Thread: Looking for a job.. abroad?

True, that would be awesome! I'd love that info. [You can PM me here if you want.] I could easily get my vocabulary back up to intermediate by graduation, I just need to practice.

Tia, if you want to teach English in Spain then Madrid really is the only place to be! There is no shortage of work for qualifies ESL teachers because of the large number of teachers who work in short-term contracts. Your first step would be to do a TEFL course to gain your qualification. Courses range from days to months but you can check all of that stuff out here http://www.teflcertificatecourses.com/ anyway. Outside Madrid there are still opportunities but they're much fewer and far between. You also need to make sure that you apply for jobs at the right time. You'll want to get your applications in before mid-August - way before term starts - so you avoid the disappointment of finding out all of the jobs have been taken. Like I said before, you won't have a problem getting a job in Madrid if you apply early enough although you will of course need the qualification (and a little Spanish would help too).

What I will say is that you should brush up on your Spanish accent! I can't tell you how annoying it is hearing people speaking Spanish with an American accent and the Spanish dislike it even more. I really had to hold back after I heard some snotty bitch complaining that a waiter asked her to repeat her order because she made absolutely no attempt whatsoever to speak with a Spanish accent. "I saaaaaaid, UN RAAAAATION DE PATATAS POR FAVOOOOR" she said, as if the words were English. So yeah, the accent is very important because otherwise people won't understand what you're saying.

As for working in London; there are shitloads of jobs working in promotions and things like that which are pretty easy to come by. I wouldn't bother going to admin roles or anything because those jobs will just go to English people or permanent immigrants. I don't think you need to worry about visas and having a sponsor etc... If you're only here for a short time then it's not a big deal. You can find work in bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants very easily so if you're prepared to work in the service industry you're sorted.

Good luck anyway!

Cheers for the replies! Sorry it took so long to check back. True, I messaged you back. Brew, thanks for the info! I've never been to Madrid, only Barcelona-- is it true that people only like one or the other? [If you like Barcelona, you'll hate Madrid, and if you like Madrid you'll hate Barcelona?] My Spanish accent is.. not the best, but I do at least try. You won't find me stressing the wrong syllables or making English r's. You might find me mangling the vowels a little, though. ;

My very tentative plan is to get a regular job after graduation, and get ESL certified while I'm working. Then once I'm certified I can reevaluate what I want to do, and if nothing else at least I'll always have tutoring jobs for the next job crash, right?

i heard that korea's the place to be for ESL... my best friend graduated with a kid who did that and all his expenses were paid for AND he was salaried. came back with 40k after a year there.

tho i was looking into that a few weeks ago and couldn't narrow down where to get cert, what kind of options there really are, etc. kinda gave up on it. PLUS i can't leave my pets behind. same reason i didn't do the military officer thing.

so now i've opted for pharma. LOLZ MORAL COMPROMIZING FAILZ.

Hahaha I don't think I could do Korea.. I have absolutely no interest in living there, it's effectively as far away from Europe as NY is so I can't travel where I want to, and a lot of the reason I want to go to Spain is to force me to become bilingual.. but 40k would be fucking sweet.