Successes in your career in Brazil

I am retired so there is no career.

I enjoy helping people on this forum.

Jim

I think it is very difficult for an Expat to get a good job in Brazil. Having a special skill will help you and perhaps having a large network of business professionals can greatly enhance the job search.  Brazil is a very network based good ole boy system of employment network. Its who you know! 

Every once and awhile you will hear talk of "hire a Brazilian" before hiring a foreigner. I'm not sure if this is a rule or perhaps a law, but it seems to have some bearing on the job market unless a foreign company has brought you here or you have a special skill that a Brazilian doesn't have.   

In my experience it is more profitable to work online jobs from other countries and live here. Or open your own business is another option and most profitable once you get past the bureaucracy that can take up to a year or more to get the doors actually open.   

Teaching English here is not a steady income and its a struggle month to month. Working for a school here is low pay and horrible hours. Teaching privately pays more but, it is difficult getting a Brazilian to commit to taking classes full time. Either way you go with a school or privately means you will be working nights and weekends, not ideal for a family lifestyle. I did the teaching English here for about a year and found out its not practical and the income is not steady. Opening a school is difficult and most likely you will be under cut by the national teaching chain schools. 

This is my experience and I think it will depend on where you live also. My city is big (2 million), but I think living in SP or Rio would give a person seeking employment more opportunities. I would suggest seeking a foreign company that works internationally from your home country and then transfer here eventually. 

You must speak Portuguese to work here! You can get away with teaching conversation English privately, but to teach basic it is preferred to speak a little Portuguese to be successful with the students.

Good luck!

My views and experience align pretty well with Jim's and Craig's, and I do enjoy helping and encouraging people here who are interested in Brazil.  For the past eight years or so, I worked in the US as an independent consultant, helping American companies solve difficult problems overseas, particularly in Brazil.    As soon as I had my CIE from the Federal Police, I took out my Carteira de Trabalho, just in case I decide to work here sometime down the line.
So far, though, I've found that getting our household up and running has been pretty much a fulltime "job", and an enjoyable one.  Not surprisingly, I don't see the kind of professional opportunities here in Manaus that probably exist in the Center-South for my kind of work.  If I get really bored, I may try teaching English, but I've observed the same problems with that that Craig describes.
After I complete my naturalization sometime next year, I may try to become a Sworn Translator, a job which required Brazilian citizenship.  However, when they say that the "concurso" for Sworn Translators occurs "sporadically", that's the understatement of the year:  the last time it took place in Amazonas was almost 30 years ago, and there are candidates here who have been counting the days ever since for another try!

This is excellent advice; all of it.  I would only add that, if a foreigner wants to earn a living teaching English here in Brazil, it's best to (1) be in large cities where companies need employees who speak English and parents want their kids to speak English because they plan to send them to US universities, and (2) start a branded ESL franchise (e.g., Wizard).  Suggestion (1) basically says to locate where there is a lot of demand, and suggestion (2) is based on the idea that anyone in Brazil (even Brazilians) need to establish the perception of being "serious" in the minds of customers.  Free-lance ESL trainers are rarely considered serious here in Brazil ... and that makes it difficult to earn a living: being regarded as serious is very important here.  Cheers, JMc

hi very finely explained, as I was too thinking of moving to brazil for english teaching work as I too was retired but having good english skills, but know elementary portuguese. So to live there, do ordinary brazilians do not understand working english as Rio & Sp are international tourist/business destinations? Pl.help me what I can do if I come there to be with my Brazilian settled (PR) working unmarried son? Can I & my wife, aged 64 & 53 get a PR/settle there on the basis of my son's PR? We hold Indian Passports. Thanx

Sir, am too retired from Indian Customs Service having unmarried son working in SP & got PR & also constructed a house. If so, can me aged 65 n wife aged 53 shift to brazil as per immigration laws there? I want to set up educational consultancy for Sao Paulo university for Indian students, who do not know much about south american english education. Is there any fee/entrance test/english language requirement test/portuguese language Basic/Inter skills for various undergraduate courses including medicine/engg.in English? Pl.inform.

Thanks! Really good advice! I am going throuh all the phases that you described! Brazilian students difficult to commit and attend the lessons:) Getting job without network is really complicated (unless it's SP or Rio), and of couse Portuguese is really important!

Spkar2000

If your son is a Permanent Resident of Brazil, it seems that he is allowed to bring you and your wife to Brazil.  You would apply for VITEM XI temporary visas for family reunion, and attempt to convert your status to permanent resident with the Federal Police after your arrival in Brazil. 

See the "Visa" section of the Embassy of Brazil in New Delhi website for details.

VITEM temp.visa for parents is issued initially for how long?i.e. till permanent residency for us parents is granted, if applied for?

Priscilla wrote:

How do you balance a successful career with your personal and social life?

The biggest trick is to have your job as a part of your social life. This is my personal opinion. Plenty of otherpeople want their jobs and their social lives separated for 100%. It depends on what kind of person you are.

There are plenty of jobs available that involve direct communication with coworkers or clients. Not everything has to be serious and job related, and you can develop a social network while you are doing your job. I am a physical therapist and it is very important for me that I get along with colleagues. That we understand each other, respect each other and have some fun together. You spend at least 8 hours per day with these people so they are a big part of your life.

So you better pick a job that allows you to have good social contacts while you are doing it

What does being successful in your career mean to you?

Being satisfied with it. This has many aspects but you have to be inspired by what you are doing (and have a natural desire to improve. There must be a long term goal), you have to be happy from a social point of view, and the job has to be financially satisfactory as well. This last thing is the issue for most jobs

What are the benefits of having work experience in different countries?

Depends on what country it is and what kind of area you work in. A Spanish hair dresser does not have an edge over a Brazilian one. For higher levels of education, foreigners probably have an edge

I would like to contribute to this thread. All the advises are very important to me. As CraigF explained, I'm a software engineer, and I've been working on some online businesses, So how can I apply for PR in Brazil? I'm from Sri Lanka, and I have a BSc degree in Computing.  Now, I am in my early 30s.
Thanks for everyone