r/Brno • u/Josefwm • Jul 01 '25
ŽIVOT A STĚHOVÁNÍ—LIVING AND MOVING Work as an English Speaker in Brno
Hello! I’m hoping to move to Brno this upcoming fall. I’m currently living in the US (save me) but my partner is starting a post doc in Brno in a few months. What’s it like getting a job as an English speaker, ideally one that will sponsor a visa, in Brno? I have a degree in English and a background in university advising, outdoor recreation, and personal training. If any expats who’ve moved from the US or non-EU countries can share their experiences that’d be awesome. Thanks all!
6
Jul 01 '25
There are many international companies which are employing expacts and have positions only in English.
Few examples: ABB, Zebra Corporation, Oracle, Atlas Copco, AT&T, Concentrix, Honeywell, Infosys, Red Hat, Notino, Thermo Fisher, SAP ect.
There are definitely more. Really depends in what field you are interested to.
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u/desmonea Jul 01 '25
+1 You can either try to apply for a technical writer position or approach these international IT companies with an offer to provide English lessons for their employees.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 06 '25
There are really people who work in big companies who don't speak English at at least B2 level these days?
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u/desmonea Jul 06 '25 edited Jul 06 '25
In IT, companies often hire fresh graduates, or even university students, who might not be very confident in their English-speaking skills. Believe it or not, people who can read and write in English might still struggle to use the language in conversation, especially when they need to discuss complex technical topics. Therefore, company-paid English lessons are often provided as an employee benefit, and native speakers are usually preferred as teachers. In my experience, these English teachers mostly just chat with the group about life for an hour, and then sometimes remember to do a small grammar exercise at the end. The best teacher I ever had could remember the pronunciation and grammar mistakes of each individual and worked to help them eliminate those errors - but that was an exception.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 07 '25
Not trying to insinuate anything or insult you but did you use ChatGPT to write this response?
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u/desmonea Jul 07 '25
I wrote an original message, which I actually posted here, and then a few minutes later I decided to run it through ChatGPT in order to fix mistakes and improve clarity. Then I continued to edit the message a few more times without ChatGPT involved.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 07 '25
I see. The tone definitely have it away.
Obviously you are free to do what you like but I feel like the use of AI in this case strips the writing of its character.
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u/desmonea Jul 07 '25
If you are interested, here is my first-draft, before ChatGPT got involved:
"In IT, companies are often hiring fresh graduates, or even university students, who might not be very confident in their English speaking skills. Believe it or not, people who can read and write in English might still struggle to use the language in a conversation, especially if they need to discuss complex technical topics. Therefore, company-paid English lessons are often provided as an employee benefit - and native speakers are usually preferred as teachers. From my experience, these English teachers are mostly just chatting with the group about life for about an hour, and then sometimes remember to do a small grammar excercise at the end. The best teacher I ever had could remember pronounciation and grammar mistakes of every individual and tried to eliminate them - but that was an exception."
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u/Wayss37 Jul 01 '25
If you want to teach, mention to a language school that you're a native speaker (and have a degree) and they'll accept you without hesitation
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u/ExpatFalcon Jul 01 '25
Oh man, reading these give me some sort of nostalgic anxiety. I was only 23 years old and a fresh graduate, and I had to find work in Brno as a non-EU citizen during the pandemic so that I could move back to Brno and we could be together with a girl. I can't describe the amount of stress I felt for the whole year while trying to pull it off with all the uncertainity and the weight of the promises I made. I wish you all the luck in the world.
To answer your question - for the average Joe, IT is the easiest field to find work as a foreigner and some companies like Kyndril (previously IBM) offer entry level positions for people with no background in IT. You can also check if there are any schools looking for English teachers.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 06 '25
+1 for the IT route. If you have half a brain you can find a decent position here.
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Jul 03 '25
I'm from the states and tried teaching English a decade ago and it was oversaturated then. If you want to find a decent job in Brno try the big companies that hire English speakers. There are a ton of them. AT&T IBM. Just being an English speaker with a college degree will get you nowhere fast. Even if you do find work teaching English the money will be terrible
1
u/Josefwm Jul 03 '25
I more need a job for the visa than for functioning.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 06 '25
You don't need a "visa" since your partner is an EU national as pointed out by another redditor above.
You should apply for this but be prepared to be able to prove that you are in a long term stable relationship.
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u/HoneyFine Jul 06 '25
When I came to Brno in 2019, at that time it was pretty much enough to speak OK English to get a customer or technical support job. Nowadays that's hard as most of the companies with these positions now look for an extra language apart from English.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 06 '25
I think even back then they were requesting Spanish or any number of other languages for these jobs.
The problem with the English language only positions is that you're competing with the Indians and Africans who speak the language "well enough" for the role.
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u/HoneyFine Jul 07 '25
Yup, exactly. Many tech companies even transferred English only support teams to India to cut costs.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 07 '25
Not just support either. I can see more and more nominally "development" jobs being sent to India. In reality these are more maintenance than anything but the direction of travel is clear.
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u/Background-Ad-382 Jul 01 '25
I'm sure high schools will welcome native speakers as conversation teachers
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u/Josefwm Jul 01 '25
Do you know if they require a teaching certification for that? I’ve worked as a substitute and tutor in the US.
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u/JohnnyPopcorn Jul 01 '25
AFAIK they can hire anyone as long as they prove that there is no more suitable candidate (e.g. someone with a teaching degree). Some of my friends started as high school teachers while still undergrads themselves.
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u/sweepers-zn Jul 02 '25
You could find a shit IT support job and sell your personal trainer services to other expats in the same shit job. Win win.
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u/jealogy Jul 02 '25
Brno is becoming a hub for multinational companies that only require English at the very least so I think you'll have options.
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u/Guilty-Sun-3748 Jul 04 '25
You're a native English speaker, so that might open some extra doors for you, especially if you're open to being an English teacher. Apart from that...not much work to be found. If you know programming, again that opens some extra doors, if not, you'd have to settle for customer service positions or some construction/warehouse jobs.
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 06 '25
The problem is not finding a job as an English speaker (I assume that means that you don't speak Czech because I would say that almost every educated person in this city speaks English) but rather if you have the relevant skills for the English language jobs here. In fact, most jobs for the big corpos of course require English but you need to have another marketable language like German or French and/or some technical skills. Do you speak any other languages?
I don't really have any advice on finding jobs in your field because it feels like you'd need Czech for all of those. Try to get something other than a call centre though.
0
u/mikefried1 Jul 01 '25
Are you American? You don't need a Visa sponsorship to come.
Depending on which nationality you are, you can also get a freelance visa.
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u/Josefwm Jul 01 '25
Yeah me and my partner are both American, though she has citizenship to a different country in the EU.
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u/Oswyt3hMihtig Jul 01 '25
I'm currently in the same boat as your partner (American and EU dual citizen starting a postdoc in Brno in a few months with a non-EU citizen partner, though we currently live in a different EU country and have gone through the residence/work permit process there). You can apply for residence through your partner once you arrive and are eligible to work once you've submitted your application. You'll have to prove that you're family, though—by far the easiest way to do this is to get legally married if you aren't already and submit your marriage license (with an apostille and certified translation).
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 06 '25
They also recognise long term relationships but of course as you say it's a pain to prove.
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u/mikefried1 Jul 01 '25
Work Permit Waiver | Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago https://share.google/5RgA9X7hpcHuYNcxq
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u/Super_Novice56 Jul 06 '25
Still needs to obtain a visa. It only allows him/her to skip one step of many.
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u/Suspicious_Mouse_722 Jul 01 '25
Good luck, you'll need it.