Moving to Costa del Sol - job help for Gib etc would be great

Hi all,

I have been on here a few months ago but not recently.

My husband and I along with our two daughters Olivia age 7 and Amelia 3 have been planning this move to Spain for about 18 months now - i.e. checking out the area, we love Estepona/Manilva, looking at Spanish schools for the girls, places to rent etc etc. We have been around 8 times to the area now.

Our house is on the market in the UK and I have started a Spanish Course and also my eldest daughter goes to a kids spanish session once a week too. We are picking it up slowly (well Olivia is doing well being 7 but not so much me being 34!) but I know a lot more than I did last year at this time so that is a good start.

Unfortunately like everywhere at the moment the house market is very slow and until we sell the house we can't really afford to take the risk on coming over without a job for John (hubby). John has been looking and has spoken/emailed/visited agencies as he is looking for work in Gib as he is a project manager in IT. It looks like the job market out there is slow at the moment too or maybe it would be better if we were already located there (hence why the house needs to sell first so we have some money out of that until he finds employment).

Any advice on finding a job or agencies that people have dealt with and could recommend would be really appreciated.

Thanks and have a good day.  Sarah

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Hello, 
Spain is really suffering with unemployement at the moment, everyone is looking for work having been  laid off from the construction and real estate industry. Be very wary of employement agencies that require a 'joining fee'  it is a well known  scam on the coast they don't actually have jobs to offer!  just want your money. It isn't easy getting a job in Gibraltar either look for Gibraltar newspapers online also look up 'sur in english'  a free weekly newspaper  it will give you an idea of jobs etc on the coast. I have access to rental and properties for sale in the Duquesa area. The best thing , if you can, is to start your own business.....

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Hi  S & J

I agree with what gwm says about unemployment etc.  Except to say Starting your own business would be the "best thing" It certainly is not, unless you have considerable resources to live on for a couple of years untill it gets off the ground. There are jobs somtimes in the Gibraltar based Online Gambling Companies.

I would say the best thing would be for John to come out on his own for a couple of weeks and talk to people directly, banging on a few doors often helps. The local free papers which used to have lots of jobs are now just ads for telesales and get rich quick schemes. There are also difficulties to be overcome in living in Spain and Working in Gibraltar. Albeit lots do.

Just mu Opinion but shared with others.

Bye

Falklands

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Hi S & H,

I would strongly recommend that you sell your house before considering moving over to Spain! The Job market on the CDS as changed dramatically during the past 2 years with very few "REAL" Full Time jobs available in the IT Market? There is very little work available along the coast this time of year and wages can be very low compared to the UK. If your Hubby doesn't speak fluent Spanish I would think IT Project management jobs would prove very difficult to find outside of Gibraltar just now. If he can find a permanent Job in GIB then wages would paid in GB Pounds so you would need to exchange them for Euros on a regular basis.

Go to: http://www.world-newspapers.com/gibraltar.html where you can find GIB newspapers available on line and www.surinenglish.com where you can download the whole paper every week in PDF Format.

Good Luck

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Hi Sarah

Welcome back.

I agree with all the comments below.  Things are really tough at the moment.  Most companies are cutting back and reducing overheads due to so much economic uncertainty. 

Although there are jobs in Gibraltar, the current exchange rate is affecting many living in Spain, as over the past few months they have effectively been taking a pay cut on the exchange rate alone.  Although a lot of the companies in Gibraltar seem to be doing well, we are in global financial meltdown so in my opinion, if your husband doesn't really need to leave his job in UK then I would advise him to stay put.  What if you moved here only to find that a few months later that company in Gibraltar starts cutting back on staff?  What would you do.

The biggest mistake we made when moving over here was not having enough money.  We thought we had plenty but it wasn't anywhere near enough.  You always need more money than you think.  Personally, I would not make the move again unless after paying all the moving costs, such as removals, rental deposits, car costs, phone costs, etc, I had at least enough money to live comfortably for 12 months if I earned nothing....as a minimum.  If you run out of money and you've sold up back home you won't be entitled to any money from the state, especially if your husband's been working in Gib.

Regarding schools, you need to personally go into the schools (don't go via the town hall, we made that mistake) and talk to the headmasters.  See if they can take your kids in duing the year or do you have to wait until the new school year starts.  Every school is different so you would want to take your time and look into each of them.

Back to the job front, when I advertised a job recently I was inundated with CVs from people still in the UK. To be honest, an employer here knows what it takes to move abroad and unless your husband has some very specialist skills, most won't consider him even for interview if he's not here already.

Remember that with the collapse of the housing maket on the coast, many expats who used to work in real estate (including IT related) have found or are looking for jobs in Gib, so competition is probably higher than ever.

Sorry, don't mean to be negative but moving abroad can be really tough, but finding a job is even tougher.

I wish you all the best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

Justin

 

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Hi all,

Thanks for your advice, suggestions and kind words.

We have thought about this for a long long time and know that it is going to be hard in lots of different ways and we are as prepared as we can be for this!

John does have a good job here at the moment athough there are redundancies at his place of work too, looks like it is hitting everywhere hard.

We still intend on moving over to Spain as it is something we have decided to do and see through. We have looked into as much as we possibly can and the next step will be selling the house/finding a job, saving more money! and just trying our hardest to make it work out in Spain.

We don't think the grass is greener like a lot of people seem to think that is what we think! We live a happy, financially stable life here in the UK but just want to try Spain for the fresh air, warmer climate, outdoor life for the girls and more family life for us all. One can only try to live out the dream, at least that way we will never say the "I wish we had tried it".

We are really excited about what lies ahead, obviously anxious too and it is nice to have people like yourselves who have made the move to help us through this time.

Kind regards and I will stay in touch.

Sarah

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Glad we haven't put you off.  I understand your reasons for moving to Spain, they were the reasons we moved here just over 4 years ago.

I live in Manilva myself so any help I can give then just shout.

Also, there is a good local website called Manilva Life which has lots of info on the area.

Best of luck with it and please keep us updated. 

Justin

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Very pleased to hear that you have such a Realistic view of Spain Sarah! It looks like you are doing plenty of research already.

You can't get away from the current economic crisis here in Spain but you can leave the UK climate behind!!

 

Good Luck with all of your plans.............................

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Thanks Mike, you are right, it can be difficult where ever you live but might as well do it in a warmer climate!

Justin, we are looking around the Manilva area and school we are hoping to send the girls to is the Pablo Picasso up in Manilva. We have a friend in Estepona and her two go there, we went for a little look around the Olivia (my eldest) said that it looks nice and seemed happy with it and my friend's kids have settled there so we will wait and see.

We love Estepona but as the schools seem to be a bit better (or so I have heard) and a lot of people I have met live in the Sabinillas/Manilva/Duquesa area we will initially rent there until we find exactly where we would want to buy (after a couple of years or until it all settles down over there). I joined Manilva Life Forum a few months ago and people have been fantastic on there too.

Thanks everybody. I will defo stay in touch.

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Sarah and John,

good luck in your move. We are also moving to Manilva so we hope to meet you down there.

See you soon

Ana

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Sarah & John

I have just read this older thread, how is the move, jobs, schools going?

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Hi all,

Still no developments, although we had two viewings on our house here in the UK last week which were really positive but the people arn't in a position to think about putting in offers!!

We have just booked to come over for a week in March again so John can go over to Gib and try and convince everybody how serious we are.

Will keep you all posted.

Sarah and John

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Whilst wishing you luck in selling your homk ein the current market we have been beseached with poor valuations, a recent client told me that the surveyor on entering her property told her that they were down valuaing by 30%!

You may find it worthwhile to pay for your own survey as

a) it will represent an amount that is suitable to most mortgage lenders

b) will save a lot of hassle for potential buyers

 

good luck

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"looking at Spanish schools for the girls"

We have some very good friends who decided to put their kids (age 7-11) in a Private (or public as the Brits like to say) Spanish school after being in the British school and while it's been a fairly seamless transistion for the kids it's been very very stressful for the parents. Bad enough that next year the kids are goingback to the British school next  year. The reason is very simple, they can't help them with any of the homework or understand half the letters and notes being sent home by the school each week. While Richard speaks pretty good Spanish his wife ok they are both helpless to help the kids with the piles of homework they get every day. Most Brits that I know, even those married to Spanish husbands have thier kids in the English system.

"You can't get away from the current economic crisis here in Spain but you can leave the UK climate behind!!"

We had 3 inches of snow yesterday THREE FRIGGIN INCHES!!!!! This year is reminding me far too much of winters in Canada, I think I'll join the exodus and move to the coast.

 

 

 

 

This message was last edited by Rob in Madrid on 2/2/2009.

This message was last edited by Rob in Madrid on 2/2/2009.

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Rob

consider yourself fortunate we have 5 inches in London today-as ever despite plenty of warning etc the whol ecity will grind to a halt and as it is still snowing heavily we can virtually write off the next 2 days!

 

regards

shaun

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Hi,

Still no news as to when we come over for good but we are coming over in 2 weeks for a week to have a further look around and to bug the job agencies in Gib!! Keep the weather good for us!

Have a good weekend.

 

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Hi Sarah & John Good luck in your new venture. ** EDITED - Advertising **

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Good luck Sarah and John.

Do you speak any spanish?

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 Best of luck, let us know how you get on.

Justin

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Hi everybody,

We had a wonderful week in Estepona a couple of weeks ago, the penthouse we rented in Costa Galera was fantastic with wonderful views. We are thinking of renting there when we come over for good(still not any further on with that yet!)

Does anybody know any more nice urbs in or around Estepona please?

My Spanish lessons are coming on pretty well and I am listening to my CD's a lot but sometimes feel like it isn't sinking in and then other times I just seem to get it. I enjoy it anyway and know lots more than last year at this time so it is a start.

People seem to be starting to buy here in the UK again, slowly but we have noticed sold signs now around the village so that is a good sign so fingers crossed we will soon sell and be able to get to Spain.

Hope you are all well. Will keep you posted.

Sarah

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