You will be out of school soon and you feel like taking on a new adventure ? You’re already working but you feel like a big change would be nice ? You’ve always been interested in this country but never dared to imagine yourself there ? You’re not finding anything in your own country and you want to try elsewhere ? Let’s talk about finding a job abroad together !
Everyone might tell you that finding a job abroad is not easy, and yes, it’s not an easy thing to do, of course, but it is totally possible. If you do your part, you will definitely find your place.
What I would like to do in this article is to give you a few tips on how to prepare for your job search when you’re applying abroad. Why am I talking about this ? Well my very first job after graduating from my Master’s degree was abroad, and well there are things I wish I had done better, haha. My last internship before graduation was in Paris, it ended in July 2019. I started the interview process with a US company early July, received the job offer mid-July, submitted my thesis by the end of August, the oral defense was on September 3rd, I moved to Amsterdam on September 16th and started to work on the 23rd. Everything was rushed and even though I feel like I did a good job considering what little time I had to prepare, I want to help people to have a better experience with applying and moving to another country.
First of all, you have to target the country or countries you would be interested in. I would recommend a maximum of 3 countries to target because otherwise it would take too much time to work on every single country, but it is only my personal opinion. Once you target a country, learn as much as you can about this country. The cost of living (check which city or cities you would be interested in), the average salary for the kind of job you’re looking for, the culture – would it be a great fit with you ? Do your research and it will also help you once you get interviews, especially when you will be negotiating your salary. Make sure that the salary offered is high enough for you to live comfortably. I know it’s very exciting to get an offer, but please be careful about this. Moving abroad will be a challenge, you don’t want to add financial struggle to all the new things you will experiment.
My second tip is to carefully check all the paperwork/legal things such as visas. Do you need a work visa for this country ? If yes, which one do you need ? Will you need your future employer to sponsor you ? You need to know all of these things. It will also help you during an interview. Showing that you did all your research will help the company/recruiter trust you more easily, because it shows that you are taking this seriously and that you are reliable. Also it would be a pity to see your project fail after getting an offer, just because you didn’t check well the conditions to get the appropriate visa to work there.
My third tip would be to check the recruitment culture of the country. What kind of resume do they use, do you put your picture on it or not ? Are there questions that a recruiter is not allowed to ask you during an interview ? Are there gestures that are considered rude ? Are there platforms more commonly used ? Do people usually get jobs through networking or applying online ? Try to learn as much as possible, go and talk to people online if needed, they might give you precious tips on how their country works. (You can ask me for France, for example !)
My last tip would be : define what makes you special. If you’re planning to move abroad to work, you’re not the regular employee. You’re open to change, ready to take onto new challenges, to handle unknown and unexpected situations. These are amazing soft skills. Think about it. Soft skills are becoming more and more important on the job market and look at you ! You’re so special already ! Don’t forget that, not everyone could do what you’re doing. So think about everything that makes you special compared to a regular native employee in your target country. This is what you’re going to sell during the interview.
I know that with the pandemic it might seem impossible to find a job abroad, and I agree with you it’s way more difficult now, lots of visas are no longer available and travel is very limited but come on… This is not a project you will achieve in a few days. How great would that be to be fully prepared and ready to take over the world once the borders will open once again ? The pandemic is not going to last forever, your chance will come. Get ready !
Thank you for reading, feel free to like and share – it might be useful to others as well ! As always, I’m putting below the Youtube video linked to the topic.
Have a lovely day ~
Marie.
Marie K. Ricci - Author | Translator 