There is a public employment service in Spain which is similar to the Job Centre in the UK. This is a state run service (servicio public de empleo estatal) and there are offices across the country. In order to register with this service you must be at least 16 years of age, have a passport or other recognised identity document and have a permanent address. The office will open a file on you and you will need to present proof of factors such as qualifications and previous employment. These offices can be easily found in the local yellow pages and the staff is able to give advice on training, vacancies and help with making applications for employment.

EURES is the European Employment Service which can connect you to the Spanish service but this process can take a little time.

Spain also has many recruitment agencies that can help find work as well as ‘placement’ agencies, which work on a not-for-profit basis and on behalf of the employment service, but there may be a bill to the job seeker for basic expenses. Adecco is one of the biggest recruitment agencies and services they provide include uploading your CV to their system using an ‘ATM’ style machine which can be found in a number of outlets such as railway stations and sending details of suitable vacancies to your mobile phone.

Vacancies are advertised in most Spanish newspapers which have a job section, although the Sunday newspapers are considered to be the best for this. There are even some television programmes which are used to advertise current vacancies and which appear mainly on regional television. One of the specialist job newspapers is ‘El Mercado de Trabajo’ and some of the adverts are placed in English. There are a number of specialist expat publications such as ‘The Broadsheet’ which is based in Madrid and ‘Sur’ which is based in Malaga.

Most companies will also now choose to advertise vacancies on their own company website. Look out for sections marked ‘recursos humanos’ (human resources) or ‘trabaja para nosotros’ (work for us). Networking is a good way of meeting new people and finding out about possible work opportunities and the British Chamber of Commerce has a Spanish branch.

It is very important to be able to speak to Spanish very well when you are looking for work in Spain. There may be a number of international companies that are happy to hire those who do not speak Spanish but these vacancies are few and far between. Many areas of Spain have a great deal of seasonal work available but it is important to have a good working knowledge of Spanish, even for work in the tourist industry. English language speakers can often find work with one of the language schools in the country teaching English courses.

When applying for a job your CV should be in Spanish and the application should be addressed to the head of the human resources department. The CV style used in Spain is the same as is used in the UK and the US. If your Spanish is less than fluent it is a good idea not to lie about it as you will soon be caught out and Spanish employers expect honesty. It is common for employers not to respond immediately to an application so it is considered to be acceptable for applicants to make a follow-up call. It is also common practice to make unsolicited applications, so sending out CVs to companies that are not actively advertising can reap rewards.

Those who are found to be working illegally are often deported and employers can be fined. However, it is common in many areas for the legal process to be slow and it may be that an illegal worker is not found out for some time, particularly if it is a small business that pays cash in hand. Spain has a fairly high unemployment rate, with figures from May 2011 quoting 20.9%. However, there is a great deal of speculation about why the figure is so high and one theory is that many people who are claiming unemployment benefits are also working cash in hand at the same time. Rural areas suffer more from unemployment due to the lack of industry.

Useful Resources

INEM
Spanish National Employment Institute
www.inem.es

EURES European Employment Services
http://europa.eu.int/eures/index.jsp

Job Pilot
English language website for job hunters
www.jobpilot.es

British Chamber of Commerce in Spain
www.britishchamberspain.com
Telephone.: 0034 93 317 32 20