HELP - AM I DOING THE RIGHT THING MOVING TO SPAIN NOW???

Honestly, truthfully, with a wife and a couple of kids, get a job before you come.  If your Spanish is rudimentary and you have no Catalan, in the current economic climate?  You'll work as an English teacher or a waiter. That's enough money for a single person to live on if they share accomodation. 

Unless you're wife is really adventurous, I don't think you will find it a happy event. 

The timing is fine as long as it isn't Aug when EVERYTHING is closed.  The economy is serious.  You might find work in an expat community, if that's where you want to live.

The pay scale is low in Spain and accomodation is high, exacerbated by the current "crisis".  If you have reserves of cash and a place to live if you have to bail out and go home, then I guess you could go for it and jump, but the odds are you will have a rough time.  How old are the kids?  I don't want to be too negative, but housing and feeding four people is different than one.

Remember that if you come to Catalonia - which of course includes BCN - the schools are in Catalan, so while many people never learn Catalan, you are much more employable with both languages.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I would hate to see you get stuck.  Check your parachute before you jump...an open return ticket home, a place to stay when you get there and job prospects, if you are going to go for it.

Better if you have a job before you go.

Thanks for the advise oreneta.
I understand it will be more beneficial for me to learn the lingo prior to taking the plunge & moving if I dont have employment already arranged so i'm thinking of taking a crash course in Spanish & as i'm planning on moving in about 3 months i should have a basic knowledge of the language as i'm a pretty fast learner.
As I would see it, it would always be a risk moving without having employment already lined up whether moving abroad or within same Country.
Unfortunately I dont have buckets of cash but when I do move I will ensure I have enough money to last at least 6 months.

Is there any other advise on the best area to head for which would improve my chances of employment as I'm happy to move anywhere from Malaga to Barcelona but my knowledge isnt that high of which area's has a high amount of English speaking companies?

Thanks

AUSTIN

The vast majority of English speaking companies will be in BCN and Madrid.

That was hasty, there are probably quite a lot in Bilbao too.  Some time doing internet searches on companies in your field that have offices in Spain and then looking where those branches are should help with a more reasoned answer than my assumptions, because some industries may be clustered in another area that I am not naming.

Good luck, Austin, with whatever you decide. I hope it works out well for you and your family.

Hi Austin,

Just thought I would wrtie after seening you messages.
I have been in Spain for 30 years, married to a spanish woman and have always found the best way to work here is being self employed, Spain can be very difficult, not as easy as it´s painted!! It is a very predujice country, if your not Spanish your second class citizen, no joke.
I don´t want to put you off coming here but think it over before making your move, especialy now with the crisis, you have been told to teach english or bar work...not that simple, everybody starts there and there are no jobs now in these areas. To teach english you need minimum TEFL cert. and for bar work you need a lot of luck and you won´t even earn minimum wages and only a 3 month contract if you are lucky.
Living costs in Spain are now very HIGH, flat rent is stupidly high and food and drink high aswell.

Now after disapointing you I would like to offer you a job. I am looking for self employed people who wish to start thier own small business, the start up cost is minimum and you don´t pay me anything to start up. Take a look at my web site:
[moderated: site under construction]
You can see what I am doing there, if you are interested let me know and I will send you full details, it is a way of getting started.
If you like reply to me direct, my mail is indospan@hotmail.com.

Best regards

Stephen Gates

I would definitely recommend you not make that move. It will be a struggle unless you get really lucky.

If you happen to own a property in your home country and are hellbent on moving to Spain then you can always rent it out and use the rent money to help you when in Spain. I know people who virtually live off the rent they get from the UK property in Spain - then again those people are single.

Don't want to sound negative, but the situation re work is bad at present.  Iceland opened a new branch near us recently, they had over 1200 unsolicited CVs, from people hoping to get work that didn't require fluent Spanish - probably were able to take on a couple hundred of those. 

I would not even consider relocating unless you either have a definite job lined up, or means to support yourselves for at least 6 months - depending on your language acquisition skills it could take a lot longer... for every job now employers can demand fluent bilingualism, even working in English/Irish bars etc.

Best of luck!

Your previous profesional experience is in customer service & sales, there are several international companies recruiting for their call centers, like Citi, Gore,.... in general they employ you on a 3 month temp basis and then give a fix contract, one agency that is currently recruiting international customer service is adecco www.adecco.es. Moving to a country takes a lot of consideration and you would need to ask yourself what do you want to achieve? what are your goals? I have been living in Barcelona for 7 years and now setting up my own company. I have seen a lot of people go back to their home country. For me, I love living here, it has its downside, but then again which country doesn't. Before moving would recommend to plan, budget and think things through. Maybe you can consider for one to move first, get a job, find a place to stay, before bringing the whole family. On education, apart from schools in catalan, you have international schools (more expensive). Good luck!

I agree with the helpfull comments above try and keep a safety net, learn the language, look for a job, accomadation and schools. The wages here are lower certainly but try and broaden your talents ie. learn to plaster or plumb there are always oppertunitys for casual work if you have skills. Also look at things which are internet related that you or your wife could do from home. I came to Spain with my wife and son and it has been a struggle but the benefits are definately worth it! Good luck!

Hi Austin,

I live in Barcelona and worked for Citibank at the call center my boyfriend works for
Computer Center another call center. The working situation is not so good here.
I have been layed off and all my co-workers seem to be scrambling for a job.
But there is plenty of call center's to try. If you try manpower / adecco or any of the
temp agencies in bcn they will send you to all these places. Also go on infojobs.es
or loquo.com and you will see the ads for the different temp agenies with respective
call center jobs.

Rent prices are very high and flats are old and landlords ask for 3-6 months rent and the
agency takes a month deposit and a month forthemselves for the services they provide.

I wish I could be more positive but thats what it will look like for a while.

good luck with everything. Cheers y besos de bcn