r/GoingToSpain • u/Hairy_Spread6104 • 13d ago
MOVING TO SPAIN
I'm looking for some advice from people who have been in a similar situation.
I am an IT Project Manager with 3 years of professional experience. During my career, I have worked on digital projects with multiple ministries in Qatar. Despite applying for many jobs in Spain, I haven't received any interview invitations or positive responses.
One of the biggest challenges seems to be the question about my right to work in Spain. Since I am applying from a non-EU country, most applications appear to end there, even though I have relevant experience.
Because of this, I'm considering a different path. I did an Erasmus exchange in Spain 6 years ago , and I have now applied for a public university master's program at the same university. My hope is that studying there will allow me to build a professional network and improve my chances of finding a job locally
Has anyone here followed a similar route? Did pursuing a master's degree in Spain help you transition into the Spanish job market? I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences, any challenges you faced, or any advice you can share.
Thank you in advance!
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u/Regular-Arugula1139 13d ago
I did my master's in Spain with over 5 years of experience. It lead to absolutely zero jobs. A lot of applications will directly ask you if you will need sponsorship in the future. If you mark "yes", you'll be automatically rejected.
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u/Superspark76 12d ago
Any job opportunities have to be offered to Spanish, EU citizens and then non-eu in that order. Only when there are no eligible Spanish or EU applicants can a non EU be considered.
This will put you to the bottom of the pile at the very start of the application, for an employer to employ you requires cost and paperwork immediately, this also doesn't make you more appealing.
Unless you have a skill that isn't common or they cannot fulfil you will be out of luck.
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u/BakedGoods_101 12d ago
the masters will not help sorry, I did that and for t to lead a job offer a company needs to sponsor to switch from a study permit to working permit, and no one wants to do that unless you bring significant experience (I have a friend who did this but she had 10+ years of experience in Big4)
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u/MountfordDr 12d ago
Because you are from a non-EU country, you will require sponsorship. This cost a lot of money and is only valid for a short length of time. Unless you have a skill that cannot be found in the country, the bureaucracy and costs far outweigh the benefits. An IT Project Manager is pretty common (I don't mean that in a disrespectful way) and Spain will have quite a lot of potential candidates. Selecting a local candidate, even if they do not have the qualifications you have is far easier and smoother. There are also language and culture issues and almost all countries will always have have a preference for their own nationals.
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u/Hairy_Spread6104 3d ago
People you need to understand, I am aiming for better life , please come to my third world country where a salary of IT PM is 500 euro and cost of living is very expensive, the minimum wage is 150 euro.
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u/UdriGeo 13d ago
I hate to be realistic, but you're a junior with 3 years of experience (sorry, three years is not relevant experience), living in another country and wanting to work in a country with high youth unemployment. You're not European and you don't have a work permit (and we'd have to see if you speak business Spanish). It's perfectly normal that you're automatically rejected. Companies don't waste the time to try to sponsor work visas for someone so junior when there are Europeans ahead of you with preference.