Since I am now looking for a new working opportunity outside of France. I thought it would be a good exercise for me to write a new article in English.

From my experience (and I don’t think I am the only one), looking for a job is always a difficult, time consuming and frustrating task. Now that I have started to look for a job abroad, I find it gives me an additional difficulty !

Finding the right platform

First step of course is… Where should I look to find a job in the country I’m interested in ? Fortunately, since I am working in the digital/web environment, I know i can count on « LinkedIn » which is international, and very popular for jobs in this sector. Even-though the platform is successful and modern, I cannot be 100% sure this is the platform that is the most used and up to date. « Indeed » is also a classic platform you should check out, as it is always better to have more than one trick up your sleeve. My advice to everyone in my situation : try to find someone local or living in the country you want to work in and make sure you are looking for jobs on a platform where recruiters are active.

The job description… not always so obvious

The job description is evidently the next step once you have found the platform that is the more relevant for the country you are targeting. It may seem trivial to read/write a job description but I think provides thorough information on the company mindset, personality and what kind of candidates they are looking for beyond the skills required. Since I have been working for many years in France, I am now aware of the key words in a job description and I am quickly able to know what the recruiter is looking for and what are my chances to match his needs. Now that I am on unfamiliar territory, I feel like I am less able to understand precisely how suitable I am for the job description I am applying for. Quite often, job descriptions appear to be like wishlists that recruiters write up in order to have the best candidates applying for the job. But how much leeway are recruiters actually willing to give to potential candidates ? Should I apply to a job eventhough I don’t match every single requirement ? On the contrary if I match all of them does it mean I am over-qualifed for this position ? Very often one has to learn to read between the lines in order to know not only if one corresponds to what the company is looking for but also if the company one has chosen to apply to corresponds to its values. In France I feel like I can easily evaluate theses criterias but now, since the job descriptions are presented differently, it is not always obvious for me to know if I match the company’s needs.

The maze of the recruitment process

From my experience, the recruitment process can really be a challenging since every single company has their work methods and tools. Once again, applying abroad means new procedures, new timelines and new trials in order to convince you are the best candidate. I haven’t had the chance yet to be fully integrated in a recruitment process abroad but I already have many questions in mind. How long is a typical recruitment process ? Should I expect one, two, three interviews ? Trials ? Exams ? Case studies ? In france I have passed many interviews over the years and it still was difficult to apprehend some of them. Now that I will have to speak fully in english throughout the process, will I be able to overcome all of them ? This is a new challenge I must pass through if I want to succeed in my new project. To be honest I am not always a huge fan (likely to most candidates I guess) of very long applications with many steps since it can be really deceiving and sometimes you can tell some exams are just a way to reduce the number of applicants the company wants to meet in person. I really feel more comfortable when the process is more humanized, that way I can quickly know more about the company mindset and their work methods. To me a good employment means finding the right candidate for the right company.

The Holy Grail

Congratulations ! You have passed all the steps and finally found your perfect company. I hope this is something I will be able to tell myself soon enough. Last but not least, I cannot yet give you the details of this next step, but the integration and the first steps into a new company really are significant too. The worst case scenario would be to realized after few weeks that the company does not match your mindset or that the tasks are not what you expected. However the many steps throughout the requirement process are here to prevent this kind of situation… Let’s hope it won’t happen to me !

To conclude this short article was just a way for me to share my thoughts and the difficulties I have encountered since I started looking for a job abroad. If you are a company and feel like I should be part of your team, don’t hesitate to reach me and if you are a candidate like me and I have some advices, thoughts on what you’ve just read, leave a comment or send me a message so we can talk about it !