Sunday, July 26, 2009

Working in Uruguay

    I think the biggest problem to find a job in Uruguay, for foreigners, is your knowledge of Spanish. Unless you are fluent in Spanish your alternatives are limited. The second big problem, and I don´t want this to be a put down but it is a reality, is that salaries in Uruguay are generally low.

    This being said, here are some alternatives:

    Working as teacher of English or another language:

    Berlitz (http://www.berlitz.com.uy/) is a good place. The pay is not great but previous teaching experience is not required, they train you, so it might be a good place to start.

Langland Institute (http://www.langlandinstitute.com/). The pay is better, but previous experience is a plus.

    Most of the other English teaching institutes require some type of English teacher certificate. Some of them are the Anglo (www.anglo.edu.uy/), the Alianza (www.alianza.edu.uy/), London Institute (http://www.londoninstitute.edu.uy/), Instituto Dickens (www.dickens.edu.uy/), or the Alliance Francaise (www.alliancefrancaise.edu.uy/) for French speakers.

    Other international companies that hire non Spanish speakers are the Indian company Tata Consultancy Services (http://www.tcs.com/worldwide/s_america/locations/uruguay/Pages/default.aspx) and the American company Sabre Holdings (http://www.sabre.com.uy/). That´s where I work, so if you want more information just contact me at aledelpino101@yahoo.com.ar.

    Of course, there´s always El Gallito, the classified ads of the El Pais newspaper. Look for the section called TRABAJOS. Some of the ads published are in English.

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3 comments:

Chrystal said...

I have also heard that there are some call centers willing to hire foreigners. Again, the wages are dismal, but it's something to look into if you want a job here.

October 5, 2009 at 12:09 PM
Anonymous said...

Alejandro, is there any chance of finding work without any papers, permits, residence etc. Vi are dont want to stay. Vi both speak spanish and english. IM from Denmark and my girlfriend is peruvian. Vi currently live in Peru. Also, can she work without any kind of workpermit since she is from Peru which is part of Mercosur? Thanks for providing us with this great blog and ita information.

August 27, 2014 at 11:27 AM
Alejandro del Pino said...

Hi,
You can get a job without having official papers, the thing is that part of your salary will be retained for social sercices (retiremente and health) and without a Cedula de Identidad you will lose this money.
Please note that Peru is not part of the Mercosur. Mercosur is only Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. Chile is an associate member.
I hope this helps but please get back to me if further information is required.
Thanks,
Alejandro

August 28, 2014 at 7:15 AM

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A Friend Away From Home

I too am a foreigner. I have the advantage of coming from a country that is just round the corner. But I spent most of my childhood and adolescence as a foreigner, so I understand very well what it like is to be away from home. We could say that I became an expert in creating a home away from home. In times when there was no Internet and no cell phones, one had to get used pretty fast to life in new, far away places. And it was at those moments when one learned to really appreciate a friendly face, a soothing voice and a warm handshake. One felt that even living in a different culture and hearing a different language, one could find, and one always did find, a friend to make one feel a little less lost and lonely. Uruguay is very similar to Argentina, so it took no effort for me to feel at home here. Specially when the reason that brought me here is a lovely Uruguayan lady. We´ll get into that later on. But it really amazed me to find such a large quantity of foreigners, mostly from countries that are not so close at hand, living in this beautiful country. I have had the opportunity of meeting some of them. And I thought: "wow, even if the weather is great, it must not be so easy living far away from countries like Canada, USA, Switzerland, India or France. But I have been there so I can understand the feeling. And then I thought, what can I do to help them feel less far away? Could I find a way of becoming their friend away from home? I would really like to. I know Uruguay and the Uruguayan culture very well. I speak some of their languages. I understand them. Yes, I think that might work. I´ll try to help them and become their friend. And that is what I want to do. I am here to help you, to understand you and to try to make your stay in this great country as pleasant as possible.
Just ask, we´ll see what we can do.
Alex