Jobs in Brazil – 3 Hot Job Opportunities for Foreigners

Right now, there is an unquenchable thirst to fill thousands of jobs in Brazil, there are simply too many jobs in Brazil and not enough skilled workers!

More specifically, if you are a white-collared worker (or could be in the near future) within the areas of engineering, medicine and technical trades, then there might be a job in Brazil waiting for you…

With president Dilma putting more and more focus on the acceleration of the Brazilian economy, the pressing need for skilled foreign professional workers has grown by leaps and bounds.

Add the financial impacts of the World Cup in 2014 and Olympics in 2016 alone lasting well into the 2020’s, and you have a recipe for job success!

Let’s take a closer look at these 3 areas and what jobs they have to offer …

 

Engineering Jobs in Brazil

A quick search of GE’s website showed that there are currently over 74 Engineer jobs to be filled in several different areas of Brazil.

They are looking for so many engineer workers that they have a on their website!

If a large company alone is looking to employ that many engineers, it should be reason enough to raise your eyebrows.

A recent article in the reported that the following Engineers are in huge shortage:

• Chemical Engineers
• Mining Engineers
• Electrical Engineers

If you interested in finding a job as a Chemical Engineer in Brazil, you will definitely want to take a look into the Oil and Gas industry (I.E. Petrobras).  A good idea would be to start by following the relevant companies on LinkedIn and doing some networking via (The Brazilian Association for Chemical Engineering).

If you want a Mining Engineer job, then consider first checking out this great to the mining industry in Brazil and more specifically where it breaks down the core minerals and companies.  Another good tip is to get your hands dirty on (the Brazilian Mining Association) and networking with these companies via LinkedIn.

If you are looking for Electrical Engineer jobs in Brazil, then you are in very good luck as this is one of the biggest increasing areas with employment opportunities.  Due to a rising middle class and tight restrictions on imports, many companies choose to create and produce their products nationally.  There are tons of companies (especially multinational) and a good idea would be to find some on LinkedIn and definitely use and network with  (the Brazilian Electrical and Electronics Industry Association).

Medicine Jobs in Brazil

The rate of physicians per 10,000 people in Brazil is about 18 compared with roughly double that in the rest of the world.  Then, take the fact that public healthcare in Brazil is low quality together with a rising middle class with more fluid income, and you have an increased demand for jobs for healthcare professionals.

Though, this isn’t limited to physicians but also nurses and other healthcare professionals.

The only tricky part about finding a job as a healthcare professional in Brazil, would be the fact that you need to revalidate your diploma at a Federal or State University and get a license through the ““.  As soon as you have those in place though, then you can start your job search in Brazil or open your own practice.

The private doctors and nurses I know in Florianópolis make really good money doing what they do and love.

My advice would be to start with some of the main private hospitals in São Paulo (like ) or Rio de Janeiro and begin networking with them as they are usually well connected to many other smaller private hospitals and clinics.

Technical Jobs in Brazil

AKA “IT Jobs”, this is a broad category where there are a lot of jobs in Brazil to be had!

From IT incentive programs from the government over to ever increasing consumer demand, this is a booming area!

You may have heard about it but Foxconn (you know, the people who make Apple’s products) recently built a huge factory in the city of Jundiaí São Paulo to produce iPhones and iPads and with that, the price of iPhones and iPads have gone down by extreme amounts to compete (reduced taxes when produced nationally).  This goes to show that big IT companies are seeing more and more potential in the booming Brazilian economy.

IBM has a huge office by Campinas in São Paulo, Microsoft is pouring 100’s of millions into research into Brazil – this is just to name a couple.

Though, beyond the huge international players are countless, small startups popping up around Brazil and for these guys to compete, they are creating tons of jobs in Brazil for skilled IT workers.

The first way to find an IT job in Brazil is to find the little “niche” area that fits you and has job openings.

• A first example to find IT jobs in Brazil, is to go to an IT specific job search database like theitjob.com and go to the Brazil section, within , you can get an idea of what is out there and most sought after.
• A second way to find IT jobs in Brazil is to look for multinational companies and check with their human resource department and send them a CV.
• A third way to find IT jobs in Brazil would be to get involved in the startup scene where tons of new Brazilian companies are constantly being formed, is a great place to look and be involved.

Final Words

First off, I’d like to thank Flávia over at for her insight on this post.  If you don’t know Flávia, she focuses on helping foreigners get into Brazil through the right channels.  She is currently building a CV database for foreigners and make sure you get in touch with her to give her yours!

I hope that this post has been helpful in getting you closer to your dream of getting a job in Brazil.  There is more like this to come in the near future!

Valeu – Cheers!
Kevin

P.S. check out my recent brush in with a 6 figure job in São Paulo.