Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

Thanks for your replies everyone,

@ Monitor: Studying in the UK is much more expensive, that's why I chose Poland because it is more affordable and living expenses in Katowice are similar to Cairo.

Regarding the work permit, actually according to the immigration website of Poland "A foreigner entitled to work in Poland without a work permit is a person who:

17.is a student of full-time studies in Poland studying on the basis of a residence permit issued for the purpose of continuing tertiary education in Poland for the full year;"

So if I understood it correct, I assume this means I can get a residence permit while studying and I can work based on this residence permit?

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

Just to clarify some points:

@ Sandie: I plan to take Polish courses during my MBA to learn the language. Yes, my studies will be entirely in English.

@ terri: Why is it difficult to get a part-time job as an international student?

@DominicB: I'm not planning to finance my studies by working, I just want to gain some experience to get an idea of the work culture and add something to my cv, etc.

"Not very good. Why would you want to work in Poland, anyway. Unemployment is high, wages are low, and quality of life is poor."

Really? According to my research it is actually a high-income well-developed country, one of the few that did not fall into recession during the famous recession of the EU.

@ IntoTheWild: what about Katowice, any idea what it's like there?

@Roger5: Yes, very true, I agree on that.

Thanks everyone for your replies,

Ahmed

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

@ Monitor: What about part-time jobs within the university? Is this available without Polish language? Or just internships in any multinational/international companies?

"Minimum salary in Poland is less than 300 eur net."

I know, but I also think this largely depends on each industry or sector. For example the average salary for Engineers could be different than the average salary for doctors, HR professionals, teachers, etc. Right? :)

Also, my MBA is 2 years long so I think if I take language courses during that time and live in Poland (interacting with locals), it should give me enough time to master the language, no? :)

"It's mostly high income, because prices are low, so they mean purchasing power."

This is actually a good thing because if the salaries are low than the prices should be low. Likewise, in other countries like Norway, UK, Germany, etc. prices are higher because the salaries are higher.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

By the way someone left a comment earlier and I replied, he said something about "mirroring arab countries so Poland is not a bad option", why are both his comment and my comment deleted? Any idea?

Thanks a lot.

@ Terri, thanks for your thoughts, but I don't know where your source of information comes from. If only a few people are taking higher than average salaries and the majority is taking lower than average salaries, isn't this normal in every country? Should everybody take a salary which is higher than average? If this happens than obviously the AVERAGE will NOT be the AVERAGE anymore. It will be a WRONG average (since average reflects everything below and above it).

Also, about the part-time jobs and language part, true language is very important, but do you think it is the ONLY factor in the equation? What about previous work experience, education, qualifications, attitude, and personal skills? Even if, I'm pretty sure there are some jobs which do not require Polish as English nowadays is the universal language in the entire world.

I don't mean to sound challenging here, but I'm also sharing my thoughts, and anyway thanks for your feedback.

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

@ Astoria, thanks so much for your reply, this is the kind of information that I prefer to hear. It is more objective and based on actual facts!

I will look at it, and even without looking I think it's true as it agrees with what I already read about Poland.

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

Okay okay, thanks for your feedback, we'll see how everything goes.

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

@Monitor, for your own info, I actually studied Statistics in university and it is because of THAT I tell you that I know exactly the meaning of the average and how it is calculated.

Just to illustrate my previous point if: 2 + 3+ 4+1= 10, then the average of all these numbers is?? 10 divided by the 4 digits mentioned here, so the average here is 2.5

I was trying to explain to Terri (and now I'm explaining to you) that of course it's normal that not everyone will take a salary above the average, why?? because if the average is 2.5, say 2.5 K euros, then this means there are people who take salaries below 2.5 K and there are also people taking salaries above 2.5 K, get it? So really you cannot say the situation is difficult because most people take below the average. The average is the average of everyone (above it and below it). If what Terri meant to say was that most people take below the MINIMUM, then that's a completely different story, and I doubt it's true anyway.

As for the median, it is basically the same idea, but instead of adding the sum and dividing it by the number of digits, we just put all the digits in ascending or descending order (ie. 1, 2, 3, 4) so the median here would be?? Actually, the best median is when you have odd numbers of digits, (ie. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) so the median here would be?? 3 because it is right in the middle! Please don't underestimate my knowledge, obviously you are the one who did not understand what I was trying to say in my reply to Terri.

So back to my main point the average salary for the whole country is simply not enough to judge. Every job has its own average salary, and every position within each job category also has its average salary. For example the average salary for an entry level English teacher is different than the average salary for Senior Teacher, or Teaching Coordinator, etc. etc. Makes sense? Obviously the average for Teachers is different than that for HR, Marketing, Finance, etc. etc. So I think it is better to look at salaries for individual job categories to make a better judgement. Of course that depends on which job category each person wants to work in.

Anyway, regarding your other points, thanks for your input, I will take it into consideration although my main question is about finding a job related to my studies after graduation. I'm not so concerned about part-time jobs during studies (only interested to get an idea, etc.)

And I saw all your links, they give a general idea, but not very specific as I mentioned above.

I'm afraid to tell you Astoria is right with his data. Living costs are only to give you an idea how much money you need to spend. But GDP PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) is what is most important. Why? Because it tells you the Gross Domestic Product (ie. your output in monetary terms) and it relates this to the costs and living expenses. So 1,000 euros could be very good in one country but very bad in another country because the living expenses in one country could be very cheap, but they could be very expensive in the other country. This is what they call PPP (how much stuff can you buy for the same amount of money that you have in different locations).

The only problem I can see with Astoria's data is again within each country there is a lot of variation, as someone mentioned Warsaw is not like Katowice or any other city so again we need to be specific when comparing countries.

Best to compare Cairo to Katowice to Instanbul instead of Egypt to Poland to Turkey.

Cheers,

Ahmed

@szczecinianin

Thanks for your input, it's good to know people like me have some chance even in jobs which are normally done by native English speakers (ie. Americans, Brits, etc.) and good to know at least people are given a fair chance regardless of their nationality. That's how I do it in my job as an HR Recruiter in Egypt.

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

Like I said before, we'll just see how everything goes.

@ Terri obviously you know your country very well, and I wasn't trying to argue with you on anything. Just one question, if 75 % of people are below the average, then where does this average come from?

@ Monitor, I appreciate all your remarks and feedback.

@ Monitor, I'm more than happy to discuss your point of view further in PM (if you want of course).

Cheers

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

@ Monitor, please I was asking this question to Terri as a way of making her understand my point of view. Do you think I still don't understand what average is after my long explanation? Your example above is quite obvious and doesn't need any clarification.

I was trying to tell Terri that if most people are below the average then how will the average be correct?? Anyway forget it becaus I think now we will confuse everyone. Better to talk in private message I think, no??

Of course it is rightly skewed, that's why I told you from the very beginning that the national average does not give you a very good idea because it includes all jobs. It is better to rely on the average for every industry or every job. Did you read my previous comment where I explained this in detail?

Work / What are the chances of getting a part-time job for an Egyptian who's coming to study and live in Poland? [37]

@ Monitor, I don't think my conversation with you is going anywhere. And really there is no need for negative comments like "you don't know statistics or you dont know how to ask logical questions" because I can easily say the same to you, except that I won't because that's not the point or motive behind my discussion. However, since this is how you like to speak, I won't even reply to you comments.

Needless to mention you still did not understand my above explanations. Otherwise, you wouldn't be saying such statements above.

I suggest you read something about "bias" and "sampling in statistics". It might help you understand why I disagree with the above remarks.

Have a good day mate!