Over the past decade, the Prague expat community has grown and evolved into a vibrant, eclectic mix of people working in all sectors of the service industry, from English teachers to IT consultants to tour guides and everything in between.
If you’re looking to make the move and work abroad in Prague, you’ll likely find that most jobs opportunities fall under the umbrella of one of the five job sectors outlined below. Consequently, these are the best job sectors to look for work in Prague.
1. Teaching English as a Second Language
After the fall of communism in 1989, Prague became a much more progressive city, eager to compete in a global economy where knowledge of English is essential. Businesses are always expanding, new ideas are constantly taking shape, and certified English teachers are in demand to arm employees with the right language skill set to succeed worldwide. English teachers are also in demand for in-house level based language classes (beginner, intermediate, etc.) as well as jobs teaching young learners.
How To Get Hired: These days, an accredited, internationally recognized TEFL/TESOL certification program is recommended if you want to find a job teaching English abroad. Thankfully, there are numerous accredited, high quality TEFL certification programs in Prague.
Many TEFL programs also provide top notch TEFL job guidance, to help graduates find teaching jobs in Prague and across the world. Job guidance may entail resume and cover letter editing, networking sessions with employed alums of the program, a “job fair” at the end of course, and access to a database of language schools and recent teaching job postings throughout the world. TEFL graduates often find themselves receiving multiple English teaching job offers after graduation, if they utilize these valuable job guidance resources prior to graduation.
If you become TEFL certified, maintain a proactive, positive attitude and utilize all the resources your program offers, you could be teaching English in Prague within two weeks of earning your TEFL certificate!
2. Proofreading & Copy Editing
There are a lot of great entrepreneurial technological ideas taking off in Prague with the power, potency, and relevance to revolutionize their industries. Marketing-related job opportunities, such positions as a copywriter or social media content manager, are particularly plentiful throughout the city, as many new companies need marketing support to help their ideas take off. To make business ideas available to a global, online market, concise English copy is a must, especially when it comes to establishing a reputation and avoiding common “Czenglish” typos.
In my office at TEFL Worldwide Prague
Who better to provide this type of service than native English speaking expats with writing and editing experience? These types of jobs in Prague are ideal starting points for those who don’t land an English teaching gig from the get-go.
How to Get Hired: If you have an academic background in journalism and communications as well as a familiarity with modern social media, this will greatly increase your chances of breaking into this industry. There are public postings at many Czech universities that expats can look into, as editing is a fairly common job for university students in Prague. Additionally, some TEFL program providers may advertise editing jobs, since they are relevant to English communication and require native-level proficiency.
3. The Local Startup Scene
The entrepreneurial culture is spreading like wildfire throughout Prague. Consequently, collaborative co-working spaces, such as The Hub and TechSquare, are popping up in the city and ambitious accelerator companies are taking shape to help these startups thrive.
As these accelerators establish themselves, startups are beginning to take notice and apply to be a part of their programs. Startups that are accepted into accelerator companies typically get office space, membership, and funding from the accelerator with the goal of fostering new business relationships for the startups. This relationship usually lasts a few months, and arms the startups with the necessary tools to succeed well into the future.
How to Get Hired: In the global startup scene, it’s important to be entrepreneurial and proactive by nature, and this is no different in Prague. Getting involved in a startup in Prague will allow you to meet like minded people and share ideas, which could lead to many job opportunities down the road.
Speaking at the Anglo American University Formal. Photo Credit: Hana Novotna
If you have an idea or a small-scale startup plan, then there are plenty of accelerator companies in Prague that can help you turn your small startup into a full fledged organization, and create your own way to work in Prague.
Those that want to become part of a startup in its infancy will be able to find jobs in Prague too, as some local startups look to hire native English speakers to make their product line more internationally accessible.
4. Information Technology
With a growing startup scene, the IT sector has become the most active and easiest to break into for foreign workers. When browsing for jobs in Prague, you’d expect the city to be rife with opportunities for English teachers and tutors, but the most common job opportunities you’ll see are in fact openings for bilingual customer advisers and Java/C++ developers. Avast, Microsoft, Skype, Seznam, and Cisco are a few of the major IT companies that are based in the Czech Republic, and all of these companies periodically search for new employees with programming experience and a background in computer science.
How to Get Hired: When it comes to information technology jobs in Prague, an undergraduate degree in computer science or information technology is highly important. The best way to network within the industry is to check out some of the collaborative co-working spaces and begin making connections that can lead to a long term career.
5. The Service Industry
Telemarketers, consultants, sales specialists, this type of job in Prague is for you! Service oriented jobs in Prague don’t involve the production of any goods or materials, instead they are focused on offering various services to local businesses, such as consulting or recruiting. In Prague, Accenture, Concur, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard are some of the major service providers in Prague that tend to hire expats with sales experience and a working proficiency in a language (or multiple languages) other than Czech.
How to Get Hired: There is a flexibility of academic backgrounds accepted among service job opportunities in Prague. Employers looking to add to their company in this sector focus more on language fluency, people skills, and previous experience.
On a Prague “Baby Statue” designed by David Cerny. Photo Credit: Megan McMonagle
Interested in a Different Sector?
Don’t worry! It is possible for expats to find a variety of jobs in the Czech Republic. Although jobs in the TEFL industry are most common, there are certainly other options available to fit your skills and experience too. Keep your options open, network like crazy, and you can make jobs in Prague happen for you!
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