Job Discussion Forums

[broonie30]

Hi everyone,

I have been searching around and trying to get a feel of the job market in Valencia but information is very scarce. I'm hoping that some of you can offer some advice or just share your experiences and thoughts on my grand plan!

Basically I want to move to Spain to teach, I am a UK citizen and I'm currently finishing my 4th year teaching in S.Korea. My plan is to do the CELTA back in the UK in June and then move over to Spain in mid July for a bit of a holiday before looking for work at the end of August or start of September. I am serious about teaching and am not just backpacking, I am professional in my work and am not scared of hard work. So far so good?

The tricky part is my fiance and I really would like to live somewhere a bit smaller than Madrid, the thought of spending a chunk of the day travelling around on the metro from job to job does not appeal. Also we want to try and learn the language and would probably be better motivated ina smaller city. So Seville or Valencia tick the boxes, not too big, but also not to small so that there is some kind of job market there. The only problem with Seville for us is the insanely hot weather in summer, we are Scottish so we are used to about 5 days of sun per year

Right, so that leads me onto Valencia. As I said I can't find much to give me an idea on the size of the job market there, and how easy/hard it would be for someone of my experience to land a good job. My worry is I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket and be in Valencia in September looking for a job that I'm not going to get, when time would be better spent in Madrid trying to land a good job in a good area. However I also don't want to just settle for Madrid and go there if there is a good chance of finding work in Valencia. This is where you guys come in.... hopefully..... to impart any pearls of wisdom you have and help me make this next big decision.
Should I just forget Valencia and be safer in this job market by going to Madrid? Or is there enough work and a good time to find it in Valencia?

Muchas Gracias everyone!

[Skipp]

Sorry to hijack this thread (though the info will benefit us both)... I haven't taught in Valencia, but am looking at it for many of the same reasons you are...

I Emailed somebody off another message board and she warned me against Spain... She lives in Valencia and said there isn't much work, rent is on average around �600 per month and bills are high... I'm not sure how much of this is people's general experience, as she works only freelance, hasn't got a CELTA and owns her own place...

That said, even if rent is so high, split between two, it's not so bad (and you'd probably still have better income than in some parts of the UK),

[pr455]

I can say that English teaching work is still available, but you have to be willing to work and put in the hours. Many people are doing as many privates as possible to put cash in their hands rather than waiting to be paid once a month. I know that jonniboy who is in Valencia now can tell you what the atmosphere is like there at this point. hope he sees this thread and can chime in.

The person who you emailed is speaking of her own situation, as you know, and it can't be taken as word. Maybe she is charging too much for English classes and is pricing herself out of a job. Who knows? Maybe she would have more work with better qualifications. These are all things to look at before believing what someone says about work in a particular place.

Shawn

[Skipp]

Agreed, that it's her experience... I'm still looking at Spain, as there are conflicting experiences from what she said to on these boards.

[jonniboy]

Broonie, based on my experiences this year, with 4 years experience, UK passport and CELTA, you'll have absolutely no problem finding at least 20 hours of work paying 14/15 euro an hour net.

If hot weather is a problem though you may want to reconsider, Valencia isn't really that colder than Seville, it occasionally reaches 40 or more here in daytime in Summer, though Valencia, unlike Sevilla or Madrid, at least has a beach. However in general, that really shouldn't bother you as one of the main problems here is the lack of work in Summer. There's maybe a few scrapings in July and September (wouldn't bank on more than 5 hours) and absolutely nothing in August. So you either have to find alternatives, summer camps or UK temping or else save up 25% of your salary every month to cover the 3 dead summer months. That applies to virtually every city in Spain.

Regarding the best time to work, I'd say you'd be wasting your time sending anything before the 10th September as you won't get replies then. Schools only really start getting their act together the end of the second week in September. I mass mailed every place I could find at the start of September and got very few replies but they arrived in a flood around the 15th~20th September and I still got a trickle until late October with the last reply received mid March (!)

Skipp, that information isn't correct. 600 ON AVERAGE to rent in Valencia?! I nearly choked on my coffee reading that. It's possible that it was that much 2007/2008 before the crisis hit (and while your contact was still renting) but rents have fallen a fair bit since then. Now you're talking about 400-450 a month to rent a flat, check the rentals section at loquo dot com. A studio will be cheaper than that. I live in a studio in the Old Town, beside the city's main towers and pay 350 a month. It might be small (around 30 square metres) but it has all the essentials. Bills are certainly cheaper than in the UK due to the fact that you don't have to pay heating bills.

It's possible that she has struggled a bit particularly if she's working freelance and depending on work in companies or private students. Demand has definitely fallen in those areas as people cut back due to the crisis but the academy market is certainly good for the next year. After that, well the outlook for now isn't good but if I could tell you more about the economy in late 2013, I wouldn't be spending so much time on a teaching forum!

[pr455]

jonniboy,

Even though I am not in Valencia, I knew something did not sound right about that person's post when she talked about her situation. It seemed unreal. Thanks for coming on and clarifying this.

There is still work in Madrid as well and many academies are even starting to collect CVs for next academic year (2012 - 2013). But, as you have said, we have no idea what next year will bring.

Cheers,

Shawn

[broonie30]

Jonniboy, thanks so much for your input and advice. The thing I am finding quite hard while researching teaching in Spain is the lack of information available when it comes to Valencia, so I really appreciate your advice and having someone who is there to give input. From what I have read about the big two (Madrid & Barca), it sounds like there is still work going around and certainly I shouldn't be worried about finding work in Madrid if I had to. However Valencia does really appeal to me for the reasons I mentioned. Do you feel that Valencia is becoming more competitive for teaching jobs and more people are going there these days?

So a possible plan would be for my fiance and I to arrive in Valencia for the beginning of September to suss out where to send our CV's and find a temporary place to live, that should give us enough time to get orgainised before academies start to reply. In your opinion though, how long would you wait for a job before feeling like you should move on to somewhere else to secure something? If nothing materialised by the end of September would this still be enough time to move onto Madrid to find work do you think?

Thanks for the reassurance regarding the cost of living there, your figures sound a bit more what I had originally heard and hoped for. I appreciate you don't have all the answers but any advice you can offer is extremely valuable to us.
Thanks again

[jonniboy]

Well I didn't get my full schedule until mid October so I'd say that would be a better time to wait to before heading off to Madrid. The reason is that there's a national holiday on 12 October and a regional holiday here on 9 October, so some courses don't start until after they're both out of the way.

Don't be surprised if some centres only offer you a few hours to start and don't burn your bridges with those that do. It's possible that they'll come back later with more hours or you can work for more than one place, filling gaps in your timetable as you go along. I originally took an offer for 14 hours in the evenings. Then a second place gave me 3 hrs at lunchtime and I ended up doing 2 hours at a third centre at lunchtimes. Eventually I ended up with 8 hours in the second centre and 3 in the third centre, for a total of 25 hours.

[broonie30]

Thanks for all your input jonniboy, it's really good advice! Though putting all my eggs in one basket and hanging around in Valencia well into October would make me quite nervous if I still didn't have a full schedule. I know by that time most language schools across Spain will have done most of their hiring and if I end up not getting the hours I want, I could be screwed out of going anywhere else. It's hard to know how it will play out but perhaps Madrid would be a safer option for a Spanish newbie. That way I can spend a year there and suss out making the move to Valencia the following year.

I guess I will have to wait and see how the next few months play out for Spain and the job situation. Thanks again for all your advice, you've been a big help!

[Skipp]

Good luck with whatever you do.

[pr455]

broonie30,

No matter which city you choose, make a plan of having enough money saved to get you started until the work really starts flowing. I can't tell you how much to have saved up before your move because everyone has a different lifestyle.

Starting out in a bigger city first is an idea as well, but if you can start out in Valencia, which is your dream, better for you. Remember that Valencia will not up and run away from you, hehe. It'll always be there.

Suerte,

Shawn

[RoisinDubh]

jonniboy, do the schools pay you directly as an employee and take care of all the tax/paperwork? In Belgium, teachers are expected to work as freelancers and are responsible for billing schools for hours, which is a real nuisance.

[broonie30]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I've found everyone on the Spain forum extra helpful which is great for us newbies!

pr455, I do have a plan to take enough money to last me 2-3 months in the start as I plan on being in the country from August to have a bit of a vacaction first. Korea has been a good place to save a bit of money but hopefully I can live quite cheaply in the start before getting settled.

Just as a guide, I would be living with my fiance and obviously sharing bills etc.. We plan to live a very simple life, eating cheap and sighseeing loaclly. Do you think around �2000 each for the first 3 months should be an okay amount?

We are obviously wanting to get jobs sorted frst before we get an apartment so what is the best option for temporary accommodation, hostels etc? We don't want to get an apartment in an area and get a job at the other end of the city.

Thanks again for your help

[robashby1]

I'll chime in with my 2 cents, for what it's worth:

I lived in Valencia for two years as an English teacher, leaving in 2011. I didn't struggle for work, but the offers I had were of pretty various quality - pm me for Academies to avoid, or where you might want to apply.
Work there is mostly kids classes, so if you enjoy that then you'll thrive and won't struggle for work. Adults classes are slightly harder to come by - the typical kind of thing you might be offered would be 2/3 kids, 1/3 adults. There are a few business classes around slightly out of town too - if you've got your own car you're definitely at an advantage.

I can't really comment on how it is now, or will be in the next couple of years. However, friends I've got still there have done pretty well during "la crisis" - it seems a lot of Spaniards are using their free-time to upskill, so English classes seem to be riding the recession quite well.

Definitely wait until late September or october for applying - even the better academies leave it until the very last minute to fill those teaching slots. They all wait to see how many students sign up to see what head count they can get. If you wait, you've also got more bargaining power - I remember having three offers on one day in my second year there, and managed to negotiate significantly better pay from waiting. It was a tough call though - it can be quite nervy if you spend a month or so with no work.

Living expenses - 600E seems disproportionate. You could get a nice apartment for that. As a guide, I would say 300E gets a decent room in a shared apartment, and 500E + for an apartment. Bills are usually ok, although phone and internet are much much pricier over there.

PM me if you've got any questions - would love to hear how you get on!

[jonniboy]

Roisin, yes schools usually take care of all the tax and paperwork.

Broonie, yes that amount should be okay for living cheaply on. Regarding temporary accommodation I'd look for a hostal (note: this is different from a youth hostel) where you'll get a private room for about the same as what you and your partner would pay in a dorm.

Rob, thanks for the comments, that was exactly what happened to me as well. I'd planned to do less hours and originally took an offer for 14 hours. Eventually on top of that, other academies that I'd interviewed at contacted me for classes that they hadn't been able to find teachers for, greed took over and my arm was twisted though in one case I managed to bump them up from their original offer of 11 euro net for 8 hours to 15 euro net.

The prices you mention for apartments would have been true early 2011, but prices have fallen due to the crisis and I'd say now that people would be looking at 450 a month to rent a flat.