Having A Hard Time Finding A Job In Argentina

[JenyP]

Hello everyone,

I recently moved from the United States to Argentina. The reason for this posting is because I am having a very difficult time finding a job and I'm beginning to lose hope. Sometimes I wonder whether I made the right choice of moving with my 2 kids and my husband here. I am fully bilingual (English/Spanish), I have university degrees from the USA -- Bachelor in Business Administration and an MBA in Accounting/Auditing, and have many years of professional work expererience in these areas.

I have gone to several employment agencies (Adecco, Manpower, etc), I applied on-line and even contacted multinational companies directly, but I haven't had any luck. If I don't find anything soon, I'm afraid I will have to pack my things and go back to the USA with my family.

I'm so used to the american system that I'm finding it very hard to be here unemployed. So, the adjustment process hasn't been easy at all. I feel like I'm frozen in time -- everything here takes so long when it comes to paperwork (e.g. immigration, car registration, etc). On top of that, the school system has gone on strike and for the past 3 weeks my kids have attended school only a few days -- they haven't had a whole week of school at all. In the meantime, I'm staying with my husband's family since he's from here, but it still hasn't been easy for me at all.

I hope someone out there can guide me on this unemployment issue. Any tips/help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


JP

 

[trennod]

JPP, where are you job hunting? (ie in Cap Federal?) and what kinds of positions are you looking for? I know things have slowed but in the Accounting/Finance field there is definitely still work around, even though remuneration wise its probably not near anything your used to in the states.

 

[Rich One]

Perhaps you already contacted the American Chamber of Commerce in Avda. Viamonte, opposite the Colon: the Chamber has a section on Employment Offered/Wanted. Print a business card as a Consultant, and attend the future breakfast meetings to network and mingle aggressively with local US business managers. Indicate that the "company" XYZ that brought you down here may be leaving the country?? Introduce yourself to the Chamber President and submit a CV.

Good Luck


http://www.amchamar.com.ar/agenda/Eventos.html

 

[JenyP]

Thank you so much for your responses and the tips posted here. I'm not currently in Buenos Aires, Capital Federal. I'm actually in Bahia Blanca, which is a city located south of Capital Federal (a 5 to 6 hr drive) -- it's got a population of approximately 400,000 people. I'm sure finding a job in Capital Federal will be much easier, but for what I was told by one of the employment agencies here, Bahia Blanca is known for its high unemployment rate as they have la Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), and thus, lots of professionals/recent graduates end up staying here.

 

[JamJam]

I'm afraid its all about contacts here, its a very closed system. It took me 6 months to find something.

You'll have a much better chance in Capital. Keep motivated get meeting people.

I'm not sure on your situation by why did you move here? Did you do much research before you arrived?

 

[gordita75]

my argie friends seem to like this job site, www.bumeran.com.ar ( i swear i saw something from deloitte on there recently)

i love indeed.com and it seems to be decent here too

sorry if these sites are obvious, but yes, everything here seems about who you know...

 

[citygirl]

I assume you have all your paperwork done and you are already a resident with permission to work here correct? If not, you need to do that first as most companies aren't going to bother with the hassle of employing an extranjero.

Are you fully fluent in Spanish - as in speak at a native level and with a native accent?

Have you vetted your resume for here? I assume you know that it's standard to put photo, etc on your resume in Arg.

I used to use bumeran.com to advertise for positions.

 

[lamarque]

Thank you so much for your responses and the tips posted here. I'm not currently in Buenos Aires, Capital Federal. I'm actually in Bahia Blanca, which is a city located south of Capital Federal (a 5 to 6 hr drive) -- it's got a population of approximately 400,000 people. I'm sure finding a job in Capital Federal will be much easier, but for what I was told by one of the employment agencies here, Bahia Blanca is known for its high unemployment rate as they have la Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), and thus, lots of professionals/recent graduates end up staying here.

Bahia Blanca is one of the worst place to stay for a professional, as a big part of it population are university student of with many stay on the city after graduation so there is to much offer of professionals that just look for starting experience without that much worry for money and then move away from there as is not a good place to get a good salary and you have to compete again the young professionals so is a very bad combination, i study one year in Bahia Blanca (i'm accountant and have many friend that study that in Bahia Blanca) but after the year i study there i move away from there to Capital as it was a sure problem to get job there and my friends that stay there finish moving to the south of the country for better salaries as it was a real difficult thing to get a decent job in there, there are better places than Buenos Aires to get jobs, but Bahia Blanca is not one of them. Sorry to be the bird of the bad news.

 

[lamarque]

my argie friends seem to like this job site, www.bumeran.com.ar ( i swear i saw something from deloitte on there recently)

i love indeed.com and it seems to be decent here too

sorry if these sites are obvious, but yes, everything here seems about who you know...

That website bumerang and xoom are the best to find jobs

 

[JamJam]

Plus it might be hard if you are over 30, some jobs will specify that they want someone younger than that.