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Is it hard to find an English position at an office job in Krakow or Warsaw?


Mike30  
12 May 2009 /  #1
Is it really that hard to find a English position at a office job in Krakow or Warsaw? If I move there can I find something fast, or will it take a long time to find something?

Did any of you had any experiences looking for a office job type.

Anyone would recommend any companies and job websites that specify in posting job available in English.
SzwedwPolsce  11 | 1589  
12 May 2009 /  #2
People who speak both Polish and English fluently are attractive to hire.

But many Poles loose their jobs these days because of the eco-crisis. So it's difficult to get a job in Poland even if you speak Polish.
plk123  8 | 4119  
12 May 2009 /  #3
How hard is it really?

expect it to be very hard especially if you don't speak polish.. may be even impossible.
OP Mike30  
12 May 2009 /  #4
So what's up with these companies like Shell, Hitachi, Campgemni posting job availabe only in English... I don't understand why you say almost impossible unless these ads I see are lies.... but why..
SzwedwPolsce  11 | 1589  
12 May 2009 /  #5
Maybe highly qualified people can get some kind of job at an international company. If you find an ad, call them and ask.
mafketis  38 | 10919  
12 May 2009 /  #6
So what's up with these companies like Shell, Hitachi, Campgemni posting job availabe only in English...

That's because they want to thin out the Polish applicants to those who are fluent in English (fluency in Polish is assumed and also usually required to get the job).

AFAIK international companies in Poland overwhelimingly hire local people and the kinds of jobs where no Polish would be necessary are filled by people already working for the company and then posted to Poland.

There are some exceptions, but they're not common. I've known Anglophones who were living in Poland and hired by international companies for office positions but they did know Polish (and or already had lots of contacts in Poland).

The best option in Poland is to have a good resume and use headhunter firms (or get hired outside of Poland and manage to get posted there).
OP Mike30  
12 May 2009 /  #7
Some of these positions require only some experiences which I do have and require English only. I’ve talked to Hitachi and this has nothing to do with the Polish population, it deals with people from England and English speaking countries. No polish needed. The best is to check it out yourself and not be put down by people. There is hope in Krakow and especially Warsaw. I am not talking about small towns. Then again I don’t know your experiences when you looked for an English only office position job in Krakow or Warsaw.
mafketis  38 | 10919  
12 May 2009 /  #8
In Poland, an English-only worker is a burden to other employees in a bilingual office environment and anyone involved in hiring takes that into account. Basically an English only environment doesn't exist in Poland when Poles are in the majority, they immediately revert to Polish whenever possible (I've seen this in action when the boss didn't realize this was happening when they weren't around).

Then again I don’t know your experiences when you looked for an English only office position job in Krakow or Warsaw.

I would not look for such a position as I am pretty fluent in Polish (and would use my position of being a native speaker of English who is also very fluent in Polish as a selling point - it's not a common skill set). Become fluent in Polish (and understand Polish culture and how to get things done here - which is different from how you get things done in the US or UK) and you can find a position. On the other hand, I'm not interested in office work (been there, done that).

I was just answering your specific question (why advertise in English?). Also, often English is listed as job requirement when the actual job position doesn't require any English (or give the job-holder any real opportunities to use the language if they wanted to, much less require them to do so). Again, the idea is to thin out the applicant pool.

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