Working in Argentina

Regular readers of this blog will recall that I usually advise people against working in Argentina. However, I'm going to take a stab at this question anyway. I'll also give my cautionary warning, as always.

Reader's Question

I came across your blog and loved it. My question to you is: how did you find a job over there? Did you go through a recruiter? My expertise is in the healthcare arena and I thought you may know how to connect with people.

I am planning another visit in Jan hoping to visit some companies. I will just continue to read your blog from the beginning hoping to gain some insight.

Working & The Middle Class

The main reason I usually advise expats against coming to Argentina and trying to find a job on their own is that they're going to be paid a normal middle class salary here. Middle class in Argentina is very different than middle class in the United States or in Europe. The fact is, your earning power is going to take a significant hit if you give up your job in the US or Europe and take a job here, with a few notable exceptions.

If you're sent here by an international company, you're probably going to continue to earn the same kind of wage you earned back home. In that case, you should jump on the opportunity to move here. You'll be earning a high wage, but your costs of living will drop drastically -- a recipe for savings.

If you are a successful businessperson, you should consider Argentina as well. You can start a business here with less capital than you can elsewhere. Labor is widely available and not too expensive. There are opportunities everywhere.

If Money Isn't Important

If you just don't care about the fact that you'll lose earning power by working for a local firm, I can still share some recommendations. First and foremost, you'll need to speak Spanish fluently. Unless you're going to be working with English-speakers all day long (there are only a few jobs like this and they don't pay well, such as teaching English), a complete domination of the Spanish language will be necessary. Your employer is not going to provide you a translator.

How would you go about finding the job? The reader mentioned recruiters, which do exist. However, the recruiters work for the companies, not the worker. You'll find that many recruiters will advertise for their positions in the Clarin or La Nacion (there's a section with help wanted ads for professionals).

The Big Obstacle: The Work Permit

The big problem is that most foreigners don't have authorization to work. They don't have DNIs and CUILs and that means that to the local labor market, they don't exist. Any employer who wants to hire you will have to retain a visa lawyer to do your foreign employee visa, which is going to cost them time and money. They could just hire an Argentine worker and not bother with all of that.

If you are really serious about getting a job here in Argentina, one thing you might consider is getting yourself a rentista visa and just coming down here and starting your job search. Contact ARCA and they'll get your visa taken care of. Once you get a visa, DNI and CUIL, you can then enter the job market on equal footing with any other Argentine. Companies won't have to spend any money or waste any time with the government when they go to hire you.

One Last Warning

Let me just warn again that if you are going to take a job in the local market here -- without being sent by a international company for some specific expertise that you have -- you're going to take a serious hit in your wages. Here you might just earn between 20-35% of what you earned in the USA or Europe. In addition to that, you won't be building up credits in your home country's pension system, so you might jeopardize your chances for a comfortable retirement if you work here for the long term.

If you just want to try it out for a few years as a change of scenery, make sure you have plenty of savings and realize that you might have to make serious compromises in your lifestyle in order to make things work. Good luck!