How To Find a Job in Brazil as a Foreigner

Brazilians, relative to citizens of other countries, rely heavily on connections and their personal and professional network in order to get jobs. This puts the foreigner who does not have an extensive network in Brazil at a particular disadvantage. Should you successfully obtain a job in Brazil, the road to getting a work visa for Brazil can be long and frustrating. With that said, you should not give up if your dream is to live and work in Brazil. Getting a job as a foreigner is not impossible, and I’m going to give you the best resources on the web below so that you can get started with your Brazil job search today.

Below are my favorite resources for searching for employment opportunities as a foreigner in Brazil.

General Job Search Engines

I like to start my search by going through the major job search engines where you can find a massive number of opportunities all in one place. Of course, 99.9% of these jobs will be tough to get unless you are Brazilian. You will have to send out a HUGE number of applications as this will really be a numbers game…I’m talking hundreds of applications.  At best, you can expect to get a 0.5 to 1.0% response rate (people who will respond back to you to whom you sent your application/CV.) Nevertheless, I encourage you to give it a try as you never know what you will come up with or what connections you can make from a simple e-mail or application.

• Indeed: One of my two most favorite general job search engines.
• CareerJet: My other favorite general job search engine. Good for searching for jobs in pretty much anywhere in the world.
• Catho: Not as good as the two above in my opinion, but Catho are still considered giants in the Brazil job search space but do not have the international coverage like the sites above. Catho is preferred for higher end positions.
• Curriculum: Not as much traffic as the sites above but worth giving a try.
• Infojobs: I like the simple and easy-to-use interface on this website. There are job openings (called “vagas” in Portuguese) posted pretty much everyday.
• Trovit: A giant classifieds site that also has some decent job listings.
• UOL Empregos: This Brazilian news site has a big database of job openings.
• Banco Nacional de Empregos: Big Brazilian job search engine.
• Vagas: Vagas is really good for lower end jobs like sales representatives but not as good for positions such as manager and director.

Teaching English

Teaching English will be your easiest option (if you are a native English speaker that is). All of the sites below are pretty similar and have a massive amount of teaching English job options. Be sure to check out this cool table from the International TEFL academy that shows how much money teachers can expect to make in various countries around the world.

• ESL Employment: Not the most beautiful interface, but who needs a pretty website when you have so many English teaching job options to choose from.
• Total ESL: Also an overly busy interface but a wealth of job postings for teaching jobs abroad.
• ESL Cafe: Dave does a great job in compiling some of the best job openings from around the world.
• Tesall: Big teaching jobs aggregator.
• Transitions Abroad: A great list of English teaching contacts in Latin America.

Thoughts of Other Bloggers

• The Brazil Business has a good article on “Working legally as a Freelancer in Brazil.” and “How to Get an Internship in Brazil.”

Overseas and Expat Job Portals

• Huxley Associates: An international recruitment agency that specializes in senior job postings. They have an office in São Paulo.
• eFinancialCareers: My favorite search engine for finance jobs on the web. I used them during my Wall Street days. They have limited listings in Brazil though.
• Overseas Jobs:  I find that there is significant overlap between the postings on this site and that of other sites. Nevertheless this site has been around for a while.
• Go Abroad: I’ve always been a fan of GoAbroad. In fact, on the visa information portion of my website, you will find where I have linked to their global embassies directory. They have a good job portal too.
• Guardian Jobs: Not the largest selection, but a few gems can be found here.
• Linkedin: Last but not least, this huge professional social network is a resource for building contacts in the field and location of your interest.

There you have it. The best places to find jobs in Brazil as a foreigner. For information on traveling or moving to Brazil, be sure to check out my complete Brazil Travel Guide.

Further Reading

• How to Answer the 150 Most Common Job Interview Questions: Get sample answers to the most frequently asked job interview questions.

• Worldwide Jobs Guide: Be sure to check out my posts on how to find jobs in any country in the world.

• Worldwide Apartments Guide: If you are interested in renting an apartment in this country, take a look at my articles on how to find an apartment in various countries around the world.

• Worldwide Dating Guide: Also, check out my posts on the best online dating sites in 60+ countries around the world.

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