What type of jobs are available can vary depending on where you are in Spain. Here one expat gives some advice on what to do on the Costa del Sol.

Without money, you can't live. Unless, of course you're a hermit surviving by growing a few radishes, stealing fruit from nearby farmland and breeding the odd goat.

For most of us however, that's simply not an option. Instead, we have to rely on the unreliable. That mercurial thing known as 'a job'.

So if you are thinking of moving to the Costa del Sol, consider your job options carefully.

Realistically you will be restricted to employment related to property or tourism. Or put another way: tourism or property.

That's it. Do not imagine you are going to make your way with a career in Law for example (legal matters here are complicated and seem to vary from town to town, let alone region to region) or continue your highly paid job in the City (wages here are much lower than the European average) or even become a taxi driver (all taxi drivers are Spanish – rightly or wrongly, that's just how it is). So what hope is there?

Well, by property I mean work within or associated with estate agencies. Despite media stories you may have seen, the property market down here is still booming (around a 10 percent rise in prices last year – compared that to the stagnation in the UK) and naturally enough, that's where the jobs are. Marketing, PA work, telemarketing and of course sales.

Within those fields you don't necessarily need to speak Spanish (though it helps) due to the fact that the industry is still mainly catering for foreigners looking to buy property in Spain.

By the same token, there's a niche for those of you who can speak German, Dutch, or increasingly the native tongues of people from the new EU countries of Eastern Europe.
 
So how do you go about getting a job? The answer is simple: Come here and hassle people.

Don't waste your time sending emails and CVs. They will go straight in the bin.

Companies on the Costa del Sol only take you seriously if you are actually here. Don't believe me? Ring a few and see how many bother to ring you back.

No, you simply have to want it badly enough to travel here and do some legwork, though actually you'll need a car. If that doesn’t appeal, then the Costa del Sol isn't for you in the first place.

For the first few months the main document you'll need is an EU passport or relevant visas.

You will also need your European medical card (or again, relevant equivalents) too; you'll have to present it if you ever need hospital treatment.

The dilemma then is how to sustain yourself while you're looking? That brings me onto the tourism section.

You could find work in a bar, restaurants or club. There are hundreds of them, at least giving you the chance to scrape a cash-in-hand living while you are looking for something more permanent.

And if you do manage to find something, remember the golden rule. If you get paid, stay. If you don't get paid after two months in a job, ignore the excuses and move on.

Your options: Tourism or property are sectors you will find work in on Costa del

Don't argue and don't bother going to a lawyer (they will shrug their shoulders). Just move on.

It's that kind of job instability that gives the Costa del Sol an ephemeral feel. People come and people go.

Yet that's what makes it an exciting place to live; you are always slightly on the edge of life. I wouldn't swap it for the world.

Cary Johnston is editor of the Costa del Sol's Dreamlife Magazine www.dreamlife-magazine.com 

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Subject: Spain; finding a job