Would it be hard to work in Poland if I don't speak Polish?

i am moving to poland in september and i need a job,will it be an issue if i dont speak polish? obviously i'm going to learn eventually because i may be there a couple of years.

thanks in advance

What kind of job do you want to do?

well currently im a fibre optic engineer which is sort of telecomms,but im not setting my heart on that haha so im pretty flexible at the mo

Well, the most obvious option is English teaching. If you can get yourself the CELTA and arrive in Warsaw at the end of August, Harry on these forums (who is a pretty authorative source on these things) has stated on numerous occasions that you'll be fighting off the offers of work.

There are some jobs you work in English only but not that much, finding them is very difficult but not impossible. I have met a few people that have jobs like this in Warsaw and Krakow. The easiest finding a job in English would be teaching it pays pretty good if you are a native speaker for the amount of hours you actually work but the bad thing about this is that you get no benefits and sometimes you have to wait long before you get paid at some schools.

Benefits? What kind of benefits?

As for waiting to get paid, common sense is not to work for anywhere that you'll have to wait for ages to get paid.

If you want something other than teaching then you will really have to be creative and use your imagination it's not impossible but it is hard.

For sure it will be easier in Krakow and Warsaw than anywhere else.

Good luck.

thanks for the help,surely i would need some basic polish to teach though?? i probably only know about 3 words and wouldnt even try and spell them haha

You don't need any Polish to teach English in schools. However, what you definetely need is a CELTA/DELTA qualification to be able to do that. Schools will not generally take you on without experience and an idea of how to teach. You expect payment - they expect quality.

Have a scan through 'Warsaw Voice' - sometimes they advertise jobs there. Be creative. Why should WE tell you how to find jobs when everybody else is chasing the same jobs themselves.

coventrywarsaw
It is not necessary to speak Polish to find work as a 'Native Speaker' at one of the English language schools. It can be used as an advantage, but you need to work with Intermediate level students/groups or above since you won't be able to teach English in Polish. The advantage is that you force the student to speak in English since you can't speak Polish. It does help to get some certification since some schools can only have a certain percentage of non-certified instructors on staff in order to maintain their accreditation.

It would also help if you have some experience as an instructor and like/feel comfortable doing that sort of thing. I didn't think I would (my background is Software Development) but I did! I am staying as busy as I want to be. WRT pay, you will be hired as a contractor, so there will be no benefits since you are not a company employee. As long as you file your reports on-time, you should get paid on a regular basis. Keep in mind though, that unless you also have private lessons, you will only get paid once a month. So you need to be able to live on a budget. Good lesson for me - coming from the US...

Double post... Sorry!

Try one of the telecom or computer equipment manufactures that have their divisions in Poland (like Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens, Intel etc.). Their staff usually speaks English well so you at least shoudn't have problems communicating in work ;-) But be prepared that they pay less than e.g. in US (this is why they moved their business here), and if you really want to keep friendly and close relationship with co-workers you should learn Polish quickly, because not many people would like speak only English when drinking beer after work ;-)

Cinek

i am a management student, so i like to work in office where i have to manage everything.

You should be fine. Most educated people here speak English (with or without difficulty.) Being an engineer, you'd most certainly be dealing with people who speak at least a little English.

Hı Folks,

I am moving to Gdansk in January and wonder if it is so hard to find a job if I do not speak Polish. I have been working in HSE (health/safety and environment) field in oil and gas industry.

Any help and advice would be appreciated. My email: jennetadoc@rambler.ru

Thanks
Jenni

Jenni, you still have at least four months which you can use for learning Polish to improve your chances for finding employment. You can learn online, via skype you don't find a local teacher. Try verbalplanet.com

I speak English,i also speak basic polish and more,i have many kats on my driving licence and also a licenced bar/hotel manager,can i get a job? NO coz i dont speak polish,but i will keep trying,good luck.

I think it would be difficult for you to find a job in your field here - and yes - it is because of the language

but you can try - there is some gas and oil exploration (and soon development) going on by foreigh (British, American, Aussie) capital in Poland - try searching the internet for Kulczyk gas field Poznań for example or maybe search for Petrobaltic they have some small rigs in the Baltic sea