may find yourself in a very difficult financial situation.

There is a school in Mich. (I guess I'm not supposed to say who) that offers housing as part of the deal. If you were to both work together at the same location it might be alright for you.

Of course there may be some wonderful jobs just waiting for you and I could be proved totally wrong.............. but just be aware of what you may be getting yourself into.

You don't want to end up like I did my first year teaching Mexico.

enough said.

suerte

[moonraven]

I have always managed to save money while working in Mexico, but my qualifications to receive a salary that allows that are considerably more attractive than what you have to offer.

I think we'd be misleading you to say that you would save any money--at least in your first year here. You can probably save more staying where you are.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[thes80]

The office jobs I were offered were for bilingual or trilingual people who could translate documents or answer phone calls in English, French or Spanish. Most Mexicans arent qualified or fluent enough in English to do this.

[some waygug-in]

Sounds interesting.

If I may, how much does one of these office jobs pay?

It sounds like a person has to be fluently bi-lingual or tri-lingual to be qualified for that kind of job. That alone would tend to disqualify many.

Please correct me if I am wrong here.

[moonraven]

I have those skills--and I wouldn't be caught dead being a receptionist in M�xico--answering the phone and translating shipping documents, phooey.

I charge a heck of a lot more to translate and interpret than any office job would pay--even in dreams....

[Ben Round de Bloc]