Hi everyone, this is my first post and wondered if anyone could give me some advice about working in Spain.

I am currently working in the Uk as a qualified psychiatric nurse and realise it is almost impossible to do this in Spain due to the language barrier. However, I was wondering what job opportunities there are available caring for ex pats and how I can find out more about it.

It would be lovely to spend some time abroad, hopefully resulting in me being able to stay permanently and would like to give it a try. My options to work as a psychiatric nurse abroad would be in Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, Canada and California which are all a little too far from home first time.

I would be grateful to hear from anyone already doing my line of work or any agencies I could speak to. Also how to go about finding accomodation.

Thanks all Jackki

Hi Jackki, and welcome to the forum.

The big problem with working in Spain as a nurse, even just for expats, is that you first have to qualify under Spanish law as a nurse and that usually requires you to know the local language reasonably well.

If you're not ready to make a big leap to Australia or Canada or California (or the rest of the US), have you considered looking into working on a cruise ship or for some sort of holiday camp (like Club Med or Sandals or one of the others like that)? There might not be lots of work in your specialty (though I've met lots of folks at resorts who could use a good psychiatric nurse! ), but it would give you a chance to try your hand with a variety of nationalities and doing some travelling without having to sign up for the long haul.

Just an idea, in any event.
Cheers,
Bev

Thanks Bev, what if I worked as an unqualified carer? Are there any jobs looking after ex pats who have retired out in Spain?. I will definitely look into Club Med etc though, never thought of that.

I don't really know what the options are for an "unqualified" carer in Spain. I'm located next door in France, and most folks there would be interested in having someone eligible to be paid or at least subsidized under the national health plan.
Cheers,
Bev