I have been in Brazil for over a year and haven't been successful in finding a job.
Having an MBA seems to be very important, i can speak and understand Portuguese fluently however my written and reading skills aren't perfect.

Could some advice me on what course would be best, whether a Portuguese or English.

Thank you

Have you considered leaving Brazil? It's a hard country to foreigners to get positions in. I know a number of highly-qualified graduates of European business schools who have fallen in love with Brazil[lians] and struggle to get even junior work. Unless you're working on an export-oriented role focussed on your home market, your skills might not be taken seriously, and the lack of a personal network is a massive weakness.

Thank you JKD...
I can always move back to the UK, do you think that although i have a Brazilian passport and all the documents as my mother is Brazilian will still mean finding a job difficult here?

You've been looking for work, for a year, in one of the world's fastest growing economies. Brazil is not like the UK. If you walk into most UK offices, you'll see a lot of foreign talent employed on more or less the same basis as the locals. That would be very unusual in Brazil.

I am sure that with good, formal Portuguese and an MBA you might eventually get a junior role if you really worked hard to build your personal network and found a role where your being a foreigners was an asset. But I think any role that isn't 200% better being done by someone from the UK really will be very hard for you to get. Certainly that's the experience of some stellar people I know in Brazil. Also, foreigners who are hired in Brazil have a very high failure rate.

Thank you very much, i will take this into consideration

Here's a little bit more flavour. I looked on LinkedIn for people in Brazil who have the LinkedIn interface set to English, and the world 'University' in the name of their alma mater. The overseas university with the most alumni in Brazil is Berkeley.

The largest employers are predictably large US multinationals like Accenture, IBM, Citi, Oracle and Kraft. They are heavily concentrated in marketing and sales, IT/telecoms, consulting and finance. Their job titles are overwhelmingly in English -- even the Brazillians (which is not the case for most LI users from Brazil).

I think this reemphasises the point about roles where English is needed, for roles engaged in liaison with abroad. It also shows the opening for people with deep skills in technical solutions, project management, international sales and international accounting.

You've been looking for work, for a year, in one of the world's fastest growing economies. Brazil is not like the UK. If you walk into most UK offices, you'll see a lot of foreign talent employed on more or less the same basis as the locals. That would be very unusual in Brazil.

I am sure that with good, formal Portuguese and an MBA you might eventually get a junior role if you really worked hard to build your personal network and found a role where your being a foreigners was an asset. But I think any role that isn't 200% better being done by someone from the UK really will be very hard for you to get. Certainly that's the experience of some stellar people I know in Brazil. Also, foreigners who are hired in Brazil have a very high failure rate.

This is a really good point. Actually an MBA might help you in your job-search. Incae In Costa Rica, IE in Spain and Coppead all have very good networks in Latin America.

Agreed however on the point that it is difficult to find a great job in Brazil as a foreigner. Seems that you are half-brazilian, which should make you almost native.

Let me know, I am currently in a similar situation locked into Panama (with limited Spanish).

Niels
MBA Q&A

Donho, Niels, it would be nice to think that either people hire only on the basis of talent, or that Brazilian employers should consider as a native someone raised in another continent and without a native's grasp of the language, yet who has Brazilian citizenship because of parentage. However, what foreigners in Brazil have found is that:
- Brazil has substantial formal and informal barriers to hiring foreigners
- The hiring process is very long, and many companies don't want to go through the process of getting work visas
- Brazil has an internally-oriented economy, with just 15% of trade being exported.

A good proxy measure of this, not only in Brazil but across South America, is that there is (as far as I can see) only one masters programme taught in English in the Spanish- or Portuguese speaking countries. That reflects the demand for people who are bilingual English speakers.