Job Discussion Forums

[aleshawee]

I have been sending my resume to several places but no reply from the schools. I have looked in the papers and on other sites as well but I am getting discouraged. I have a BA in English Lit, and both TEFL and TESL certs, with training for helping on the Cambridge and nearly three years of teaching experience in the States and abroad. Plus I can speak and read well above beginners Spanish and nearly fluent in French. Why is no one calling me back? Could some one please help me? Am I doing something wrong? Or is just the political hassle to hire some one from the US? I really want to be there and so do my friends that are Spanish and there already. [/b]

[Moore]

Are you legal in Europe? If not, then nobody�s going to put their name to a job offer to an illegal! Immigration and the tax office are getting tough on illegal employees recently.

[aleshawee]

I am not in Europe right now and do not want to put myself in that kind of situation. I am in the US and working as a teacher here and have all the visa info and contacts as to where to go as soon as someone says "Yes we want you!"

I would not want to ever work in "the black" as the Spanish call it.

Can you give me any other ideas? Are we, Americans, illegal if sponsored with all the paper work? Or is it illegal to hire someone not from the EU?Could you clarify this matter? I understand that they must prove they cannot find someone with your skills and you are in after some paper work and time.

[Meg4]

The reason the schools aren't contacting you is because you're not in Spain. There are more than enough teachers (both legal and illegal) already in Spain, so they're probably not going to be too interested in trying to bring someone here from the US. If you really want to work in Spain you'll have to make a trip to Spain and talk to the schools in person to see if you can find one that's willing to help you with the visa. Although, it's still going to be very difficult to get the visa.

[Moore]

I have to agree that finding sponsorship when you�re here from a school will be tough. Why would they bother when they can have a legal English person, or an illegal (and therefore cheaper with no rights) American? Other types of job, for example I.T. or something might be easier to get a visa from, but it�s not very common unless you�ve already been working for a bit. I do know Americans who work in international schools, but they are "real" teachers doing stuff like maths teaching which is very sought after.

[spiral78]

It's not your credentials or experience that are in question. It's EU hiring laws. It's unlikely that you are eligible for a work permit in Spain............can consider a South American location, if Spanish-speaking country is your criteria? It would probably be an entirely different story in terms of work permits.

[aleshawee]

I would love to work in South America but I need to make a certain amount of money. It is immpossible to do that in SA, right now.

Most pay just a couple hundred dollars a month.

[Moore]

You�ll earn more than that here, but it�s actually not very much here either though - if you can get a steady 1000 euros a month you�ll be doing ok here (certain people do get up to 1400 with a lot of messing about and a lot of work and after some time here), and there�s no real work in August and September (unpaid holidays mostly) - and you�ll be working illegally, there�s really no getting around that, sorry. You�d be on a much more even playing field in Asia or South America as a US citizen.

[sciphoto]

I am currently teaching English in Prague ( i'm american) i plan to move to spain next school year september 2005 to teach general english,,,do I have a chance of getting a job in southern Spain around granada or sevilla? i'm fluent in spanish, and i will have a years expereince under my belt teaching, BA in spanish, or am i just being too optimistic? right now in Prague i make about $1000 american a month which is ample money to get by here in prague,,,what are my realistic chances in spain?? thanks for any comments!