After publishing last week's article on being a "cyber hippy", I was intrigued to read some of the comments left by some of the readers.
So I thought I'd take this opportunity to clarify what the article was really about.
I met someone at the gym today who moved over here four weeks ago. He said it has always been his dream to live in Spain and now that he's retired he's enjoying every minute of it. And good on him, it's what he's always wanted to do do and so he's doing it.
But not all of us are so lucky enough to be able to forget about earning a living and not everyone wants to wait until they retire to move to Spain. We moved here nearly six years ago when I was 29 (and I had hair then too). Even back then jobs were scarce so my only real option was to work for myself, which was when I first came up with the idea for Eye on Spain.
Last week's article was intended to make those considering moving to Spain to think about the possibility of starting an online business instead of a physical one. As with any business you DO have to work it really hard and put in horrendous amounts of time, especially during the start-up phase. For the first two years I had no life at all and spent all my time building my business online. Eighty-hour weeks were the norm for me and with very little return in those days.
Why not just get a job?
Not everyone wants to work for themselves. Not everyone is disciplined enough to do it. But if you are looking to move to Spain and get a job then the outlook is quite bleak.
After the gym this morning I was reading the Sur in English newspaper. This is a free weekly newspaper that is distributed all along the Costa del Sol. Over the past couple of years it has become considerably lighter as there are less and less companies around to advertise in it. However, it does have a very good classifieds section full of all the services you need and it also has a jobs section.
If you have a vacancy on the Costa del Sol and you don't already have someone to fill it then chances are you'll be advertising it in the Sur in English.
I always go on about the fact there are only commission-only sales jobs on the Coast these days so I thought I'd put together some proper facts today to prove the point.
I checked each job advert (there weren't that many of them really) and this is what I found:
Total advertised jobs: 72
Location Results:
| Location |
Jobs Advertised |
Percentage of Total |
| Jobs on the Costa del Sol |
59 |
82% |
| Jobs in Gibraltar |
12 |
17% |
| Jobs in Barcelona |
1 |
1% |
Job Type Results:
| Job Type |
Jobs Advertised |
Percentage of Total |
| Sales |
40 |
56% |
| IT |
8 |
11% |
| Customer Service |
7 |
10% |
| Secretarial |
4 |
6% |
| "Adult Services" |
4 |
6% |
| Housekeeping |
2 |
3% |
| Entertainment |
2 |
3% |
| Finance |
2 |
3% |
| Translators |
1 |
1% |
| Catering |
1 |
1% |
| Teaching |
1 |
3% |
As you can see I wasn't making it up. 56% of adverts are for sales related jobs, from telesales to closers. All of these jobs are on the Costa del Sol and many adverts actually state "commission only". Those that don't actually state "contract" are probably commission-only too, they just don't state it, but these are the majority.
I was surprised to see the ads for "adult services". They are looking for young women for their "saunas". I am actually quite against this and don't believe the Sur in English needs the money from these types of ads. They really shouldn't allow it but that's just my opinion.
So if you're not a sales person and you don't want to provide adult services, then together they account for 62% of the jobs.
So what are we left with?
There are a few customer service jobs, although most of those actually require a second language and could possibly include a sales element to the job. If that's not your thing either and you don't want sales or adult services, then you are left with just 18% of the jobs advertised.
As you can now see this figures is very close to the number of jobs advertised for Gibraltar (17%), the reason being that Gibraltar really is still creating proper job opportunities. These jobs are either IT, secretarial or finance. Most are advertised though agencies so I assume they are related to the online gaming companies based in Gibraltar. These jobs are generally permanent jobs with contracts. Gibraltar has provided a huge amount of employment for expats living on the Costa del Sol.
So what next?
I think it's quite clear really. Unless you're a really good sales person and can depend on commissions only then there are plenty of jobs to choose from on the coast. Otherwise your only option is to work in Gibraltar, as many exapts who live in our area currently do.
Maybe it is time to take the idea of being a cyber hippy more seriously.