Hi,
Both me and my partner moved over to Southern Spain in Feb to look for work in Gib and we are still looking..
We both have degrees and a Financial Services background. So far i’ve had 5 job interviews and been told I am either over-experienced or slightly under experienced.. I have another interview to go to next week and I am hoping thats the one, but I am certainly feeling fed up of the whole situation at the moment. In the UK it has always been really easy for me to find work, but in GIB its a real needle in a haystack.. It doesn’t help that GIB has a manana attitude either because the timescales of applying for jobs and then getting an actual interview and then an actual response seems to drag on for weeks and even months! (not a good situation to be in when you are surviving of your own savings and my last wage from the UK actually (which was in January).
To top that it’s been about 3 weeks since i’ve even managed to find any job to apply to, because at the moment no jobs are being advertised at all. Natwest and Barclays have made staff redundant and the gaming industry do not want to know unless you speak various other languages. The shops on main street often require a good level of Spanish and so do many of the jobs recently advertised.
My partner has an accountancy background and he has not managed to secure a SINGLE job interview in GIB, despite applying to LOADS of jobs… I do not know why he is not being considered because his CV is better than mine and he was earning more than I was when we were working in the UK. It is really strange and obviously frustrating..
The way I see it is that GIB is being affected by the recession at the moment, no matter what recruitment agencies or other people say. There are hardly any jobs being advertised (the recruitment agencies also have nothing) and unless you have really excellent professional experience within Finance or experience within the gaming sector then it’s honestly not worth the bother.
As for where to live, we were totally put of living in La Linea, many expats to live there and are obviously enjoying the benefits of walking across the border but for us the rents were really high and the flats and areas that we seen were awful. We are living further up, just past Sotogrande and found an amazing place to live but the downside is that we have had to buy a 2nd-hand car here and that has turned out to be a nightmare for us.
For anyone looking to move over here and work in GIB i highly recommend saving loads of money to last you, don’t come until you have professional work based qualifications behind you or even better have secured a job before you make the move!!
We moved as we knew we would regret it if we didn’t try, but the economy and the work situation is over here is really not good at all. In 5 years time GIB could be booming and be far better, but at the moment there are not many companies relocating here (despite the positive press), most of the offices etc that are here are only occupied by the directors who have set up in order to avoid tax on UK subsidiaries.
Sorry to be so negative, but this is the reality of at least 2 job seekers and I am sure that there are many more!
If you have any questions please feel free to message me.
