jobs for non-spanish speakers...easy?

Hunter says on Jun 15, 2004, 17:07:

Virtualy non existent outside of teaching English.

Hunter

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vladimiro says on Jun 15, 2004, 18:06:

Depends on your Skills Colombian companies contract out a lot of work to foriegners - especially engineers. Most of these contractors don't speak spanish. So if you have the right skill set there are jobs. Someone could translate for you as is customary with foriegn contractors. Ofcaorse they would expect you to learn spanish, though.

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ShazCas says on Jun 16, 2004, 02:05:

What are your skills? What are you trained to do?

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locolombia says on Jun 16, 2004, 07:26:

I have about 6 years experience with Architectual and especially Truss design . I could not find one opportunity unless I wanted to work at a remote location. Those are dangerous because you are a sitting duck for a kidnapping.

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rca_rodrigo says on Jun 16, 2004, 22:59:

Why dont u ... WHY DON U OPEN YOUR OWN BUSINESS HERE.
I mean.. ther are now a lot of facilities to do that...
The Camara de Comercio de Bogota (bogota cahmber of commerce) is the place to go, and u have to fill out the papers ( I mean , one single paper) to make a industry. Then u have to go through another 3 or four steps and bingo ... business is formally open.

From my point of view, it will be a good for u to do that and the costumers wil be not hard to find 'cause some people think is good to make business with "gringos"

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Dolfi says on Jun 17, 2004, 02:23:

? Should be about as easy as getting a job in the USA without speaking english.

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poco says on Jun 17, 2004, 16:10:

Jobs w/o speaking Spanish - Almost Impossible I met an English Speaking (pretty good english) Colombian. Dual Citizenship. He had lived quite a while in the US,, coming to Colombia in 2004. I'd think his English would have been better,, Anyway, he had no problem staying. He just wanted to work for something to do,, I think,,he had looked for over 4 months. Talked with me about his problem. A few weeks ago I was walking down the street and heard someone say "Hello",, kind of unusual since I've met few people who spoke English,(they might,, they just don't talk English), he was behind the counter of a neighborhood Drug Store.

He had "bought a job". Purchased the inventory and took over the rent. Not a lot of money and he thought he could increase sales.

I'd seen his girl friend,, which,, in my view,, explains why he liked it so much in Colombia.

Engineering: Hummmm,,, The Colombians are highly trained in most aspects, if not all. They are NOT building a space shuttle,, so the ones I've met speak excellent English, have good jobs (1,000 to 1,500 USD per month) and look to find contract jobs in places like Venezuela, Trinidad, Virgin Islands, Aruba, Curacao. etc.

This is an cut from an email message I got last week:

it seems that it is difficult, because they don`t actually hire expats directly. With regards to jobs, most of the engineers and technicians are local in-house staff, except with the communication and IT department, which are mostly operated by contractors coming from Slumberger and mostly are also Colombians.

Think about this: Colombians drive and keep 50 year old Renault 4's running. That is, in my mind, pretty damn amazing.

So, the advise offered in one of these threads is right on the money,, if you want to stay,,, open a business. Un-employment is very high,, 20% plus and if you have an idea that would employee people locally,, I think the goverment would welcome you.

Still,, I think you need to workout the language thing. Hard to hire people when you can't talk to them.

PS: The message above was written by a Colombian National. Engineer, lots of experience. Think about the above email note,, and his native language is Spanish. As far as I know he has not spent any time in the US.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

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Gator says on Jun 17, 2004, 19:34:

Easy, I think not. Quote: "just curious about something. what kind of job opportunities are there in bogota for a non-spanish speaker? i´ve been told that since i hold an american passport and speak fluent english that even without knowing spanish it would be relatively easy for me to find work in bogota."

Now, let's just change this around a little, like this:

"just curious about something. what kind of job opportunities are there in washington, d.c. for a non-english speaker? i´ve been told that since i hold an colombian passport and speak fluent spanish that even without knowing english it would be relatively easy for me to find work in washington, d.c."

I will backup what several others have said above. We are putting a Colombian boy through college in the United States, He is presently a Junior in the College Of Engineering at the U of Florida (that blows the "Gator" handle I use)with a 3.92 GPA. Dual major of electrical and mechanical engineering. There are U. S. companies fighting over the boy because of his English and, naturally, Spanish language abilities but he will likely end up back in Colombia.

I guess what we are trying to say is there is not much hope for success with the local language ability. I speak, read and write Spanish and was lucky with some personal businesses both in Colombia and in the USA. Married a wonderful women from a connected family so I go lucky. Without these factors I would not have made it in Colombia.

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

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teppar says on Jun 22, 2004, 10:19:

just as i thought..... i figured things would be as all of you have said. i have just had my boyfriend´s family trying to convince me since day 1 in bogota that i should stay as i´ll easily find a job. i didn´t think so, as it seems hard enough for well trained colombians to find work, let alone a gringa who doesn´t speak the language. yes i have a masters degree in marketing, yes i have a lot of experience, but even i am not silly enough to think that i´d actually ´easily´ find work as the family in bogota is trying to convince me. i must admit their attempts are sweet though...hee hee hee...

thanks for your thoughts....

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