Real Life Tips On Finding A Job (Abroad Or Locally). No Fluff

Being 10 years in the work force (not too long but long enough), employed in 3 different countries (not that many but more than many other people), I discovered what works and what is just a bs advice…

Search for job opportunities abroad or in your hometown, we all face similar situations and issues: ridiculous requirements, little to no response, cancelled interviews, strange questions, weird reasons for turning you down, wounded self-esteem, struggle and sometimes even desperation. So that it doesn’t happen to you, read along.

Most important piece of advice: moving to another country, research the place you are going to, ask people on forums and Facebook groups, read blogs (like this one). Of course, you can same as me arrive and try to figure it out through trial and error. But it will cost you time, money and nerves while you are terrorising your couch being unemployed. Applying locally, research the industry and companies. You don’t want to be hired just because nobody else wants to work there.

I’m gonna share some real life tips with you based on my experience. I will leave out all the useless fluff. Only merciless success-targeted job hunting.

1. First of all — your CV. Everyone’s talking about its importance but not many share really useful tips.

A. What are accepted formats in the area of your search? Photo, gender, age, marital status, can be required to add or required to leave out details. Some countries are more sexist and less liberal than others. Let’s be honest, it still exists. So you need to be aware of it, decide if it’s acceptable or unacceptable for you, and learn how to use it in your favour. People will judge anyway and make subjective decisions. And it’s normal. Find the way to use it.

My strategy: in liberal countries chasing workplace gender equality — remove all the mentions of it but act as I’m a girl trying to find my way in mens world of IT industry and talking about how female approach contributes to company, team-building, etc. In chauvinist environment — attach my best professionally made photo, but act like equal and never mention gender differences or inequality (man-up basically).
*I can give advice only for girls, sorry.

B. What to write. There can be a lot to say on how to write a CV, but most important is how you see and present your experience. Sometimes people have difficulty with formalising and structuring what they did in the past. They think time past and I didn’t accomplish much. And then they look at job description with all those fancy words and think they are nothing even close to that even if they were working in the industry for the past year. But, most probably you already forgot that same fancy words were in you current role advertisement. If the word looks big and complicated try to understand what’s at the core of it.

For example, Stakeholder Management is in the end of the day nothing but communicating clearly and timely with the client, managing their expectations (meaning, making sure that they are very well aware and agree with what, how and when you do).

Were you doing that while managing the project? Most probably yes if it went well.

I also think (and it’s only my opinion), that finding a clear line that goes through all your experience is a good thing. It shows your consistency even in a very inconsistent experience.

For example, your were working for a retailer, then moved to an agency and then to eCommerce company. You can say that you have a lot of experience in logistics/merchandising/complex IT solutions/etc. You can also point out that you are good at managing large teams.

Hope you got the idea.

C. Employer is interested to hear about your experience only because they want to know what exactly you did, accomplished, achieved. And that can be another challenge. Sometimes people are so deep in routine or vice-versa forced to jump from one task to another so fast that they don’t even realise how they are contributing to the company. In this case it’s always to good to try to look at the bigger picture and at what changed over time in company, your department, your role. Did you automate part of your work? Did company grow in headcount? — then most probably you are used to work with a lot of people (cross-team communication — *just throwing you some fancy words). Did the company grow in revenue? — think how you possibly contributed to that (participating in marketing projects that increased company’s revenue/ managed company’s email list to improve marketing/ hired top-notch talents that helped increase company’s revenue). Projectising your experience (mentally, no need to change your CV), may help you see actual results of your activities.

D. Sell yourself but don’t oversell. Your CV is pretty much a sales letter where you are trying to put forward your strong sides and smoothen up or avoid negative impression. But as we all don’t like cheesy sales letters, don’t go too far, do it moderately and with dignity, but show that you know your worth

E. Learn to write short description about yourself. This is the toughest part but you need to figure that out. It should come in 2 variations: 1 sentence and a paragraph. It should cover your main strengths, your experience and tell people exactly what you do.

I help people build products, teams, companies (C) Me

This short description paragraph should go above your experience in your CV.

F. Structure. Don’t overcomplicate or over-prettify the layout. It should be clean and easily readable.

F. Keywords and other fancy stuff. Honestly I never tried to intentionally make my CV keyword heavy to adapt it to recruitment softwares. I believe that if you managed to clearly structure your experience using “fancy words” you got enough keywords. What I do recommend however is to do a little research and see what are the actual terms that are used in your industry in that location you job-hunting.You need to speak your employer language and if, for example, they use Working closely with clients instead of stakeholder management — use the one they use, don’t try to outsmart them, it’s not the place and time.

2. Update your linked-in profile

• Good, professional-looking photo
• valid experience
• certificates
• use projects to add more information about your activities
• endorsements and recommendations (don’t be shy to ask)

3. Don’t neglige cover letter.

If CV is difficult to tailor to every application, cover letter is much easier. Write unique cover letter for every application. Search for keywords in the job ad that match your experience and mention it in cover letter. Write about how you can contribute to the company (if you know or they mention their pain points). State your interest in the role but don’t go over the top. I personally don’t write full of hype and excitement cover letters; and employer that expects it is not my type. But it’s all up to you. Some people were hired because they were really excited about the job.

Don’t write too long cover letters. HR needs to go through so many… So go straight to the point.

4. Find the pond to fish.

That’s the most important one — where to send your CV to, right? Of course, if you don’t know what you want, not sure which path you want to take, what role, none of the advice will be of any se to you. Limit your choice to 1–3 roles that are in the same field, of a similar level, require similar experience and ideally correspond with your background. If you are foreigner, make research on conventional position names in the area you applying to.

For example, in Melbourne Project Manager in a Digital Agency would often be called Digital Producer.

A. Find your recruiter. In some countries, most of the hiring happens through recruitment companies. Most of them specialise in a particular field or have agents specialised in that field. So find the agent in your field. It can be done by googling or searching in LinkedIn. Normally they state this information openly. It’s good to message agents directly and pass them your CV. They may already have openings for you or they may put you in their database so that you are the first in line when something pops up.

B. Use LinkedIn. In other countries direct messaging on LinkedIn to C-level executives works very well to cut the corners in recruitment process. Generally LinkedIn is a very good tool, don’t underestimate it.

C. Online portals. Never really worked that well for me, though everyone is using it. But we need to use all the options available. Normally simple googling will help you find the most popular ones. Use this resource not only to apply but also to research. It’s your best reference for: demand in the market for certain roles (that you may tailor your CV to), salary ranges, big companies in the field (they may not have a position at the moment but still may worth emailing them directly), recruiters in your field (you’ll notice patterns there). Make sure your profile there is nice and clean. Make sure it’s connected to your LinkedIn profile.

D. Apply directly. Research best companies in the field you would like to work for. Of course they have careers page. Often direct application helps reduce response time. Don’t limit yourself to Google and Facebook. There are many others.

E. Job Fairs. Never worked for me and I consider them useless. DOn’t really have much to say about it. However, it can be your thing. Go to one anyway if you’ve never been there to see how it works and maybe you’ll find it useful. Job Fairs can be a good research tool. Also I’ve heard them helpful for fresh grads.

F. Use your network. Getting jobs through connections works really well. In some countries better than others. Also cannot be really used if you are completely new to the country (in this case use professional forums and communities instead). Anyway, I’m not talking about your uncle securing a job for you or getting a role just because you are friends with someone. Just mind that many companies don’t even advertise some positions available, some have referral system. Sometimes people may advise you some place you haven’t even heard of before (exactly my case) or that just didn’t come to your mind.

Generally, applying for jobs don’t chase the number, but quality. Positions you apply to should be aligned with your experience or at least sphere of interest. Try to notice patterns. Who called you back? For which roles they are calling you more? Which cover letter style worked better.

Try as many options as you can and make your own opinion, what works for you. However, applying for jobs don’t chase the number, but quality. Positions you apply to should be aligned with your experience or at least sphere of interest. Try to notice patterns. Who called you back? For which roles they are calling you more? Which cover letter style worked better.

That’s all from me. Happy job hunting!