Depending upon your occupation the situation is either good or chronic. If you are an administrator or in a similar line of work, it goes without saying that you will need to speak Spanish before you will find employment. In rare cases, foreign companies will employ their own nationals. However, these companies are mainly in Madrid and Bilbao.

On the other hand, if you are involved with the building trade, then it won't be at all difficult for you to find work.

Spain is chronically short of skilled workers with all trades experience and whilst wages do not compare with the UK, they are nonetheless reasonable. Many UK tradesmen start out working for Spanish building companies and eventually end up running their own business.

There are British doctors and veterinarians working in Spain and many other occupations as well but to be successful there is a single common denominator - the need to learn and  speak Spanish.

You can do this without the difficulty you may think is involved, providing you start to learn as soon as you arrive. Even better is to start before you depart. The longer you leave it, the harder it will become. There are several ways in which you can learn. Most areas have group classes, where you attend once or twice per week. The cost for this is about £4.00 a session which usually lasts for about an hour. In the UK, night schools for Spanish are common. The Spanish-Property ABC

Spanish is also taught privately in Spain on a one to one basis for anywhere between  £4 - 8 per hour. The more you learn in a "classroom" situation, the quicker and easier it will be to pick up more of the language as you go about your work.

Regardless of the obvious advantage when seeking employment, speaking Spanish will add considerably to the enjoyment of your new home and allow you to expand far beyond the confines of the ex-pat community and the local bars.

Something you may wish to consider is that some of the larger UK Employment Agencies do occasionally receive requests from companies for employees specifically from the UK. Though far between, these jobs do come up from time to time and its certainly worth a shot.

Definitely worth a try are the English Language Newspapers, found in all coastal and holiday areas of Spain. These contain employment opportunities quite regularly. On the Costa Blanca, the leading Newspaper is considered to be the Costa Blanca News, details of which can be found on this web site.

Many of the urbanisations employ gardeners. Some do so outright, others make work available to them on a self-employed basis. An urbanisation which is neat and well kept will add millions of pesetas to the values of its properties and the community statutes often require that gardens be kept in a neat and tidy condition. Many owners are pleased to pass this responsibility to someone else and pay for the privilege of doing so.

However, if you really want to be able to choose your work and earn better money, then it will be necessary for you to lean Spanish. If you can't afford to live in Spain and don't want to learn Spanish, little else exists other than to start buying lottery tickets and hope to be lucky. The Spanish-Property ABC