# Bar jobs in costa del sol



## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Is it possible to get a permanent waitress/bar job or is not just seasonal work? 

Thankyou xx


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## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Oh and how much could you earn as a waitress??


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

collettebeckett said:


> Is it possible to get a permanent waitress/bar job or is not just seasonal work?
> 
> Thankyou xx


Mainly its seasonal and altho its illegal, many of these jobs are on the black/cash in hand and temporary. I'm sure that there are some permanent and contracted staff members in the larger bars, but I would imagine the competition for those few jobs is huge and would be down to who you know.

remember that Spain is in crisis and there is high unemployment, limited welfare benefits for those who have paid into the system and nothing for newly arrived expats.

My advice is that if you have a home and work in the UK, now isnt the time to contemplate leaving it unless you have a good guaranteed income source

Jo xxx


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## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Maybe to hold off a couple of years??
Do you think property prices will still be low? Its a buyers market at the moment, seen some lovely properties in my price range !

X


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

collettebeckett said:


> Maybe to hold off a couple of years??
> Do you think property prices will still be low? Its a buyers market at the moment, seen some lovely properties in my price range !
> 
> X


Yes there are lovely properties, but it matters not that they're in your price range if you have no income for bills or food! I cant see prices doing anything but go down for the foreseeable future.

See if you can find work first. Do not go to Spain without any!!!!!

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> Mainly its seasonal and altho its illegal, many of these jobs are on the black/cash in hand and temporary. I'm sure that there are some permanent and contracted staff members in the larger bars, but I would imagine the competition for those few jobs is huge and would be down to who you know.
> 
> remember that Spain is in crisis and there is high unemployment, limited welfare benefits for those who have paid into the system and nothing for newly arrived expats.
> 
> ...


jojo - who is that poster you know down that way whose husband is a Spanish waiter - leessomtheting?

I can't remember her name but she posted a short while ago about how much work her husband has


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> jojo - who is that poster you know down that way whose husband is a Spanish waiter - leessomtheting?
> 
> I can't remember her name but she posted a short while ago about how much work her husband has


LOL!!!

"leedsutdgem" Expat Forum For Expats, For Moving Overseas And For Jobs Abroad - View Profile: leedsutdgem Yes, she's a lovely Irish lady who is married to a spanish chap. He's working as a waiter I believe and she is lucky enough to have a job working for a golfing company - she's lived in spain for 100s of years, has two small children and is totally bilingual. she's even toying with the idea of moving back to Ireland cos its an ongoing struggle 

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> LOL!!!
> 
> "leedsutdgem" Expat Forum For Expats, For Moving Overseas And For Jobs Abroad - View Profile: leedsutdgem Yes, she's a lovely Irish lady who is married to a spanish chap. He's working as a waiter I believe and she is lucky enough to have a job working for a golfing company - she's lived in spain for 100s of years, has two small children and is totally bilingual. she's even toying with the idea of moving back to Ireland cos its an ongoing struggle
> 
> Jo xxx


that's her - I shall go look for the post I want now

edit - found it  http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/113444-mechanic-work-benalmadena-8.html#post847830


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## leedsutdgem (Jun 3, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> jojo - who is that poster you know down that way whose husband is a Spanish waiter - leessomtheting?
> 
> I can't remember her name but she posted a short while ago about how much work her husband has


Leessomtheting- LMAOOOOO


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I would say it's virtually impossible for a non-Spanish-speaking immigrant to get permanent bar, cafe or restaurant work. 
Most work of that kind is seasonal, as Jo has pointed out. Pay is low, much lower than in the UK and hours are long.
Most hotels and some bars close here from October to April.


Working on the black for foreigners is rightly becoming less of an option. For one thing it's illegal as in the UK and your job will be very insecure as you will have no employment rights and of course no Social Security. In any case you now need to prove you have contracted work before coming here to live,.

It seems from what Xavia has said that the police are now checking up on foreigners here to ensure they have the required documents. There was a post recently from a young English woman who had found bar work on the black but had been checked up on by the police -can't remember the thread title.

The best thing you could do is come over for a holiday/fact-finding trip. You need to see for yourself how things are.

Incidentally, working for 7 euros an hour is quite common here.....


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## crooky (Aug 2, 2012)

My son arrived over here 6 weeks ago, he had a job with contract in 2 weeks.......it seems to me that if you want to work you will find work.....that seems to apply wherever you are in the world......you have to find the work it wont find you........


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

crooky said:


> My son arrived over here 6 weeks ago, he had a job with contract in 2 weeks.......it seems to me that if you want to work you will find work.....that seems to apply wherever you are in the world......you have to find the work it wont find you........


I think he was very lucky.

Are you suggesting that the five million plus unemployed aren't looking for work?
Lampposts around here are festooned with flyers asking for work - at hourly rates I'd be ashamed to pay.

Maybe it depends on the area...


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

crooky said:


> My son arrived over here 6 weeks ago, he had a job with contract in 2 weeks.......it seems to me that if you want to work you will find work.....that seems to apply wherever you are in the world......you have to find the work it wont find you........


as Mrypg says - very lucky

I'd be interested to know what he does


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## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Wow, thank you all for you responses!

I'm a trained chef and qualified in "front of house" fine dinning... Lots of experience in waitressing lol!!
I'm currently a carer in the UK 

I fully intend to learn some Spanish, and hope if/when I make the Move to Spain, I'd pick it up more!

I wouldn't know how to get a job while living in the UK, ready to start in Spain... Even If there wasn't a crisis :/! It's all very confusing ! 

Help!! Xx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

collettebeckett said:


> Wow, thank you all for you responses!
> 
> I'm a trained chef and qualified in "front of house" fine dinning... Lots of experience in waitressing lol!!
> I'm currently a carer in the UK
> ...


Fine dining....I wish I could afford to employ you as my personal chef.

Since moving from the UK my partner has refused to cook although an excellent one so I do the cooking in our house

But at least she does the cleaning....


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## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Haha!! 
At least you get away from doing the cleaning! 
X


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## crooky (Aug 2, 2012)

I'm in the same area as you and have not seen one poster asking for work...!!!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

crooky said:


> I'm in the same area as you and have not seen one poster asking for work...!!!!


I'm not sure what you mean by'living in the same area.....' but I can assure you that in my street there are very many, all looking for gardening, pool maintenance, cleaning and other low paid jobs. 

I needed a gardener/pool person....there are so many you could trial one a day for a month! I employed former construction workers - a whole family...uncles, brothers..they share the work.

When we advertised for someone to fill vacancies doing really horrible work at our perrera recently we were inundated with requests for interviews. The pay wasn't good either....

If by 'living in the same area' you mean Estepona/Marbella...the official unemployment figure here is 34%. Go and have a coffee near the Estepona Employment Office by the park and you'll see a queue a kilometre or more long.

As I said, if your son has a permanent contract and a well-paid job he is very lucky indeed!!


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## crooky (Aug 2, 2012)

More Marbella than Estepona...and I agree he is lucky to have a job, but to his credit he went out knocking on doors..( and I never said it was well paid)....lol


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

crooky said:


> More Marbella than Estepona...and I agree he is lucky to have a job, but to his credit he went out knocking on doors..( and I never said it was well paid)....lol


what contracted job was he lucky enough to find by knocking on doors ?

and is it a permanent contract?


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

crooky said:


> More Marbella than Estepona...and I agree he is lucky to have a job, but to his credit he went out knocking on doors..( and I never said it was well paid)....lol


Aahh...it make a difference having Dad to give back-up when needed

Apologies...I didn't remember you were in Benahavis. Yes, you are quite close, depending whether you are in the village itself or at the bottom of the hill...in the big houses by the tennis club.

We're very near the Marbella 'border'...in fact I assumed we were within Marbella city limits until the Post Office said otherwise...


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> what contracted job was he lucky enough to find by knocking on doors ?
> 
> and is it a permanent contract?



Actually I was wondering about permanent contracts. I managed to get two different jobs, both WITH contracts. BUT they were *temporary contracts *and were only for three months. The first job, they simply didnt renew my contract (teleselling timeshare - a con YUK), the second job (selling cheap holidays) they did renew it, but only for another three month contract and many of my colleagues didnt get theres renewed - the word was, if you dont hit your targets then you're out - simple.

anyway, how does that work with the ruling about proof of income?? (altho the income wasnt enough to keep a small dog!!). Three months isnt enough to enable anyone to claim welfare/paro and I dont think it enntitles you o free healthcare indefinitely does it????? From what I know, most companies nowadays only issue temporary contracts so that they can shed workers who, for whatever reason they want to lose


Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> Actually I was wondering about permanent contracts. I managed to get two different jobs, both WITH contracts. BUT they were *temporary contracts *and were only for three months. The first job, they simply didnt renew my contract (teleselling timeshare - a con YUK), the second job (selling cheap holidays) they did renew it, but only for another three month contract and many of my colleagues didnt get theres renewed - the word was, if you dont hit your targets then you're out - simple.
> 
> anyway, how does that work with the ruling about proof of income?? (altho the income wasnt enough to keep a small dog!!). Three months isnt enough to enable anyone to claim welfare/paro and I dont think it enntitles you o free healthcare indefinitely does it????? From what I know, most companies nowadays only issue temporary contracts so that they can shed workers who, for whatever reason they want to lose
> 
> ...



Excellent post, Jo. I was wondering that.

If I were an employer in Spain now, no way would I give anyone a permanent contract.


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## mayotom (Nov 8, 2008)

jojo said:


> Actually I was wondering about permanent contracts. I managed to get two different jobs, both WITH contracts. BUT they were *temporary contracts *and were only for three months. The first job, they simply didnt renew my contract (teleselling timeshare - a con YUK), the second job (selling cheap holidays) they did renew it, but only for another three month contract and many of my colleagues didnt get theres renewed - the word was, if you dont hit your targets then you're out - simple.
> 
> anyway, how does that work with the ruling about proof of income?? (altho the income wasnt enough to keep a small dog!!). Three months isnt enough to enable anyone to claim welfare/paro and I dont think it enntitles you o free healthcare indefinitely does it????? From what I know, most companies nowadays only issue temporary contracts so that they can shed workers who, for whatever reason they want to lose
> 
> ...


There are plenty of those sorts of jobs out there targeting foreign customers, therefore the majority of these companies will only hire native speakers, ruling out the local Spaniards who make up the Majority of unemployed people, I also have to add that as an employer it is getting more and more difficulty to issue any more than Temporary contracts because of the degree of uncertainty that the economic future holds for Spain both locally and nationally. Employment law in Spain is far too favourable for the employee making it difficult for employers to hire new staff on temporary/trial basis hence the reason why so many people are employed on the black market. I agree that employees need to be protected, but if taxation and regulation make hiring people difficult to do then there will be no employees to protect.

but back to the OP, there are jobs out there, but the wages are getting lower and lower as the employers are been squeezed for more and more taxes while their incomes are falling due to the lack of spending by the consumer due to the increases in taxes..

Moral of the story.. NO GOVERNMENT EVER HAS OR EVER WILL TAX THEIR WAY OUT OF A RECESSION" , cut spending/wasting , don't increase taxes


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

When we were in business in the UK my partner complained constantly that you were taxed on everything you did to make a profit...then you were taxed on the profit!!

Same with savings...taxed on the earnings you save, taxed on the interest, such as it now is.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Excellent post, Jo. I was wondering that.
> 
> If I were an employer in Spain now, no way would I give anyone a permanent contract.


In all the years I've lived here no Spaniard I know has ever got a permanent contract, & that was in the 'good times' .lol.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

mayotom said:


> , cut spending/wasting , don't increase taxes


Your spending is somebody's income. If you're worried about people cutting back on their spending then a government cutting spending sure wouldn't help


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

It's easy to get a full time bar job. 

Step one buy a bar.

It gets less interesting after that one.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

NickZ said:


> Your spending is somebody's income. If you're worried about people cutting back on their spending then a government cutting spending sure wouldn't help



But that's the knock-on, isn't it...
Governments cut public spending which means job losses in the public sector which means less tax revenue from individuals and businesses because people have less money to spend and the government borrows more to spend on unemployment benefit.....

Both the UK and Spain have seen a sharp decrease in tax income recently.

Are you surprised...


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## mayotom (Nov 8, 2008)

NickZ said:


> Your spending is somebody's income. If you're worried about people cutting back on their spending then a government cutting spending sure wouldn't help


true, but waste is the real problem. Money is been wasted left right and centre, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, The rich take their money out of the country and poor spend in the country, therefore stimulating the economy and helping everybody


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

mayotom said:


> true, but waste is the real problem. Money is been wasted left right and centre, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, The rich take their money out of the country and poor spend in the country, therefore stimulating the economy and helping everybody


Terms like 'rich' and 'poor' are too vague and general, though.

Who are the 'rich'? If I have £1 million and you £2 million you are richer than me!
At what income level is your cut-off point between 'rich' and 'poor'?

Do the rich 'take all their money out of the country'? If so, where do they deposit it? In what currencies?

Wasteful spending isn't new, either by governments or big corporations. 


The poor by definition will spend less than those on middle incomes ...they have less to spend.

But these terms really need definition to be useful, don't you think


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

I was talking to SWMBO about Spanish bars and really, certainly British bars, they've always seemed to have a high turnover of owners so while know there are many with owners who've been there years I know of many bars in favourite haunts that have changed hands very often.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

bob_bob said:


> I was talking to SWMBO about Spanish bars and really, certainly British bars, they've always seemed to have a high turnover of owners so while know there are many with owners who've been there years I know of many bars in favourite haunts that have changed hands very often.


Same in Estepona, Bob Bob.


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## mayotom (Nov 8, 2008)

mrypg9 said:


> Terms like 'rich' and 'poor' are too vague and general, though.
> 
> Who are the 'rich'? If I have £1 million and you £2 million you are richer than me!
> At what income level is your cut-off point between 'rich' and 'poor'?
> ...


absolutely, and we could carry on with this conversation all day and get nowhere, tis the nature of politics the world over


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mayotom said:


> absolutely, and we could carry on with this conversation all day and get nowhere, tis the nature of politics the world over


agreed............ and we have several 'politics' threads in La Tasca where you can go round & round _forever_ if you feel the need.......


hint hint 



:focus:


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