Help please :-)

I have been offered a position in Malta that will pay 12.600 euros a year before taxes. As I am married I can see that I wont have to pay much in tax......However I end up having around 900 euros a month after tax etc, and I am wondering if it is even possible for 2 persons to survive on the salary I am being offered???

So far the apartment I have found will cost around 300 euro (without utilities).....but im afraid the budget might become a bit too "tight" for us?

Depends on how you live... do you have a car, will you be going out, how much do you eat... you see that its not easy to answer..

rent: €300
Util: €100 (Just example)
Food: €200
Bus : € 26 (Weekly if you Have ID)

This is jsut from a little off my head calc.

does your wife work ?? there are always Customer care jobs going "Northway Brokers" are looking at the moment..

Where have you been offered work ??

Julian

For the time being it will only be me working. My wife is from Asia, and only speaks Tagalog and English.

We dont have a car or any other fancy stuff that will affect the budget. We are used to eating at home cooking meals every day - so we dont have the need for going out several times a week to eat.

The offer is at Besedo - Dont know much about the company, or if the salary is any good? Dont really have anything to compare with.

I can see that we probably have to spend around 400 euro a month including utilities - so that leaves us with 500 euros a month to all the other things. I would just like to hear if its enough for 2 persons, and not ending up relocating to Malta and being broke every month :-D

But maybe there are other companies looking for Scandinavian speakers?

Hi ,

200 €/month for food for two ? That is 3.30€/person /day. That doesn't leave much room for choice.

The salary offered by Besedo is not good! That's around 6 €/hour but more than I was offered last year for a job at Besedo. They offered me 4 €/hour for work relating to a Swiss-German website (I'm a native speaker of both English and German plus a bit of French). That was hardly worthwhile even walking to Gzira. After they increased their offer to 5 € I just scrapped the whole issue as I was looking for part-time work anyway and their contract was not what I expected. So I would not recommend them.

You should be able to get a lot more , depending on your language skills and experience.

Cheers
Ricky

Hi Ricky

Thanks for the reply :-)

I do speak both Danish and Swedish fluently....and English ;-)

Based on what you tell me here, it might be better to wait for a different offer I guess.

Vielen dank für ihre antwort :-D

Although its easier to get a Job being here so you could always take that one then look around when you are here..

J.

Think its too much of a risk to take a temp job there, and hope to find something else :-) I was just hoping that 900 a month would be enough for 2 persons

Its easier to get work when your are here, if you feel that you can suvive on the money that they are paying based on what you eat, drink etc... then Its a good way to look at the market and you would be here to see people.

Julian

First of all I need to await their reply regarding my contract....As it is now its limited to only 3 months. Unless they can assure me that it will be renewed, im not gonna take the chance.

Hi sjippe,

check out the contract very carefully and make sure you have details in writing!

My contract (which I didn't sign) states a basic salary of 3,98 € per hour worked ( which is less than the minimum wage) plus a discretionary performance related (PRP) pay of 1,06 € to be paid in arrears (which just about brings the amount to the legal minimum wage) but on a discretionary basis , whatever that means -)))

These amounts are gross , before income tax and national insurance.

I was looking for 'part-time' but they offered Part-Time as being available from 7 am to 24 pm Monday to Sunday as many hours as they needed. Their definition of Part-Time was 6 months out of one year !

When I went for the interview in Msida at the Emporium the person from HR was not there but had called in sick. Nobody contacted me to re-arrange the interview and nobody was designated a substitute to take the interview and 'test' so a very nice German speaking girl who I would be working with talked to me and after a few questions realized that I was a native German speaker with a British passport and just let me fill in the test on my own.

The person who called me to offer 5 € instead of 3,98 could hardly speak English which in itself is strange for this kind of company dealing with the international online market.

I would just say , in her case, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys!

All in all a very negative experience with this company but it might be an option for the 3 months offered before you move on to something else.

I wish you luck finding the right job!

Cheers
Ricky

Hi Ricky

The basis of my contract is as follows:

basis rate: 850 a month
languageskills: 200 a month
possible bonus/quality: 400 a month (up to...)

so.....the 1050 a month before tax is what i expect that i can count on......and the bonus....well you never really do know if you get it right? however the contract is limited to the 3 months as it is now, so i emailed them back asking to confirm the salary of 1050 a month, and if they are going to renew the contract after the initial 3 months

The pay with the possibility of up to 400 € performance bonus/month makes it sound a lot better especially when you are looking at a initial 3 month period.

With your language skills you should find employment at that pay level anyway!.

How did they interview you ? Where you here in Malta or was it through Skype?

Cheers
Ricky

The interview was done over the phone - followed by a language translation test with danish, swedish, and norwegian.

but the thing with bonus is that you cant really expect to get it.......i have no idea how the measure it, or what the criterias are to get a part of the bonus. So thats why i only calculated with the basic salary that i am sure to get every month.

The baseline salary is really borderline for two people to survive on in Malta.

A bonus will make it slightly better. So the main question remains: Why Malta ? Do you really want to make a new start with thoughts of staying longterm? With your language skills you can probably get a well paid job in Germany or elsewhere in the EU - with less sun of course -)))

Companies like Besedo base their business in Malta on cheap labour. In fact , most companies do. If you think you can make it through the ranks up to a well paid management job it is fine but otherwise it will always be a temporary situation. And the well paid upper jobs are usually recruited from outside Malta unless you belong to the Maltese establishment.

This is my personal assessment of the employment situation in Malta so I might be too negative.

You should probably give it a try - even if it is only for  the Maltese sun. You can always book your experiences under foreign countries for your CV -)))

Cheers
Ricky

I prefer an honest answer rather than being advised to go there and get a "the grass is always greener....". Based on what you tell me, it sounds like it will always be a tempoary job more or less.......and even if I would prefer the nicer weather, it is most likely not worth it in the end :-)

I already did work several places in Europe - Prague, Brno, Sofia, Stockholm, Malmö....Beside Denmark......I was just ready to try something new again as it quickly becomes boring to be "home".

So.....if I was to do it.....it would have to be for the right amount of money...and not just the sun, or another company on the CV ;-)

Thanks a lot Ricky

Well.....i finally got an reply from the office. They cant promise that the contract will be renewed.....but they usually give their agents 300 euro in bonus per month. so at least the offer got a bit better....

only problem would be to risk to end up unemployed after 3 months, and not be able to find a new job there.

Was it hard to get an work on Besedo?
I have plans to search a job with them after some months being on Malta.

I will work online when i have some extra time over and will make an extra €1000 on that, i have allot of websites.

Sarita32 wrote:
Gbgzer wrote:

Was it hard to get an work on Besedo?
I have plans to search a job with them after some months being on Malta.

I will work online when i have some extra time over and will make an extra €1000 on that, i have allot of websites.


Keep on dreaming...
First of all, you have to be Google AdWords Qualified member. After that, youŽll need to have 5 years experience in managing SEA. Then, you will be able to make 1000 on a monthly basis from home ;)

Cheers,
Sara


What i heard its easy to get job there.
Anyway on Besedo and work with Swedish website called Blocket.se, where you check new ads on the website.

Hi!

I'm not sure if you'e still following this discussion but I have a question! In fact, I'm applying for the same position but as a portuguese speaker. They contacted me on friday, and they send me all the information I need about the company. Now I'm waiting for the phone interview... Did it take a long time since the very first time they contacted you until the phone interview? I would write them asking,but I don't want to sound desperate :P

Joana

Hi Joana,

welcome to the forum.

I wish you luck with your job interview. Let us know if the terms and conditions are the same as quoted above.

It's a Maltese company and job related information can be slow. It is usually better to call them and not just e-mail them but give them a few days.

Cheers
Ricky

Hi Ricky!

I will do that, don't worry. I hope it will not take long since I should start at the 25th of the current month!!!

Anyway, I'll keep you updated ;)

Joana

My procedure was this - but I was already living in Malta (and it was during the Xmas holidays):

I sent my application per email, three days later I received a phone call and another 4 days later I had the job interview incl. test of my language skills.
About one week later I received the email for the online assessment test (problem solving skills) and another week later I received the email with the confirmation of the engagement and attached the related forms and documents for the employment.

Markus

Hi Markus,

do you work for Besedo ? I wasn't aware of that !

I didn't have a good experience with Besedo myself. More like very unprofessional and cheap ....

I just had a phone conversation with a Maltese company today about a job and had to hear that the add in the Sunday Times was wrong ! The terms were all of a sudden totally different !They blamed the printer .....

What I'm starting to think is ...don't trust anything quoted by a Maltese company offering a job !

Cheers
Ricky

ricky wrote:

do you work for Besedo ? I wasn't aware of that !


Hi Ricky,
yes, I will start there on Wednesday. The job sounds interesting, and first of all it's something very different.
There is also a "tax advantage" if you work full-time employed and part-time self-employed :)

very unprofessional and cheap ....


I had another impression and also the salary for starting level is not bad for that kind of work.
But I especially like the flexible working hours and posibillity of having "breakes" for my own business :)

Hi Mat,

I wish you luck with Besedo!

Obviously we had different experiences with the level of professionalism being offered by this company.

If I make my way to Msida for a job interview and have to hear that the responsible person from HR had called in sick and nobody informed me then that is not acceptable for me!

I wish you luck and let us know how things go .

Cheers
Ricky

Let's see how things develope :)

Anyhow, it's just a job ... and if it turns out that it makes no fun, I can drop it and do something else.

hii ,

what about a job offer of 15,000 yearly, is this is a good salary?

also.... what should i take care if i'm going to sign the contract, and the job is administration work

Hi Designs,

the salary is not exactly good but around the Maltese average. It would leave you with about 1000€/month after tax and NI.

Make sure you read all the small print before you sign.

Your employer will have to apply for your work permit.

Cheers
Ricky

Take care that everything that was promised in verbal is also written in the emplyment contract. Take care that there is nothing written which makes it expensive to quit the job resp. difficult to switch to another job.
If anything else is other than promised or expected you can quit. Life's too short to waste it with a frustrating job.

thank you Ricky/Mat

i didn't receive  the contract yet they said this salary is a start as a secretarial work , and then i'll be working in another department more higher as my job experiences and  qualification

and sure Mat life is short :cool: if i'm not happy with the job i'll look for another one

Hi,

I receive a contract from Besedo but I'm worried if it is usual that they will fire me after those three monts of probation? So then I would have to pay my flight to malta and 5 days in a hotel and taxi from airport to working place myself, otherwise after six months they would pay those things back to me.

And the salary is it sure that I would get the 400€ because my language skill (Finnish) ?

400 per week ok but per month that must be a joke

400 besides normal salary per month.

sounds better ;-) welcome to Malta

Still depends on the 'normal' Besedo salary and the terms and conditions and whether the 400 € /month for Finnish language skills ( Besedo pay is usually for language skills ?) is guaranteed or whether it is some kind of bonus.

Besedo is a Swedish company utilizing the labour market in Malta.

Cheers
Ricky

I cannot recommend Besedo at all. There is a less incoming for 8 hours starring on a screen. They promise a bonus you only reach, if there is enough content, so they load the risk to their own employees. If there is less to do, you will go home with your basic and language bonus, that is hardly 1100.00 euros cash in total for a single person. If there is enough to do, you will really have to work hard to get this full bonus. In fact you need to work 40% more than expected to get 40.00 euro what means 20% of the bonus, because they use a bonus-scheme that is not worth to call it like this. The software they are running is something you dont want to have, if you are out for the bonus. it stucks and leaks and bugs, sometimes its horrifying, when you think about the fact, that they call themselves professionals for ocm not realizing that microsoft offers other products than xp meanwhile so they still run these old leaking machines.
They promise a collegue unpaid extra holiday for an extra job and when he ask for it, they denied, so he had to quit the contract with besedo not to lose the other job.
The job is not that cool they promised or I expected - just boring. Some teamleaders try to do their best, some others should better be awared from becoming teamleader, doing their own buisness instead of their job, so they do not connect the team to the management, at last they just hide their own ass to keep their job.
They promise to find a studio for 250.00 euros in fact i paid nearly double so that you can't calculate with the facts given by besedo.
Because a lot of employees quit their contract they offer another bonus to recommend besedo to your friends. If you have the mind to sell your friends you will get 100.00 euro for each extra if they stay at least 3 months and 300.00 euros extra for staying at least 6 months. But be aware, if you want to join this bonus you also have to stay there for the same time als your poor friend will have to.
For me it was more pressure than fun and I decided to quit after 4 months, although I have to pay the promised hotel for the first five days on myself - and here comes the good news - they don't book 5 stars ;)
The island is a very nice and peacefully place to live, but that company is big desaster for anyone, who is willing to work for being paid. If your are not 100% naturally dump keep away from that slavery.


Regards
e.g.

That just about sums up my own thoughts on Besedo after going there for an interview myself some time ago. The person supposed to interview me didn't show up ( sick or so) but they didn't bother to inform me ! So I interviewed myself and talked to the potential future collegues ! My German language skills were better than their's but I still started with a German language test !The contract they sent me afterwards was so under the line that I actually collapsed on the floor laughing. They offered a slightly better salary afterwards but only under inclusion of a rather strange bonus system.

Cheers
Ricky