Landing a Job abroad and in the EU

A Step-by-step plan

Note: To make it easier for you, you can complete the form on this page, using guidance from this plan. After submitting the form, you will receive an email with everything you inserted, so you will have everything ready for you to analyze.

Introduction

Who am I:

I am Dan, an International Recruitment Consultant, with almost 8 years of experience recruiting and placing candidates around the world.

While I do not pretend to be “the best” Recruitment Consultant, between my weekly jobs I also have to gather all the updates in relation to:

• current job market requests, consisting of what candidates expect to find in a job offer in various geographical areas
• current employers’ expectations regarding what they are looking for in candidates and what they are ready to offer in various geographical areas
• current visa/work permit processes and (on request, as these can change often) costs also in various geographical areas

The reason for this plan

I receive daily CVs from candidates around the world for different positions, looking for a job abroad. While most of them are not fitting for the current job offers I have, I would like to explain here what any person willing to work abroad should do (in my view and according to my understanding from my experience) to land the job offer needed.

This is not a guaranteed success recipe, but I have tested this plan with a few candidates (who agreed to follow the plan exactly), and these persons are now in the positions they wanted, in the country they wanted.

You are the sole judge for yourself, so check everything written here and see if you can trust this plan or simply delete it.

The step by step plan exposed

Part 1. Your Needs!

First of all, there are a few questions, quite personal, to which you will have to answer yourself personally.

1. Why do you need to find a job abroad? While for most people this question might look silly, I would like you to think of it from a different perspective. Usually people are looking for a job abroad for one of the two reasons:
2. A) to save some money, then come back to the home country and start a business which will provide financial safety
3. B) to immigrate permanently together with family abroad, for personal/family safety, educational, and lifestyle reasons

According to your answer to the first question, you should answer the second one:

2. Where would you like to work, or work and live with your family?

Here I would like you to set a list of targeted countries which will fulfil your needs (higher pay rates, so you will come back home with enough money to start your business, or a more secure and educated country where you can live decently while raising your kids). Think about it seriously, as you may fail or succeed depending on your choice. If you are planning to move permanently there with your family (usually possible only after at least 6 months of work), involve your family in this decision too. Take into consideration also cultural, religious, ethnic, and even skin colour differences (I know we are in the XXI century, still you might find this issue hidden in some countries). The educational systems should also be taken into consideration.

Once you have all the answers to these two questions, put them down on a piece of paper. Don’t rush to apply… you are just ready for Part 2.

Part 2. What do you have to offer to your chosen countries in your specific industry and as a citizen?

To understand this, you will have to establish a few things first:

1. Your industry of expertise (transportation, manufacturing, IT, healthcare, etc.). These are more exactly the industries you have worked in and have the best results (with proof), and most importantly where you are working at least 60% out of passion, not for the money. Obviously, the salary part is important, but from my experience “work from passion” is better rewarded and for the long term.

2. Your job title. While this might be the easiest part, actually you will have to look for the exact title in your targeted countries, as you might find some differences. Why is this important? Simply because your CV has to be “found” by the ATS, the program recruiters are using for first matching of candidates. Even if you send a direct application or via email, the recruiter’s brain is working almost the same as the ATS… it is looking for keywords; if not found, it is very likely your application will end up in a garbage bin.

3. What do you have to offer to employers in the targeted countries, with proof. Here you will have to be honest and even a bit critical with yourself. The reason for this is because you will compete against national candidates (faster to hire), regional candidates (EU candidates, for example), which are also a pretty large pool and faster to hire than you (no visa needed), and the other candidates from abroad like yourself. You will need to build your CV in such a manner (no, you don’t need 5 CVs unless you are highly experienced with proof in 5 jobs, which is unlikely) that you will be selected by the software and/or recruiter for deep assessment, you will pass the deep assessment and move forward to an interview with the recruiter (your proofs will have to do the job here), you will pass the recruiter’s interview and move forward to the employer/manager interview (your documents, attitude, language knowledge, and extra documents such as a “hardest to solve project” written explanation, written as for a technical department, will do the job here), and finally you will pass the employer/manager interview (here it is a sum of all the above, plus your presence at the interview where everything counts, from surrounding background, your clothes, your eyesight, etc.).

Once you have all these, also put everything on paper, the same paper as before and… don’t apply yet… you are ready for Part 3.

Part 3. Are you financially ready?

Your honest answer to this question is vital. But what does this mean? What do you have to be financially ready for?

1. Visa/work permit fees. These vary (even inside the EU) from country to country, and in some countries the legislation forces employers to pay for them, but it does not mean the employer will not or cannot try to recover these expenses. So you have to be prepared. I would say that as a general amount, €1,000 should be enough. For the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia these fees are considerably higher. You will need this money only if you are accepted for employment by an employer and (I would insist on this part) you have received the Job Offer Letter. Only after that will the visa/work permit process start. Usually employers hire a third-party company which is taking care of your application, not necessarily paying for it.

2. Flight costs. Depending on where you are flying from and to, this cost may vary between €200 and €800, and it is not always paid by the employer. So you will have to be ready for that also. Obviously, this step is needed when your visa/work permit is coming successfully and you have the visa in your passport.

3. Pocket money. Depending on the living costs in the country where you will arrive, you should have enough money in your pocket when landing to live for at least 45 days, if not 2 months. I would say a minimum of €1,000 for that.

4. Accommodation/rent payment. You might find a lot of job ads specifying “accommodation support”, without specifying exactly what this consists of. There are still employers who are considering “accommodation support” a list with real estate agencies who can offer you a room for rent. Be very specific on this part when you are speaking with the recruiter so you will know exactly what to expect. Depending on the country, this can be really expensive, around €2,000 at least.

5. The amount of money you leave at home for your family, until you are able to send them monthly from your salary. I would also say here to consider 2 months of living costs.

I know it is not cheap, and probably not exactly fair. But this is the reality!

Once you have established this, do the same as before… put them on the same paper. Now you already have a wider view of what to expect, and you are ready for Part 4.

Part 4. Where to apply?

The best thing I see here is to build up a list with exact companies where you would like to work in the targeted countries.

1. Build up a list with companies where you would like to work, try to find them on social media, Indeed, and some other trustworthy sources with some HR contact details. Don’t settle for big companies, unless you have something really astonishing to offer and they are looking for that. You can start with small to medium companies, and medium companies (up to 2,000 employees).

2. Follow up these companies on social media and set up job alerts for your job title in these companies.

3. ALWAYS read the entire job description and (most importantly) the requirements. Apply only if you fit all the requirements. If a job offer does not have specified visa/work permit sponsorship or at least guidance offered, and you still want to apply, ask about it in the application process, specifying that this information was not supplied in the job advert. Most likely, if it is not specified, then it is not provided.

Now, you already have a list to follow up, probably applied to a few job adverts and you think this is it…

Well, it could be, if you receive an answer in 3 to 5 working days since your application.

What if not?

Remember when I told you to try to get some HR department persons’ details? These are coming very handy now…

If you are not receiving a reply in 3 to 5 days since application, or if you just received an automated email acknowledging the receiving of your application, then you should send an email reminder to the HR department, asking if the job offer advertised is still available. If you still don’t receive an answer to this email after 7 working days, then (in my view) you should forget about this company… it is not worth the trouble.

Part 5. What are employing companies expecting to receive?

The answer to this question you are not going to like, but it is the truth…

When considering a candidate from abroad, generally an employer is taking into consideration:

• the timeframe needed for the candidate to start working
• expenses they have (even if they don’t pay for your expenses, they still have to be registered as visa sponsor companies, they have some expenses on their own related to that)
• your integration into the existing team from all perspectives (language barrier, cultural differences, native habits differences) and time needed for all this to be integrated

So, this is why they prefer either a local candidate, even if with lower experience, or a regional candidate (for this one they will still have to find accommodation), and the expectations they have from you are higher than from another candidate (local, regional). They will want to see that you are not the “usual” type of candidate which can be found locally or regionally… if they see that you are, you lost… They will need to see out-of-the-ordinary work experience, achievements, and proofs for these. You will have to look deep inside your experience for them and bring them to light.

Here is also a list of DO’s and DON’Ts for you to think about:

DO:

• prepare your CV carefully, check if you wrote all the work experience inside it! Remember, this is WORK EXPERIENCE, not EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS EXPERIENCE… meaning that everything you worked on, in your backyard or in a big company, was building the professional you are today! Every experience matters, if put in the proper light. Also place your studies, awards, and recognition received, better if it is inside the work experience, so an award received while at school will be different from an award received while working for a big company
• prepare your documents carefully… remember that also a document is considered to be a real picture of you at work! Included in the hard to solve project document, this will prove that you were actually there, doing what you had to do.
• check everything for grammar and spelling… a CV with bad grammar is less likely to be passed forward
• build up the CV the way you want, but include all the chapters in it (name, surname, nationality, contact information, job title you are looking to fill, work experience better since you last finished your last education, in reverse chronological order with the latest at start, education, awards, licences)
• make your CV explicit, but not a narration, it will be seen by people looking to hire, not book readers
• attach the most important awards, if they exist, and the “most hard to solve project” document, but not as a separate document… include it in the CV file document so it will be read
• always be polite, even if you get a rejection… the CVs are usually kept in the database and when they are brought back, they come with all conversations…

DON’Ts

• if you are not sure whether to send it or not… don’t send it, inspect the company some more, investigate it
• do not send unsigned emails, the receiver would like to know who the sender is and how to contact them back faster, if there is an emergency
• do not pay for visa/work permit in advance… ask for the Job Offer Letter first, usually it should ask you to accept it. Make sure it contains the details you have agreed during interviews
• do not fall for incomplete job adverts, there are a lot of them… the difference is in:
• no specific job pay rate, or a pay rate higher than usual
• no specific and exact requirements
• no specific and exact offer

WARNING:

If you think you will need a professional to help you all the way, this will come with an extra charge!

Think first about the exact things a professional recruiter you would like to do for you from this plan!

I just hope this will help you land the job of your dreams!

With respect and consideration

Dan

International Recruitment Consultant