Job Discussion Forums

[pingouin59]

Hi;

I am an American-French English teacher. I am a University graduate and passed a TEFL certificate with EBC. I am fluent in Spanish. I also have 13 years of teaching experience in France and the US. Right now I live in Lima and enjoy teaching business English and preparing my students to take international exams. I have a European Union passport and my wife -who is Peruvian-and I are eager to go back to Europe. We will be travelling through Spain and France this summer. In the meantime, I would like to schedule interviews with schools, mainly in Madrid; Valencia; and Barcelona. If I find a job , we won't go back to Peru. It would be even better to secure a job before our trip or just have an initial contact with potential employers. Some friends of mine have done that and had interviews through skype. I would appreciate your feed back about the impact of such a technique in Spain.

Last but not least, my wife is an elementary school teacher. Is there a possibility for her to work in Spain?

I know that I won't make a fortune working in Spain. However, I have been told that the cost of living can be very different from one city to another. I have also been told that the cost of living is much cheaper in the South than in the North. What do you think?

Thank you in advance

[Moore]

Schools and academies here generally won't give you a firm commitment on a job unless you are already living in Spain: unfortunatley this makes for a bit of a chicken and egg situation if moving here depends on you having a job first.

In terms of wages, the cost of living is indeed lower in the South, but it is much harder to get work and especially work for anything like the money you'd get in the big cities.

Madrid is easily best for job opportunites, but lacks the coast. The French part of you might take to the proximity of Barcelona to the French border, and there are a lot of teachers up there teaching French in-company.

The cost of living really depends on your lifestyle: going out is probably the main cost (and people really do go out a lot here), so if you're not especially keen on beer then you can get by just fine. Also the two-can-live-as-cheap-as-one thing, though not entirely true, does help.



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

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[pingouin59]

[quote="Moore"]Schools and academies here generally won't give you a firm commitment on a job unless you are already living in Spain: unfortunatley this makes for a bit of a chicken and egg situation if moving here depends on you having a job first.

Sure, but how do all these new teachers who come from abroad do? There must be a day one. But, let's say if I rent a place in June or just stay in a pension, would this be considered as living in Spain ?

Other question: Is june, July a good time to apply for a job ?

Thanks

[Moore]

I'm afaid June is really not a good time to arrive here in Spain: there's almost no work as all the schools/academies are winding down for summer (and they are winding down especially early in the crisis), and the country basically shuts down over August. Recruiting is usally done in September/October, or to a slightly lesser extent in February.

Really you want to be arriving here in the last couple of weeks of August, or the beginning of September and looking around for a flatshare/flat, and getting your bearings. Work comes in dribs and drabs, so make sure you have a decent wedge of cash/credit to hand for those first couple of months.

In terms of what constitutes living here, a hotel/hostel/pension is fine, the main thing is to have a local mobile phone number: you can pick up a SIM card for an unlocked mobile phone cheaply, or just buy a pay-as-you-go phone: schools want you on the ground and ready to go as soon as their contract with their client gets the final approval.



_________________________________________________________________________
...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/

[Tantris]

Cost of living is cheaper in rural areas, mainly because of lower rent. But the difference is similar to that in other countries.