# Working in Spain



## Esabelle (Aug 27, 2015)

My daughter will be coming to Spain with us and has worked in the travel and hospitality business, however at the moment she doesn't speak much Spanish (but is taking courses). How difficult it is to find work on the Costas? We live in France and finding a job at 23 years old is really difficult unless you are prepared to take temp work which is what she has been doing for a while now. She is half French so the language is not a problem here, just the unemployment situation.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Esabelle said:


> My daughter will be coming to Spain with us and has worked in the travel and hospitality business, however at the moment she doesn't speak much Spanish (but is taking courses). How difficult it is to find work on the Costas? We live in France and finding a job at 23 years old is really difficult unless you are prepared to take temp work which is what she has been doing for a while now. She is half French so the language is not a problem here, just the unemployment situation.


:welcome:

it really depends what she wants to do -& I'm not sure what the unemployment situation is in France, but for her age-group here in Spain it's between 30% & 50% unemployed depending on where you are 

so whatever she wants to do, it's not impossible to find work, but obviously seriously difficult, especially without fluent Spanish 

and no unemployment benefit until you've worked on contract for at least a year (I think it's a year - I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong)


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

Esabelle said:


> My daughter will be coming to Spain with us and has worked in the travel and hospitality business, however at the moment she doesn't speak much Spanish (but is taking courses). How difficult it is to find work on the Costas? We live in France and finding a job at 23 years old is really difficult unless you are prepared to take temp work which is what she has been doing for a while now. She is half French so the language is not a problem here, just the unemployment situation.


As Xab says it could be pretty difficult for your daughter.

I believe the Youth unemployment rate in France is 24%, whereas it is over 50% in Spain for that age group. 

Worth bearing in mind that your daughter will have to prove she qualifies for residence in Spain, in her own right. To do so she will need to prove she either has contracted employment ( which will qualify her for state healthcare) or else she will need private health insurance and proof of approx 600€/ month being paid into a Spanish bank account. Some areas also ask for around 600€ in savings.


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## emmamayb (Aug 19, 2015)

I found it is indeed very tough trying to find work however I have every hope that your daughter will find a job on the costas due to her language abilities. For me I never had too much trouble finding work due to being bilingual, and if she can offer English, French and intermediate Spanish she shouldn't have any issues especially in hospitality. There are many hotels in for example Calpe on the Costa Blanca which I imagine would be interested. However now that the winter is approaching I am unsure of the options for her but she will definitely be favored for languages.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Unless you are fluent in Spanish, a skill that takes years to acquire, it won't be easy to find work.
Loking at the ads in Sur it would seem that the languages most asked for are Dutch, German and Russian.
The other problem is that work in the hospitality sector is seasonal and low paid. Now the summer season is coming to a close, workers will be laid off from the end of this month until April, with many getting work only for two or three months in high season.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I would add that around here about 60% of restaurants close for the winter months, some opening for Christmas, but obviously there is far less work at this time of year in hospitality.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

brocher said:


> As Xab says it could be pretty difficult for your daughter.
> 
> I believe the Youth unemployment rate in France is 24%, whereas it is over 50% in Spain for that age group.
> 
> Worth bearing in mind that your daughter will have to prove she qualifies for residence in Spain, in her own right. To do so she will need to prove she either has contracted employment ( which will qualify her for state healthcare) or else she will need private health insurance and proof of approx 600€/ month being paid into a Spanish bank account. Some areas also ask for around *600€ *in savings.


I know you didn't mean to miss a 0 off - that's 6000€ in savings

our local extranjería has recently asked one family (that I know of) for 10,000€ in the bank _per person

_that's a mum, a 14 year old & a 10 year old.......


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> I know you didn't mean to miss a 0 off - that's 6000€ in savings
> 
> our local extranjería has recently asked one family (that I know of) for 10,000€ in the bank _per person
> 
> _that's a mum, a 14 year old & a 10 year old.......



Well spotted Xab, it should indeed have been 6000€ in savings.

10,000€ per person in savings including the children?


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## angil (Sep 24, 2012)

brocher said:


> Well spotted Xab, it should indeed have been 6000€ in savings.
> 
> 10,000€ per person in savings including the children?


That doesn't surprise me!


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

When I used to drive down here in my French registered car I'd be amused to see one or two other comrades, but this year it's been like shooting fish in a barrel. I know the Costa languages are traditionally Spanish, English and German, but seeing all the French tourists this year the local business might value that skill a bit more now, at least next summer.
One tip though: I was applying for work as an English teacher (TEFL) a few months ago and only even received two email replies from schools on the Costa del Sol - she will really need to go knocking on doors to get any sort of response. Unfortunately I've not heard of a job-seeking site as comprehensive as the Pôle Emploi one.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I read that over 330000 people were made redundant on August 31st....
There could be almost as many to add to that figure by the end of this month.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

_Si_ said:


> One tip though: I was applying for work as an English teacher (TEFL) a few months ago and only even received two email replies from schools on the Costa del Sol - she will really need to go knocking on doors to get any sort of response. Unfortunately I've not heard of a job-seeking site as comprehensive as the Pôle Emploi one.


Depends what you mean by looking a few months ago, but if was any time after Easter it definitely wasn't the right time to be looking for TEFL jobs.
That would be NOW!


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

I don't understand that. Everyone was telling me that you had to start looking at these jobs from May in order to be recruited for September. There was even a jobs fair in Córdoba back in May which had schools attending from as far as Bilbao. I completely agree that there are many schools advertising now though, so, rather than those being the jobs they couldn't fill earlier or that are available because people have dropped out, are you saying that generally schools recruit for September in September?..


Sorry for topic drift, though, if the OP's daughter speaks fluent French maybe she could do a quick FLE qualification and be a French teacher here!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

_Si_ said:


> I don't understand that. Everyone was telling me that you had to start looking at these jobs from May in order to be recruited for September. There was even a jobs fair in Córdoba back in May which had schools attending from as far as Bilbao. I completely agree that there are many schools advertising now though, so, rather than those being the jobs they couldn't fill earlier or that are available because people have dropped out, are you saying that generally schools recruit for September in September?..
> 
> 
> Sorry for topic drift, though, if the OP's daughter speaks fluent French maybe she could do a quick FLE qualification and be a French teacher here!


yes there might still be some jobs around - the academies might have been let down by teachers

what PW means is, if you leave it any later than NOW, you will for sure be too late!

anything advertised next month is likely to be because someone has left a job soon after starting, rather than that they suddenly need more teachers


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## emmamayb (Aug 19, 2015)

It would make sense that the sooner you look the better for September start teaching jobs. My mother works as a moderator in a private Spanish school and i know she has been interviewing people for new September positions all summer and she was receiving CVs through all the time through June and July even August. I think its best not to limit yourself to a time of year when the unemployment rate is so high just have to put yourself out there


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Yes seems I misunderstood PW's post as meaning that one should wait to apply now, rather than be panicking now! Thankfully we got job offers back in June, though not I have to say, on the Costa.


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