# Moving to Greece! pefkos



## EmmaPx (Feb 26, 2015)

I'm looking to move to Greece for the summer, go to pefkos its a beautiful town. I'm looking to flat/apartment share with anyone who would be interested to go out and work for the season, it's much easier sharing as it cuts all costs down. Great to here opinions and replays. My email address can be given if genially interested . ????


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## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

You aren't likely to get much response in this forum Emma. Few 'workers' looking at the tourist season would post here. You might want to try Googling 'summer jobs in Greece'.

A few comments for you though. I used to live on Rhodes and am familiar with the tourist business there. I'm guessing you hope to find a bar or restaurant job for the season. Have you done this before? 

Given the economy in Greece right now, it isn't looking good for jobs. There are a lot of Greeks unemployed and so you will need to compete with more of them for even the low paying tourism jobs. There are also a lot of Eastern Europeans now working in tourism on the island. 

If this is your first time trying this, one of the biggest mistakes people make is arriving without enough money to survive until they find a job. The longer you can support yourself before having to give up, the better your chances of finding something. 

Also, do not limit yourself to one place. Pefkos is popular with Brits and there are Brit workers but there are also plenty of other places on the island to try. 

Timing matters. Arrive too early and what you will hear is, 'come back and ask me in a few weeks'. Bar owners etc. wait till business starts to pick up before hiring. They don't need you in the first month or so when it's still quiet, they can handle the work by themselves. If you arrive too late though, all the jobs may be gone. For that reason, I would suggest arriving around mid-May.

If you have limited funds, one way to try is to buy a 2 week package holiday. That gives you a place to stay for 2 weeks while you look. If you find a job, you just throw away the return ticket. If you don't find a job, you fly home.

Finding someone to share a place with after you get there is never a real problem. You do have to keep in mind though that a lot of 'workers' are unfortunately not the most reliable or trustworthy people. To put it bluntly, a lot of losers show up thinking they can find an easy job and drink and party for the summmer. They rarely last long before being fired. Employers are like anywhere else, they employ people to work. What happens fairly regularly, is someone gets fired, can't find another job and just disappear one day leaving the roommate with the rent to pay at the end of the month. Sometimes, they even steal from the roommate when they leave. I've known it to be so. So be careful about who you choose as roommates.


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## jodevizes (Feb 26, 2015)

*holiday work*

A girl friend of mine tried last year, can't remember the island, really difficult finding work loads of Eastern Europeans means low wages although some bars will throw in very rudimentary accommodation.
I think OldPros idea of getting a 2 week package is a good plan.

Good Luck


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## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

Jodevices, there have always been far more 'workers' than jobs. A lot of young people think a summer in the sun with beaches and partying would be a good idea. Consequently, workers are a dime a dozen and are paid accordingly. I'm just saying it's always been that way, not just since the E. European countries became members of the EU. The pay has never been more than just about enough to survive on if you share accommodation with other workers.

The big difference with E. European workers is that they actually expect to get paid to work, not just get paid for showing up. Summer workers have never had a good reputation with employers. I used to own a bar on Rhodes and know all about it.

The majority that show up looking for work spend very little time actually looking for work. They'll go around a dozen bars in an hour asking for a job and having found nothing, will then head for the beach for the rest of the day. They'll go out and party all night, get up around noon the next day and maybe ask at another half dozen places. Then they'll say, 'there's no jobs, it's really hard.' 

Frankly, most of them are a waste of space even when they do find something. They show up to work late, hungover, half drunk. They spend more time trying to chat up the opposite sex in the bar they are supposed to be working in and doing as little actual work as they can. They have no skills for the job they get. They have no interest in learning how to do a good job. Like I said, they aren't there to work, they just want to get paid and then go party. 

Most only look for work in a handful of locations at most on any island. The most popular locations. So for example on Rhodes, most look in Rhodes Town, Lindos, Falaraki, Kolymbia and Pefkos. But there are jobs in a 100 other places on the island. What there isn't is lots of people partying etc. So someone might say, 'go to my cousin here who has a small hotel on its own and not near a busy party scene'. Most workers then say, 'oh it's too quiet there for me. I want to be able to have fun in my off hours'. They're there to party, not to work. 

The tourist season is around 6 months. An employer wants a worker for the entire six months, not for 3 weeks and then the worker quits and goes home. Or not until the end of August and then they quit. Some employers use a 'withholding' system of pay to try and keep a worker till the end of the season. They will tell the worker than if they stay till X date(maybe the middle of October), they will get a 10% lump sum bonus. They'll track it all season telling the worker each week how much it is adding up to. 

Good workers who are good at their job and stay all season are like gold. They get asked to return year after year and get paid above average. They are rare. 

There are of course some bad employers just as there are lousy workers. There are things to look out for in that regard as well. 

But the bottom line is that if someone actually wants to work, they can probably find a job and if they do what they are actually being paid to do, they will probably be treated reasonably well. If someone wants to work for a summer, it can be done. But they have to go about it the right way.

On my last visit to Rhodes (I no longer live there) I was sitting in a friend's bar in mid-May. He was looking for 2 workers. His bar is in the small waterfront village of Haraki. It's my favourite place on the island. It's great for singles over 25-30 or families. But it is not party central by any means. So guess how many 18-25 year old Brits come looking for a job. Very few. 

In the last decade or so, that is why my friend has turned to an agency in Poland who provide workers. He gets maybe a second year university student from Warsaw who doesn't get drunk once all season. Turns up on time, learns the job in a week and earns her pay. He provides shared accommodation just a walk away. They aren't there to party, they're there to earn and save money to take back home.

What the E. Europeans have done is make it harder for workers who don't really want to work to find a job. But who's fault is that really?


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