Can I find a job in Poland that requires speaking in English?

Granted, if I as a Polish employer for instance looked at some Norwegian univ. grad's cv and he claimed to know Polish backwards, forwards, inside-out, whereas his/her IT or company skills were lacking, (and the job description were : IT SPECIALIST SOUGHT FOR POLISH START UP FIRM IN NOWY SACZ), obviously I wouldn't hire the person.

Nonetheless, it would certainly be a definite plus if that person spoke fluent Polish in addition. I'd make a business decision most likely and tell the chap that his Internet knowledge is so good that I'd overlook the candidate/applicant's lack of Polish skills...under the proviso that the candidate work with an on-staff bilingual Polish-English, or whatever software engineer to smooth out any language problems, if there were any, and everything would be just hunky-dory!

Yea in the it field though you can get away with that along with cs sales marketing etc if your target market is in an anglophone country, in most roles youd have to know polish tho esp operations and cs if youre dealing with pl customers

Of course, Dirk!

Nobody's saying that English is even the primary tongue when talking with the average people in the street, and this surprisingly includes countries such as Sweden or Denmark, where English has been taught in school as a compulsory subject for more than half-a-century:-) At the upper echelons though, whether its in Lithuania, Germany, Iceland, Spain, Italy or France etc. it's a fact that a generally respectable level of English will be widely understood.

The thing is that in order to truly understand what one's interlocutor is actually trying to say, English ALONE simply won't cut it in most instances. The reasons for this naturally are too involved, not to mention numerous, to go into now or on this thread.

Here is my plan Iam a 58 yearold Canadian. but I wish to retire in Poland. My wife is 4 years younger who could still work she works for a US insurance company who multitasks with computer work. Even though I am of Polish decent and have relitives in Tarnow we do not speak Polish, would she be able to find work there if we decided to go before she retired? We have been to Poland twice travelled all over and fell in love with the country.

that is not a reversible state.... getting a job is tricky as you have to be hired first by a Polish company (unless you can qualify for permanent residence on the basis of your ancestry)

Lots of jobs in Polish require the ability to speak English but they also generally require the ability to speak Polish as well (even if not officially a monolingual English speaker in an otherwise bilingual Polish-English setting is kind of a fifth wheel and won't be popular).

Liking a country because you've traveled in it is very different form being able to thrive there long term and Poland isn't a user friendly kind of place - it can be a great place to live but only if you figure out how things work and are willing to leave behind lots of your preconceptions about how government and bureaucracy and co-workers and neighbors function...

Poland is quite an ageist place. The highest rate of unemployment in Poland is among women aged 50+. The official retirement age for women is 60. By the time you sort out your arrangements for moving your wife would be about 55 and to be honest her chances of finding a job are small especially if she doesn't speak Polish or speaks only basic Polish. Her best bet is probably to try to find some kind of remote job with a Canadian company where she could carry on working for them regardless of her place of residence - or perhaps she could come to some arrangement with her present employer. Think carefully before retiring to Poland. As Maf says it can be a nice place to live, depending on what you want from it, but it's quite a harsh society in some respects and like most places, the more money you have, especially in retirement, the better. Also, if you're planning on living in Poland, you really, really, need to learn the language.

it is also ageist when it comes to university degrees I think even masters and giving people like ex cons second chances. they expect everyone to be geniuses or superstars with maturas who known as in written perfect Polish or something as well.

"Also, if you're planning on living in Poland, you really, really, need to learn the language."

what about Portugal tho? which is worse?

Probably not unless she has some really unique computer skills - coding, programming, etc. and even then she'll be competing with a much younger crowd who are more likely to get the job.

Idk how the system works in Canada, but in the US you receive a social security once you hit 65 (you can get it earlier, but you'll get less money). It's only around $1,200 a month per person, but if you have your house paid off and no mortgage $2,400+ is enough for 2 people to live decently in Poland. If Canada has a similar social security system and you can receive it while living abroad you're better off just waiting a few years.


Most people do = )

Most businesses today are looking for cut-rate, minimally competent part-timers they needn't pay or employ much.

To fill the majority of their work force yes... but there's always room for six figure managers, consultants, and client facing staff

Ah, but how many are foreigners? :-)

Yes like Mcdonalds in Poland,85% of the franchisees are Ukranians and they now mostly hire even non Polish speaking Indians and pay them the minimum lol even during my work days I hired immigrants,they dont get sick(excuse to take a day off),work hard and dont steal MUCH lol

Our local McDonald's has quite a few Indian staff. They don't speak Polish, so they're in the back, assembling burgers.

i wonder how they function in Poland not speaking Polish.

As the Germans would literally say, "with hands and feet" LOL

They work in the back, making the burgers. A lot do deliveries for Uber Eats and Pyszne.pl however they only need a few words of Polish at best, and here in Warsaw a lot of the people they deliver to certainly know some English.

If they don't have much Polish and there's a problem, they can always phone their office. It's just handing over a bag of food anyway, and in theory a drone could do it.

There are a few Uber drivers that don't speak Polish, however everything's done through the app anyway.

Have Google will travel LOL

This is what I mean when I say economic migration (not the same as immigration) is not necessarily good for the receiving country. A sub-population with no connection to (and not desiring any connection) to the country and unable (unwilling?) to function in the local language is not going to pay for itself socially.

A rich country like the UK can afford to bring in modern coolie labor and let them ghettoize and outsource the economic problems to social institutions.... Poland? Not so much.

Ukrainians are a better bet since they can hit the ground running in terms of language (and to a lesser extent culture).
Latin Americans (who tend to be massive europhiles) would also be a good investment though Poland would be less of a draw then Germany (which many Latin Americans love in a way bordering on worship).

It's the future for the next few centuries.

The Indian people who work here for Uber Eats or whoever are students. They won't be students forever and having made it from a grindingly poor society to a higher income country are young people with a lot of ambition, intelligence and ability.

Nothing stays the same forever.

And they want to apply those in Poland after they graduate?

Doubtless some will find an opportunity here, others will doubtless go for the best they can achieve wherever it is.

Pity the feeling isn't mutual, Maf.