Working in the Czech Republic: advice from Russian emigrants • Migrant World

Finding a job in the Czech Republic is like buying an apartment in a European country and moving to live permanently. Such a tempting offer attracts a large number of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and residents from other countries of the post-Soviet space.

According to the examinations carried out, the Czech Republic is very interested in increasing the flow of emigrating people, but only with higher education and a high level of qualifications. The President of the Czech Republic made a statement that he would never allow a person who is alien to the Czech mentality and Czech cultural values to emigrate for work, even if this person is an excellent specialist in his field of activity.

But, the laws of economics established that if people in working professions from other countries do not emigrate to the Czech Republic, then the Czech Republic will not be able to get a boost in development; labor emigration is necessary.

Why Czech Republic?

If you wonder why many people choose the Czech Republic, then there are very important reasons for this:

The salaries that people in working professions receive, although not very large, are compensated by the support offered by the state. This applies to mortgage issues, tax cuts, and the attention the state pays to young families. All this leads to an increase in the birth rate in the country.
In the Czech Republic, medium and small businesses are developing quite well, opening your own company is very simple, there are very few obstacles to this.
Since the business and work of emigrants is beneficial to the country from an economic point of view, it brings a good cash flow to the state treasury, there is a great possibility that you will receive a residence permit and permanent residence in a very short time.

The most important advantage of working in the Czech Republic is low taxes when compared with other countries of the European Union, free education and low loan rates for potential entrepreneurs.

The situation with the demand for foreign labor

Reasons for interest in migrants:

Despite the relatively high standards of living, average salaries and stability of the economic situation, compared to the recognized leaders of the EU, the country cannot offer its citizens the same indicators as, for example, Germany, France, Denmark or Sweden.
Being in the common market presupposes the free flow of labor within the European Union.
Taken together, these factors lead to the fact that currently in the Czech Republic there is a shortage of labor resources not only in low-skilled areas, but also among professionals.

Statistics on migration from neighboring countries

Competitors for Russians:

The main flow is observed from Slovakia (more than 160 thousand people) for obvious reasons: previously this state was part of Czechoslovakia;

equal educational standards;
common labor market within the EEA and the EU;
languages, ways of thinking and living are almost identical.

Another significant traffic is provided by Ukraine (more than 170 thousand) and the volumes are constantly and evenly growing, which is due to the following factors:

A program of the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic, developed specifically for this post-Soviet country. According to it, 5,000 vacancies are allocated every year in the Chechen Republic.
Abolition of the Visapoint system, which makes it easier to obtain a long-term work visa within specialized programs.
There is a significant Czech diaspora in Ukraine, and there are special repatriation programs for them.

Education in the Czech Republic - foreigners are taught high quality and free of charge, but do you need to know Czech?

Interesting! According to the ranking of the portal for travelers and immigrants InterNations for 2017, the Czech Republic entered the top ten countries for expats, taking seventh place.

Citizens of the Russian Federation:

Currently, there are about 40 thousand migrants from the Russian Federation in the Czech Republic.
If we take into account that about 10% open their own business, then approximately 36 thousand people are employed as hired labor.
Since there are no special programs, the employment procedure includes preliminary posting of a vacancy in the general EU database, and only after no applicants appear within a month, the employer enters into a contract with an applicant from the Russian Federation.

What vacancies are offered to foreigners in the Czech Republic?

In the Czech Republic there is a serious shortage of people with blue-collar jobs. Quite often, mechanics, welders, turners, and drivers are required. The top five most in-demand professions include the following professions: cooks, security guards, drivers, welders, and waiters. There is also a shortage of doctors and programmers in the Czech Republic, since many locals with knowledge in these specialties have gone to Germany, France, and the USA, because these specialties are paid much higher there. In the Czech Republic there is also a serious shortage of engineering workers, logisticians, general workers, salespeople, and truck drivers.

Professions in demand

General statistics on foreigners:

Direction	%
Administrative positions	16
Services sector	22
Industry (engineering, experienced workers)	29
Unskilled labor	33

Popular destinations:

Qualified personnel:

In severe shortage:

IT sector (programmers, tattoo artists, SEO optimizers, designers, project managers);
Medicine (doctors, nurses, certified caregivers).

Promising:

Heavy industry and automotive industry. From engineers to highly qualified blue-collar specialists (welders, electricians, turners, installers, assemblers, equipment adjusters, welders, foundry workers).
Transport and logistics, including cargo transportation (truck drivers, specialists in creating logistics systems).

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Without special knowledge:

Service sector:

Hotels and restaurants (maids, waiters, cooks, drivers, hostesses, etc.).
Trade (salespeople, consultants, cashiers, security guards).

Physical work:

General workers in construction, industrial enterprises, and other areas.
Seasonal and permanent workers on farms in field farming and livestock production.

Average salary in the Czech Republic

Every year the standard of living and the level of wages in the Czech Republic increases. Salaries in the Czech Republic are approximately as follows:

The minimum wage below which you will not be paid is 8 thousand crowns.
The average salary without taxes will be 30 thousand crowns.
Very small wages for cashiers or waiters will be from 10 thousand to 12 thousand crowns.
The average salary for office and service workers will be about 15-30 thousand crowns.
A decent salary is paid to doctors, teachers, highly qualified specialists, programmers and scientists of various categories.

The highest salary for businessmen is about 100 thousand crowns. We wrote more about Czech salaries in a separate article.

How to look for work in the Czech Republic: job search sites

To find a job in the Czech Republic, you can either post your resume on one of the thematic platforms yourself or contact a recruiting agency, whose specialists will search for a vacancy that meets your requirements.

Among the thematic platforms where you can post your resume, we recommend paying attention to techloop.io, www.monster.cz and www.superkariera.cz. You can compose your resume in several languages, and then wait for offers from HR or independently apply for interesting vacancies.

You can also find a job on other thematic sites, such as www.jobs.cz, cz.indeed.com, www.profesia.cz. There are also recruiting agencies that are ready to offer you vacancies for every taste, for example, www.itjobs.cz/cz/ or jobscontact.cz/cs/.

Search methods

Through the Internet

On one's own:

List of main resources:

portal.mpsv.cz	Official portal of the Ministry of Labor of the Czech Republic. Accumulates data from all labor exchanges.
eurobota.com	The database contains advertisements in Ukrainian and Russian for vacancies that do not require qualifications and/or knowledge of Czech.
flagma.cz	Similar to the previous one.
420on.cz	Wide range of vacancies in different fields. For working specialties in Russian, for financiers, programmers and managers in English.
24ru.com	The volume of the database is small, which is compensated by a wide choice of areas and levels: from a nurse or maid to a sports coach or SEO optimizer.
volnamista.cz jobs.cz price.cz Read also: Emigration to the Czech Republic: from idea to documents dobraprace.cz monster.cz dzob.cz	Local bulletin boards, where, among other headings, there is employment. To use you need to speak Czech.

There are many others, but in the proposed list you can find related useful information, for example, samples of autobiographies, recommendations for interviewing, etc.

Standard of living in the Czech Republic - how do ordinary people (emigrants) live there?

Recruitment agencies:

List of the most authoritative:

syn.cz
axial.cz
monster.cz
stimul.cz
hays.cz
roberthalf.cz
adecco.cz

The most effective and simplest way, especially for those who do not speak the language, but it requires certain financial costs.
The main thing is the reliability of the intermediary, which is why you need:

Check for a license from the municipal government published on the official website.
Study the terms of cooperation (terms, amount of remuneration, guarantees, amount of advance and its return in case of failure, etc.).
Range of vacancies offered.

After this, they select 3-4 options, call each other, ask questions, ask for confirmation of the conditions published on the website, as well as familiarize themselves with the standard contract for pitfalls, especially paying attention to the presence of clauses in small print and their content.

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mass media

Printed publications:

Large national ones.

MF Dnes.
Hospodárské noviny.
Právo.

If you are looking for a narrow specialty, it is advisable to pay attention to professional publications.
All magazines and newspapers contain a “Career” section, where vacancy announcements are published.

Some publications have online versions:

novinky.cz;
kariera.ihned.cz;
praguemonitor.com;

Labor exchanges:

General information:

The State Employment Service has a rich database of vacancies.
However, only residents, EU citizens and refugees who have received official status can register a job request there.
For other categories, you will need a permit to work or for a long stay in the territory of the Czech Republic.

What you will need:

Application in standard form.
Identity card (passport, residence permit).
Work permit.
A certificate stating that activity as an individual entrepreneur has ceased or that the employment contract has been terminated.
Confirmation of qualification level (diploma, certificates, etc.).
If there are children, their metrics.
People with health problems – medical confirmation.

Business in the Czech Republic is simple and inexpensive!

Advantages:

If registration is successful, the person is provided with health and social insurance for the period of searching for a suitable vacancy.
A large number of places in large companies that are not available in open sources, including in Prague.

Other options:

Contacting the HR departments of large corporations directly, for example:

Agrofert;
Unipetrol;
CEZ group;
Skoda;
Zentiva;
Pilsner Urquell.

Communication on social networks and forums.
Go on a tourist trip with visits to local recruitment agencies on site.

How to write a resume and where to place it

When you have found a vacancy that suits you, you need to create a resume for the employer and present yourself in the most favorable light. The resume is written in English, it should be brief and describe only reliable and most accurate information about you. There is no need to write a lot of information; no one likes to read huge resumes.

In your resume you must indicate your personal data, residential and registration address, as well as all your contact information. Next, you need to name the structural unit for which you are applying. For foreign citizens, you must indicate the type of visa required.

Next, you need to indicate all the information about your education, list all places of work, all the duties that you performed, and note your qualifications. You also need to write what languages you speak and at what level.

Language requirements

Czechs are quite lenient about the level at which labor emigrants know the Czech language. For most companies, knowledge of the language is not the main thing. The same rules are followed at the state level: in order to obtain a work card in the Czech Republic or a residence permit, it is not necessary to pass an exam in the Czech language.

At the moment, citizens from Ukraine and the Russian Federation come to work in the Czech Republic; as a rule, they have no problems with the Czech language. Also, foreign citizens are offered low-skilled jobs that do not require good knowledge of the Czech language.

Diploma nostrification: who will need it and where to apply

In the Czech Republic there are very few people with higher education and therefore foreigners who have higher education diplomas issued in another country are highly valued in this country. To obtain a job in their specialty, foreign citizens must obtain nostrification of their diploma. Diplomas from foreign countries cannot have legal force unless they are confirmed by higher education institutions of the Czech Republic.

Diploma recognition (nostrification) occurs in the following order:

A foreign citizen must make a photocopy of the diploma and insert, a sworn translation of the papers, and all this must be certified by a notary.
It is necessary to find exactly the educational institution that trains specialists in this profession. Next, on the website of the higher educational institution, you must fill out an application for nostrification and attach a copy of your diploma.
You must also pay a government fee.

Confirmation or refusal comes within 2 months from the date of application. Refusal to recognize a diploma can be for several reasons, for example, there is no similar specialty in the Czech Republic or the number of hours and names of disciplines at your university are very different from the standards of the Czech education system.

Illegal employment: consequences

All labor activities of emigrants from other countries are controlled by the legislation of the Czech Republic. The law says that without applying for a job and providing all the necessary documents that give the right to get a job in the Czech Republic, citizens of European Union countries and Swiss nationals can. All other citizens who wish to find work in the Czech Republic must obtain a special permit.

If an emigrant from another country violates the laws of the Czech Republic, this permit will be revoked.

What kind of work is there in the Czech Republic: in-demand professions

The Czech Republic has experienced a shortage of skilled and unskilled workers since joining the EU. The most sought-after highly paid specialists in the fields of IT and medicine. The acute shortage of health workers led to the creation of a state program to attract doctors and nurses from other countries. This is a great opportunity for Russian citizens to improve their skills and gain experience in medicine at the European level.

The industrial area and infrastructure continue to actively develop. There is a lot of work here for civil engineers, specialists in the field of logistics, and mechanical engineering. Decent wages await qualified workers with knowledge of at least two foreign languages (Czech, German, English, etc.) in the areas of finance, customer service and administration.

In the construction industry, workers in interior and exterior decoration, masons, tilers, painters and plasterers, fitters, etc. are in demand. Pay also depends on the experience and skills of the employee. To make the offer more profitable for the applicant, employers are ready to provide a social package and pay for health insurance.

Electricians, installers, adjusters, welders and soldering specialists are some of the most in demand. Employers give preference to foreigners with work experience. But you must be prepared to undergo on-site practice, knowledge tests and gain access. There is a large shortage of heavy-duty transport drivers, so many employers offer candidates assistance with paperwork.

The niche of unskilled labor is also rich in vacancies. A third of all migrant workers are employed here. There are many jobs in agriculture that are suitable for both women and men. Accommodation and meals are often provided. Convenient for married couples.

The industrial sector is looking for responsible and hardworking workers for unskilled labor in factories and factories. Everything you need for your job will be taught during the process for free. Maintenance, catering system, cleaning - work without special requirements for candidates and which is always available. Basically, it is considered as the beginning of labor activity in the territory of the Chechen Republic.