Find Out How to Get a Job and Work in Guayaquil

Employment in Guayaquil

Local Economy

The port of Guayaquil serves the whole of Ecuador, handling around 50% of the country’s exports and the vast majority of its imports. Key industries in the area include manufacturing and agriculture. Major export products include oil, which accounts for 40% of exports, as well as sugar and bananas. Another key export from the region is gold. Shrimp fishing is a relatively new but expanding industry. There are also sawmills and tanneries in Guayaquil. The financial sector is growing, and many major international companies have offices in Guayaquil.

Tourism is important to the city, and is no longer simply due to tourists traveling via Guayaquil in order to get to the Galapagos Islands. The new international airport, Jose Joaquin de Olmedo Airport, has made it easier to reach Guayaquil, attracting more tourists to the city.

There has been a lot of investment in the city in recent years, both to modernize it and to reduce crime levels. The efforts have been successful on both counts, with the city now being much safer than it was a decade ago.

Job Hunting in Guayaquil

Expatriates are recruited into a wide variety of roles in Guayaquil. There is a constant demand for teachers with a qualification in teaching English as a foreign language. Many expats move to Guayaquil to work in the financial sector. Some choose to set up businesses offering services to other expatriates in the area, such as therapies, or supplying foreign foods.

You can find jobs in Guayaquil advertised on a range of sites including Learn4Good, and on company specific sites such as jobs3.

Spanish speakers can make use of recruitment sites such as opcionempleo when looking for employment in Guayaquil.

Job vacancies are also advertised in Ecuadorian newspapers. If you need to change employment once you are already in Ecuador, you will also find positions advertised in offices and on local notice boards.

Work Permits for Guayaquil

Guayaquil has its own office for processing visa applications. In order to work in Guayaquil, foreign nationals need to obtain a residence visa before traveling to Ecuador. Your documents will need to be certified to prove their authenticity and you may need to provide Spanish translations. If you will bring dependents with you when you move to Guayaquil you will need to provide all the relevant documentation for them too.

Other categories of visa include investment, which is conditional on the applicant investing a minimum of 25,000 USD in Ecuador. The flourishing city of Guayaquil has plenty of investment opportunities for foreigners.