Country guides
Are you up for a challenge? Would you like to make money, live on your own, meet new people and be a world traveller? Then why not consider working abroad for some time!
Go for a job abroad!
Being on your own in an unknown country, the excitement of a strange city, and the struggle of explaining yourself in a different language next to the fulfilment of making it on your own, money in your pocket and being on top of the world. That’s what working abroad can be like! But before you start packing your bags and kissing your mom goodbye, realize this: working in a different country, requires a lot more that just good will and a fine resume.
This article helps you to get started for the dream job in the country of your choice. The article focuses on Europe and starts by telling you that working in Europe can be fun but finding a job there is not achieved in a single day. The European labour market contains some unexpected hurdles as national differences between the countries of Europe manifest themselves not only in different languages but also in different recruitment practices. To demonstrate the differences between countries this article tells you about job-hunting in France, Spain and Italy. But, if these countries are not the countries of your choice, do not worry, the ‘Looking for work in …‘ series of Expertise in Labour Mobility (ELM) covers over 40 countries!
Applications across Europe
Working in Europe may sound to many people as an exciting adventure. However, just realise you are bound to come across some unexpected differences. To start with a resume is called CV - Curriculum Vitae - in Europe. And whereas resumes are a reflection of your main accomplishments only, European CVs are detailed accounts of your education and work experience to date. Therefore, the most important advice to those interested in a job abroad is to take national differences into account, if they want their application to be taken serious. Looking for work in another country entails more than writing your resume or CV in another language. Remember that no matter in what country you are looking for work, the key element of your resume or CV is to persuade the employer to invite you for a job interview. And how will you achieve that? The following information on France, Spain and Italy will help you to put things on track.
Job-hunting in France
Nr. 1 mistake to make:
Do not send in a typed application letter! The French use graphology as a means of selection in the application process. So type your CV but handwrite you application letter.
Newspapers are a main source of job adverts:
- ‘Le Figaro’ on Monday
- ‘Le Monde’s Initiative’ supplement on Wednesday
- ‘Le Figaro’ and ‘France Soir’ for technical jobs
- ‘Les Echos’, ‘Enterprises et Carrières’, ‘INVESTIR’, and ‘Le Monde’ for administrative, financial and management jobs
Successful way of getting a job:
- Sending in a speculative application.
A French application:
- The CV is either reversed chronological (the last first) or functional (activities grouped thematically).
- The CV, often with a photo attached, is brief, two pages at the most.
- Your personal details include; your name, address and telephone number with international access code, your nationality, your civil status, your age and your place of birth.
- Mention only your highest educations but be specific in job-experience and responsibilities. Language skills should be described in detail and hobbies may be added.
- A handwritten application letter of about 15 to 20 lines, focusing on your most recent activities and demonstrating with examples why you are the right person for the job.
- References and copies of diplomas are not included, however they should be brought to the application interview.
Job-hunting in Spain
Nr. 1 mistake to make:
Do not mention your salary first. It is custom to discuss the payment after you have been hired. If you tackle the subject first, you will seem very rude.
The main newspapers publish Sunday supplements with major vacancy overviews:
- ‘El País’ issues ‘Negocios’
- ‘El Mundo’ issues ‘Su Dinero’
- ‘El ABC’ issues ‘Nuevo Trabajo’
- ‘La Vanguardia’ in Catalonia
- ‘La Gaceta del Norte’in Bilbao
- ‘Segunda Mano’ in the Madrid region
- Personal contacts
- You can use a temporary job, a summer job or an internship as a steppingstone on your way to a permanent job. Your first job provides you with the right contacts for your second job – that’s the way it works in Spain!
- Send in your CV, a typed application letter, a recent photo, translated copies of your qualifications and copies of your diplomas.
- The CV is well-structured, no longer then two pages but there are no strict rules.
- Under personal details you are required to mention you passport or ID number.
- The application letter is short and direct. The letterhead refers to the number of the vacancy.
- The letter contains a reference to the vacancy in the first paragraph, in the second paragraph you mention your education and job-experience and you end the letter with a standard sentence such as “En espera de sus noticias, les saluda atentamente”.
Job-hunting in Italy
Nr. 1 mistake to make:
Make sure your shoes and your bag match! This is not a joke; Italians feel that detailed care of how you look reflects how you work. If you are up-to-date in fashion, you are most likely to be up-to-date in your work as well, too their opinion.
Italian newspapers are a good source of information regarding vacancies and employers recruiting at that moment.
On either Thursdays or Fridays the next papers carry extensive job advert supplements:
- 'Il Corriere della Sera'
- 'La Repubblica'
- 'Il Giornale'
- 'La Stampa'
- 'L'Unita'
The Monday edition of the financial magazine 'Il Sole-24 Ore' is also useful in this respect.
Successful way of getting a job:
- Speculative applications are very common. Use a very formal style for your letter and include impressive references with your open application.
- Personal contacts are the best way to a job. An introduction of a well-known person will be very effective, because in Italy the emphasis is more on whom you know, than on what you know (although as a foreign job seeker the right qualifications are essential, even if you have some distant Italian relatives).
An Italian application:
- The application consists of a typed CV and a short typed letter.
- The CV is in chronological order and about two pages long.
- Your personal details should include your date and place of birth, your nationality, your telephone number and your civil status.
- The style of the letter is stately and official. Explain briefly why you want the job, they will ask more in-depth questions during the interview.
- Three or four interviews are not uncommon and you should bring copies of references and diplomas to the first interview.
‘Looking for work in …’ another country
Whether or not you are finally going to get the job you want in the country you are interested in depends not only on your qualifications and your skills, but also on your personal qualities and your determination. And if Spain, Italy and France are not the countries you are interested in, do not despair. The information given above exists for over 40 countries all over the world. Expert on international labour migration issues ELM has published a series of guides on ‘Looking for Work’ in the country of your choice, both within and outside Europe. The guides offer not only information on your resume or CV (with an example) and your application letter, but also on visa requirements, cultural management differences and some useful addresses. They are the key to the door into the job market in the country of your choice. ELM and their ‘Looking for work in …’ guides can get you started in the right way. And once you have found that right way, the feeling of being on top of the world and having made it all on your own is not far away!
Photography: © Eric Sijbrands/Expertise in Labour Mobility.
Reproduction of the texts at www.labourmobility.com is only allowed after written permission, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.
