The jobs that are the most in-demand for expats in Colombia

In demand jobs for Expats in Colombia...

1.  Teaching English.

2.  Starting a business offering product/services to fulfill the unmet needs of locals and Expats.  Includes ethnic restaurants in some cities, cheese/specialty stores, English-language tour services

3.  Assisting Expats with visas, driving and auto-purchase issues, translation-situations including paper-chase (trámites) and healthcare coverage.

4.  Bi-lingual property acquisition advisers -- this might be an entrepreneurial "job", working on commission.

5.  Casino host in Colombia's largest cities.  Bring in foreign clients, get a percentage of their "donations," take care of players' RFB and tourism needs.

cccmedia in Depto. de Nariño

What are the types of jobs that are easily accessible to expats in Colombia?

1. English or language teachers
2. Call center (sales or customer service)
3. Oil, infrastructure (when you're coming from the contractors country) (roads, bridge building etc.)
4. Non jobs, self employment business ownership is also on this list - many expats I personally know are business owners. Restaurants, tech companies, call centers, e-commerce websites or digital marketing companies (website building, Facebook advertising etc.)   

What are the ones most in-demand for expats?

1. Language schools, which include institutes and university level, as well as high school, elementary school (primarily private schools since they pay the best)
2. Bilingual call center agents - call center agents are able to earn high salaries regardless of having college degrees.

Hello,

What are the qualifications you need to teach English in Colombia if you do not have a university/college degree?

You can get an ESL certificate online in Toronto.

It very much depends on whether you intend to apply for a job in a classroom environment or intend to  go self employed, and either go one to one or online.

You will be looking to obtain a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate, to gain employment, most now want you to have a certificate with at least 100 hours training, if you are going to go self employed, of course you could do it with no training, but the likelihood is that you wont get many Clients, or at least many referrals, you need a minimum of a 50 hour certificate, to show that you have some idea of what you are talking about, these can be done online at your own pace...within reason.

Hello. I received mine from enjoytefl.com. They are out of England and it was great. 120 hr with bonus 60 hour courses plus extra 30 hour online courses. Cost was under $100 if I remember right. I teach online and love it. I would like to meet others to do something large scale one day??? or maybe not, but there are always opportunities.
JB

handymantulsa wrote:

I teach online and love it.

Do you teach via Skype?

How do you attract students?  Where do your students live?

cccmedia

@arsimon how do you find these call center jobs? Because I have been unable to find them. However I am bad at doing this since I am mostly a factory worker for all my life.

Remote sales is huge.  I see these listing alot on upwork and other freelance websites. I've been living in colombia for the past 3 years doing sales/marketing/and admin work.

How to get teaching job in Bogota??

Focus on teaching English.  That's the logical

subject for new arrivals who want to teach.

Expect your first job to be part-time.  After

teaching part-time for a while, you will be

more desirable as a full-time hire at places

where English is taught.

Expect split shifts if you are new to

teaching English in the capital.  For instance,

you might teach one or two classes in

the morning .. and another class in the evening.

New teachers in Bogotá can expect low pay

at the outset. 

Bogotá is the logical place to start a

teaching career in Colombia.  It's an

international capital.  It's the largest city

in the country.  It's a major transportation hub

and commercial center.

cccmedia

@Priscilla

You have it backwards

Expats dont come to Colombia for Jobs

Colombians are dieing crossing the snake infested jungles and the deserts of the " hueco" of the Texas -México border to get into the US for minimum wage Jobs.

99% of expats come to Colombia with an outside source of income to support themselves

@Priscilla
You have it backwards
Expats dont come to Colombia for Jobs

Colombians are dieing crossing the snake infested jungles and the deserts of the " hueco" of the Texas -México border to get into the US for minimum wage Jobs.

99% of expats come to Colombia with an outside source of income to support themselves
-@nico peligro

Nico

***

Nico you are taking the OP out of context. Though fewer in number than remote jobs that pay in dollars, there's call center, language school and the like jobs that some English speakers wishing to move to Colombia might be interested. This was especially true in 2018 (pre-pandemic) when the OP was published.

There's also relatively few Colombians braving the wild walking to the US border, especially when compared to many other nationalities. This while no small number of Colombian migrants come here through other means and attain work that pays better than minimum wage. 

@Javier03824

Hi Javier. I'm an American looking to mive to Cali where my sick parents moved to and are in need of care. I'm also in sales and customer service. Would yiu be able to recommend and companies to work for there? Especially if it's remote work from home? I appreciate it and hope you are having a great day.

@JElizabeth

Hello Elizabeth to begin with in Colombia they paid the equivalence of 250 US dollars a month and you need theTEFL AND TESOL certifications, if you can get a group at least 10 people one hour a day three days a week you can charge 20000 pesos per hour per person in advance, best of luck

@Elmo 67

I know several who have crossed :el Hueco" ...and a few who have got to the border.and turned back..

Many more Venezuelans  of course.

People can work here in Colombia ( where I am) remotely , as " digital nomads " if they want  just like any country  as long as their clients,/ employers allow them to work in a foreign country.

Call centres wouldnt pay well  as you are competing with employees from.developing countries  but that applies to most jobs or professions that can be done online.

You know minimum wage in Colombia is about $300 US a month?

Thanks for the valuable information.