Job Discussion Forums

[Moore]

(Scobie posted this question on another thread and as a good question I thought it deserved a thread on it's own...)

"These forums seem to forecast a lot of doom and gloom about prospects in Spain -working conditions, saturated market etc. With the right preparation, and on the understanding that luxury living is off the agenda, can a new starter still have a good time in Madrid? In my case, I don't mean partying every night. Just a comfortable schedule and time/euros to enjoy living in the city...Can you expect to push for better and more rewarding jobs next time round? I'm talking about working conditions as much as pay."

- the simple is answer is "yes": it's not that bad here, but then again it was never that great either!

It's fairly easy to get to 1000 euros a month (Madrid and Barcelona), and that is pretty live-able. If you count on 400 euros/month rent + bills, that leaves you 600 to live off. Food is pretty cheap here, maybe 50 euros per week, then the rest is going out / travelling around money.

Going out doesn't have to be that expensive, and it's an integral part of living here, especially in Madrid. Even the most sincere hard-working hair-shirted go-getter will find it hard not to get sucked into the lifestyle here, and that's not such a bad thing: it's (arguably) an essential part of the experience of being in Spain.

Spain has always been a quite a hard place to save up in, especially as it's very hard to get full-time contracts here, so Christmas and summer can wipe your savings out (along with lots of public holidays which students tend to extend to the weekends: "puentes", so a public holiday on a Thursday may mean that they take off the Friday too, meaning you lose 2 days cash out of 22 working days). Most people who wish to stay for longer than a year go off to the coasts/mountains to teach summer camps, or the UK to do the summer courses there, then take August off (you really don't want to be working in the August heat, even if you can find work!)

The crisis hasn't really hit things too badly here for teachers, and any reductions have already happened: there is a desperate need for Spaniards to improve their levels of English and they are well aware of the fact.

In terms of quality of work and hours, teaching here usually involves quite a lot of travel, and split shifts: it's very common to be out of the house for 14 hours at a time, at least for your first year. Just take a good self-learning book on Spanish with you, maybe a cheap light netbook with a decent battery life, and you can use these in-between hours to your advantage.

After a bit of time here you can switch out these hours for more central, grouped-together hours, but split shifts are hard to avoid. Most longer term teachers try to go for all mornings plus lunchtimes, or all evenings plus lunchtimes.

The other way to dramatically increase your income is private classes, which usually pay between 20 to 25 euros per hour, or even 30 if you can group students together. They do tend to be flakey in terms of attendance, but it's still well worth it.

Conclusion: a starter can have a good time in Madrid, but Spain has always been a bit of a tricky place to survive long term or accumulate any significant savings. If it's money you're after then head for Asia, but if a 9 month stint learning the language, enjoying nice weather, soaking up the culture and having a good time is what you're after, then Spain is hard to beat.



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[LeeAtlanta]

Hi Moore,
Does your post only apply to EU citizens? I am a US citizen interested in teaching English in Spain. I have my undergrad degree in Spanish and would really like to go there (versus other places) because I feel that it would be easier to form a social life since I know the language. Would it be very hard for a US citizen to find work..?

[Moore]

Basically yes, but not legally! Madrid and Barcelona are full of non-EU teachers (ie illegal workers) - they all get by just fine and have a good time and make a bit of cash here, but you must remember that it is against the law.

Because of EU subsidies to companies training their in-house workers, schools and academies increasingly need legal workers in case of inspectors arriving in those classes, so they cannot risk a non-legal person. That said, many of the small to medium size outfits also teach kids and private individuals, and as there is a lot of cash money floating around, they still have a few openings for non-paper holders.

Many non-legal workers go for private classes, and there is a big demand out there, as the Spanish have a very low level of English compared to the rest of the EU, and genuinely good English is becoming a basic requirement for workers, especially in the crisis.

Conclusion: you can get away with working here: thousands do every year, and frankly the police have much higher priorities than chasing a bunch of (otherwise) law-abiding working middle class white kids, but it is still illegal.







_________________________________________________________________________
...Jobs and language exchanges in Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Rome, Lisbon, Porto and Buenos Aires... www.lingobongo.com

...send your c.v. around ALL the schools in Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Rome, Lisbon, Porto and Buenos Aires... www.lingobongo.com/cvsender/