This moment comes sooner or later – sometimes out of necessity, sometimes because you simply want to have some extra money, so you start thinking about getting a job. How can you work as a student in Poland? In this article I’m going to share with you a few practical tips.

 

No work permit required

Before we begin, let’s make it clear: non-EU students of full-time studies in Poland don’t need a work permit (source). What is more, you don’t need any work permit if you’ve graduated in Poland. That means that you’ll find it easier to settle in Poland, if you decide to stay here after your studies.

 

Is it easy to find a part-time job for expats in Poland?

I often see questions from people who haven’t chosen where to study yet and want to know if it’s easy to find places to work as a student in Poland. Generally speaking, it’s very difficult when you don’t speak English, and it really depends on your personal skills and luck. This is why you should start getting familiar with the job market before you even come to Poland – to get a feel for your chances. Be prepared to spend many months looking for a job.

It will be much easier if you know French, German or Spanish, or if you have IT skills. It’s going to be really difficult if you don’t speak English very well.

 

Work as a student in Poland: the best time to go to work

Remember that you shouldn’t sign a contract with an employer before you obtain a residence permit for your studies. Why? Because only a student who doesn’t work is allowed to apply for a residence permit for studies. If someone is already working, they must apply for a residence permit through their work, which is worse in your situation. Therefore you should start getting familiar with the job market quite soon, but you should plan to start working about 3 months after you apply for a temporary residence permit for studies.

 

Websites with offers

In order to find a job, first look for jobs on websites (with offers both in Polish and in English), like these:

 

Be active

Second, send your CV:

a. directly to the biggest companies willing to hire non-Polish speakers. A list of companies is here

b. register your CV in databases of recruitment agencies in Poland

c. follow Polish recruiters on LinkedIn

 

Publish your CV

Third, with the help of a Polish speaker, publish your CV on Polish websites with job offers:

You may also ask people from a Facebook expat group if they know anything about a job opening, but they probably won’t be able to help you if you don’t have any hard skills (many languages, IT knowledge).

 

Check out the career office at your university

Career offices at the biggest Polish universities are very active. And what is especially relevant in our case, their websites are often in English.

For example take a look at offers published by those at:

You can use Google in order to find the career office of any university in your city by typing in “Biuro karier + the university”, or “Sekcja karier + the university”. If that doesn’t work, use this list of career offices of public universities in Poland.

There are also private websites with internships for students like this one or this section of Interia.

 

Studenckie targi pracy

Studenckie targi pracy means student job fair.

You’ll need to contact the staff of the career office in order to keep track of those events.

 

Language lessons

If you still haven’t moved to Poland, make sure to buy some language coursebooks in order to teach your language here (if you don’t mind doing that). As a native speaker, you will probably find someone interested in learning your language. You won’t earn too much, but if you have some teaching skills you’ll be able to earn 30-60 zł per hour of teaching two or three times per week. That amount can be useful when you’re a student :).

Private teachers register their offers on these Polish websites:

 

Sign an employment contract

If you wish to learn more about contracts in Poland, you can find useful information on this great website led by the International Organization for Migration.

 

Hopefully you’ll be able to find a job soon and you’ll start earning enough money. While employed, remember to get a NIP or a PESEL for tax identification reasons. You can read more about that in this section. If you wish to read more about studies in Poland, click here.

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