# any jobs in childcare



## andrew-roper (Oct 4, 2008)

hi, can anyone tel me if theres many jobs in cyprus for childcare or private nannys. Im a qualified childcare provider and want to move to cyprus this july, my decision to move will probably be based on weather i can find a job or not. My husband is a folklift driver, are there jobs out there for this, would be greatful for any help or opinions in this. from claire & andrew....


----------



## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

It is becoming clearer through my own experience and from the flavour of much of the advice gleaned from this forum, that moving to Cyprus as a younger couple, especially with children, can be a minefield of problems. For those that do not plan ahead and consider their move very carefully, such relocations to 'a better life' often lead to bitter disappointment, financial ruin and disrupted education for children.

The first problem relates to the lack of jobs available to ex-pats that do not have family connections or speak Greek. The recession has made a very poor jobs market even worse. The biggest shock are the wages. There are jobs in childcare, but the wages are very poor, and will not be enough to cover the needs of a growing family. There are also jobs for manual, unskilled and semi-skilled workers, but again the salaries are shrinkingly small and the working hours and conditions can be worse than those encountered in the UK. 

Private education is expensive (not as expensive as the UK - but the salary differential cancels out any advantage) - unless you have an income stream outside of local emplyment, it will be impossible to educate more than one child privately. The state schools do provide a free education for the children of immigrants, but the longterm educational opportunities are mixed (see the sticky thread on the different opinions of the quality of state education and the advantages and disadvantages of opting for state education). 

The last worry for families remains health care. Forum members have different experiences of the state hospitals with the majority finding the services excellent and a minority (including myself) that have had negative experiences. Private health care can be very expensive. If things go wrong, there is no benefit system to offer support.

There are of course many success stories of people that have moved over and fallen on their feet, and I would not want to crush any dreams unecessarily, but do exercise caution and research every angle before taking the plunge.


----------



## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

kimonas said:


> It is becoming clearer through my own experience and from the flavour of much of the advice gleaned from this forum, that moving to Cyprus as a younger couple, especially with children, can be a minefield of problems. For those that do not plan ahead and consider their move very carefully, such relocations to 'a better life' often lead to bitter disappointment, financial ruin and disrupted education for children.
> 
> The first problem relates to the lack of jobs available to ex-pats that do not have family connections or speak Greek. The recession has made a very poor jobs market even worse. The biggest shock are the wages. There are jobs in childcare, but the wages are very poor, and will not be enough to cover the needs of a growing family. There are also jobs for manual, unskilled and semi-skilled workers, but again the salaries are shrinkingly small and the working hours and conditions can be worse than those encountered in the UK.
> 
> ...


Very wise words as usual from you Kimonas.
I am constanly telling people with young children to do their homework thoroughly and be absolutely sure that they can cope finacially if they come here.
It is one thing taking risks if you don't have children to think about but to risk the happiness and security of young children on a whim is foolish in the extreme.
I have met couples with young children who came out without even having jobs to go to assuming that it would be easy to find work.


----------



## andrew-roper (Oct 4, 2008)

kimonas said:


> It is becoming clearer through my own experience and from the flavour of much of the advice gleaned from this forum, that moving to Cyprus as a younger couple, especially with children, can be a minefield of problems. For those that do not plan ahead and consider their move very carefully, such relocations to 'a better life' often lead to bitter disappointment, financial ruin and disrupted education for children.
> 
> The first problem relates to the lack of jobs available to ex-pats that do not have family connections or speak Greek. The recession has made a very poor jobs market even worse. The biggest shock are the wages. There are jobs in childcare, but the wages are very poor, and will not be enough to cover the needs of a growing family. There are also jobs for manual, unskilled and semi-skilled workers, but again the salaries are shrinkingly small and the working hours and conditions can be worse than those encountered in the UK.
> 
> ...


hi kimonas, thanks for your reply, for the reasons you have mentioned i havent moved there, but, i do wonder how other people seem to make it work, there are many bad things about this country, but the thing that probably keeps so many of us here is the fact that we know we wont be left to starve and our children will have a decent education, im really confused about it all, i'd love to move to cyprus but i am aware that it wouldnt be a holiday, and we may stuggle, to tel you the truth, we only earn enough here to pay our way, life is really hard at the moment, and i think that we are under an illusion in this country, yes, we do get a minimum wage, yes we do get benefits, yes we do get free education and health care. but do we really? they give it to us in one hand and take it off us in the other, we are working to support the lazy good for nothing b*******. who chose not to work and take drugs or commit crimes, making this a complete hell hole and not a nice place to bring up young children. so when i weigh it up, im starting to think that i'd rather live with the downfalls of cyprus than the uk, what do you think? do you live in cyprus?


----------



## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Hello Andrew & Claire,

Yes I do live in Cyprus. I sympathise entirely with your viewpoint about the unfairness of life in the UK where the benefit system has bred a culture which many find distasteful and certainly not child friendly. Nevertheless the UK does a good job, on the whole of looking after the disadvantaged, the handicapped and the poor, especially when you consider the population is vast compared to a small island like Cyprus which has a population which could easily fit into only one of the UK's medium sized cities. 

We were very careful when we moved over - we kept our property in the UK made sure one of us had a good job to come to whilst I took a year off on sabattical keeping my job in the UK open just in case things didn't work out. It took me two years to find a decent job, and even now I earn a fraction of a UK salary. At first I was frustrated by certain aspects of life here - Cyprus has an awful road safety record, no consideration for physically handicapped, very poor public transport, people can be paranoid and xenophobic, selfish and the culture of average performance makes dealing with companies and services very frustrating at times. But once in the groove and when you don't constantly compare to the UK, Cyprus is a very relaxing and healthy place to live. But when things do get tough, if you find yourself without money, no job prospects and obligations to meet, the UK is definately the place to be as Cyprus does not have the capacity to help.

I'm an expat who has been lucky enough to marry into a Cypriot family - we have a large support network. Many expats that have made a go of it in Cyprus have Cypriot roots. Others are retirees or own their own businesses - others have made piles of money by selling at the right time in the UK and have invested in property and do not have to rely on a job as their income comes from rent. Others are young couples without children on a bit of an adventure where the risk of a new business or a new job is part of the deal they have set themselves. 

I work in private education - there are currently droves of expat families calling it a day and moving back to the UK as the recession has hit tourism and many have businesses that rely on tourism that have folded. 

I would advise expats with children to consider all the pros and cons very carefully and to line up jobs before taking the plunge. Careful reading of the forum shows that many spend years planning their move. The recession has made that planning process absolutely vital.


----------



## andrew-roper (Oct 4, 2008)

kimonas said:


> Hello Andrew & Claire,
> 
> Yes I do live in Cyprus. I sympathise entirely with your viewpoint about the unfairness of life in the UK where the benefit system has bred a culture which many find distasteful and certainly not child friendly. Nevertheless the UK does a good job, on the whole of looking after the disadvantaged, the handicapped and the poor, especially when you consider the population is vast compared to a small island like Cyprus which has a population which could easily fit into only one of the UK's medium sized cities.
> 
> ...


hi kimonis, thanks again for your sound advice, maybe i should stay here and sit the recession out? i really dont know what to do! i dont want to leave it too long because my 11 yr old daughter may not want to go when shes older, maybe we're doomed to spend the rest of our lives in the house with the heating blasting and hiding from the rain? its so depressing here, i need some sun....


----------



## ian and karen (May 27, 2012)

Hi, i have been reading the posts, i am in the Early years, childcare provider, currently teaching under 5's level. My husband is a glazier house renovator, and i have a 16yr old son, whos is currently at college. 

We both are willing to work, and i would love to teach, work with the under 5's. Hubby will put his hand to anything. Financially we can move to cyprus in the next year, and not work, although if we worked it would ease up the spending of savings (if you see what i mean).

We are coming over in February, our 3rd time in a year, we know what we are looking for, we have done our homework. So i was just wondering which town is the best option to commute, we both drive. (i use to live in cyprus, many moons ago).
Is therepossibilities of childminding? Are there many regulations like we have here for example OFSTED.Dept of Education

Many thanks Karen


----------



## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

ian and karen said:


> Hi, i have been reading the posts, i am in the Early years, childcare provider, currently teaching under 5's level. My husband is a glazier house renovator, and i have a 16yr old son, whos is currently at college.
> 
> We both are willing to work, and i would love to teach, work with the under 5's. Hubby will put his hand to anything. Financially we can move to cyprus in the next year, and not work, although if we worked it would ease up the spending of savings (if you see what i mean).
> 
> ...


As Cyprus is in the EU there will certainly be regulations but that dosn't mean that anyone will adhere to them. there are a lot of nursery schools so I don't know how much call there would be for childminding.
Also house renovation is more than adequately covered judging by number of vans with sign writing advertising building, renovations etc etc. To compete with the already established businesses your husband would need to be better thand they are, although to be honest in many cases that would not be hard as there are a lot of cowboys out there.


----------



## ian and karen (May 27, 2012)

ok, thanks for posting back, yes we have noticed the building work...lol


----------



## MacManiac (Jan 25, 2012)

andrew-roper said:


> hi kimonis, thanks again for your sound advice, maybe i should stay here and sit the recession out? i really dont know what to do! i dont want to leave it too long because my 11 yr old daughter may not want to go when shes older, maybe we're doomed to spend the rest of our lives in the house with the heating blasting and hiding from the rain? its so depressing here, i need some sun....


It is good to see you getting advice from members of this forum who live here and who can identify the potential problems of moving to Cyprus, especially when you would want/need to work, and where the education of children and the costs of healthcare have to be factored in.

We have only been here for three months, and we researched everything we could in advance. Some wise counsel from members of this forum helped us avoid mistakes, and the friendship of other members we have met since our arrival has smoothed what might have been a slightly rocky path.

What has surprised and saddened me is the publicity being given at the moment to Cypriot families who are turning to the state for help, and who are relying on food parcels and suchlike collected by the church, charities and concerned people across the island. As has been stated, there is absolutely no help at all available to people (especially those who have not worked and paid into the system) who fall on hard times. You are very much on your own, and this can be quite frightening. The Welfare State in the UK is often perceived as not being overly generous (and the current government is busy cutting back benefits for all sorts of people) - but you will never starve in the UK, and there will always be a roof over your head, and education for your children and healthcare available when needed.

It's quite hard responding honestly to posts from people who don't "fit the mould", who would dearly love to move to Cyprus. We are retired, our children have grown up, we both have index-linked pensions and other income, and so were able to make the move. My conscience bothers me when I sit by the pool (it was warm enough to do so between Christmas and New Year) with a drink beside me, and I think of the hardship being suffered by many of the Cypriots. We have been lucky enough to share their island, and have been made very welcome in the main, and I am looking at ways of contributing to ease the hardship that is being felt. Strangely enough I never felt like this in the UK, but that was possibly because I knew there was a safety net for the poorest in society.

So ... my advice for what it is worth ... is to stay put until things improve. Do not move here without a job, which will pay you enough to live reasonably. For all the comments on different forum, we have found the cost of living is no cheaper here than in the UK, and so if you are struggling in the UK you will probably struggle here. Wall to wall sunshine for months on end is fabulous but the economic reality needs to be taken into consideration. 

Whatever you decide, the very best of luck to you and your family. If the time is not right now, perhaps in the future it will change. We could never have moved here whilst we were both working. By waiting until we retired, our pensions were generous enough for us to move here. It seems that the people who move here successfully are those with sufficient income from pensions and investments, who do not need to work, or those who have well-paid, secure jobs here. Private education (for those with children) and healthcare for those who are not well-paid, and who are not covered by the system, can be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

Sometimes it seems that people who have moved to Cyprus are trying to pour cold water on the hopes and aspirations of those who wish to follow. On this forum, nothing could be further from the truth. All the advice offered is given in the hope that people will not make the wrong move. I understand that many people, with families, are moving back to the UK because they can no longer cope. I am sure we all wish to see that avoided.


----------

