Why Most
Managers and Specialists
Do NOT (!) Get Their
Dream Job Abroad Through
Normal Job Applications ...
Or why your search for a great job in another country
hasn't been successful yet ...
A message from Michael Kaiser
International Career Coach of Ambitious Managers and Specialists
Dear reader,
If you are an experienced manager or specialist wanting to continue your ambitious career on an international scale and have therefore been applying for jobs abroad, you may have encountered these problems:
- A change within your current company to a branch abroad is either not possible for you or not attractive.
- Most of your applications for jobs found through job search engines or on the websites of foreign companies were not answered at all or rejected without mentioning a real reason.
- You are not familiar with the regional characteristics of the labor market in the countries of your interest, you have not gained any professional experience there yet, maybe you cannot speak the local language well, or you may need a work visa. For reasons like that, you assume that you have smaller chances as a job applicant.
- You have no significant network in the target region, you do not know who you could contact there, and you have no one in the region to recommend you.
- You know that you are perfectly qualified for the positions you are applying for abroad. But you don't know how to communicate this suitability convincingly due to cultural differences and a lack of understanding of your qualifications, previous experience, etc. on the part of the hiring managers.
Don't worry, this is how most highly qualified applicants for jobs abroad feel!
Why your previous job applications abroad have not resulted in what you wanted so far ...
Many managers and specialists across the world understandably apply to foreign companies for jobs in the same way they are used to from their home countries:
- They search for suitable vacancies on international job portals such as Indeed, Monster, LinkedIn, etc. and, if possible, also on the websites of companies in the target region they are already aware of.
- If necessary, they update and translate their CV / résumé into English or the local language of the target region, write a cover letter expressing their great interest in the position, and send all their documents to the hiring company by email or upload them on a specified webpage.
- Often when applying to larger companies, a special questionnaire has to be completed by the applicant on the company's website at this stage, which can be extremely time-consuming. Smaller companies usually do not ask for this.
- The few who receive a positive answer later are then usually invited to a short video call for an initial assessment by the HR department or an external recruiter. Usually, this is conducted without any representative of the hiring department present.
- If you get selected as a candidate, there are usually further video interviews and, toward the end, often also a meeting at the company's premises. If you make it to the second round of online interviews, you actually have a real chance of getting the job. However, the vast majority of applicants fail in one of the first stages of the whole process.
Most managers and specialists apply to foreign companies according to this principle and, with a few exceptions, are completely unsuccessful with it. This is because this well-known approach is doomed to fail right from the outset ...
The TRUTH is: With the right strategy, the specifics of the foreign country do not play a major role in the success of your job applications there!
Hiring highly qualified managers and specialists from abroad has become absolutely normal for many companies across the world. A job application from abroad is therefore in general just as interesting as a national one. For the right candidates, those companies will also make the extra effort to obtain work visas if needed.
When assessing applicant profiles, the overall picture is decisive, not the individual elements. Therefore, local presence and cultural nuances play a less important role in the success of job applications abroad nowadays.
All applicants primarily use electronic means to obtain information and communicate with the hiring companies. The situation is the same for regional applicants and those from abroad.
However, this ease of communication also means that many companies get flooded with bad job applications every day. As a result, recruiters and hiring managers often decide on whether to consider a particular application at all within just 60 seconds. Logically, most attention is paid to the technical details of interest.
A lack of positive responses to applications is therefore usually due to the fact that the applicant failed to present their outstanding professional competence regarding the open position in a way recognizable at first glance.
If you choose the approach mentioned above for your job applications abroad, you will also face a maximum number of competitors for the open position. You will have to successfully assert yourself against all of them. Even a great second place in this situation means your defeat.
Moreover, the vast majority of vacancies across the world are never widely published or even advertised and therefore cannot be found in job portals, etc. It is estimated that this concerns 60-80% of all vacant positions.
There is an obvious reason for this: job advertisements on well-known portals have become very expensive for companies. In addition, the effort required to publish a vacancy on the employer's website is often saved if the manager believes that they can fill it without it.
All of that means that managers and specialists who want to get a great new job in a different country quickly and efficiently set out on individual paths to discovering attractive vacancies abroad and applying for them successfully ...
The solution is obvious: The only way to get a great new job abroad is to bypass the mass business!
All of the problems mentioned above will disappear into thin air if you take an individual approach to your job search abroad that significantly reduces the number of competitors and allows you to score points with your strengths before other candidates even come into play.
To accomplish this, your approach must change as follows:
- We need to define a crystal clear focus for your job search so that you invest any further time only in searching for vacancies abroad where you have a realistic chance to become the candidate of choice.
- We need to create a CV / résumé and cover letters that are aligned with this focus and especially showcase your previous accomplishments in a way that will convey your suitability for these jobs within seconds.
- We need to define a special networking strategy for your job search abroad so that you can find little-known but very attractive vacancies and communicate as directly as possible with the hiring decision-makers.
I have proven time and time again over the years that I can help people like you reach these goals fast!
Click on the button to arrange a free orientation call with me!
In this 60-minute orientation call, we will find out how we can solve these three tasks for your job search best so that you can start in a great new position abroad very soon!
Please find below links to further information and testimonials that will show you how I work and what results I have helped people like you achieve in the past!
I wish you all the best and hope to speak with you soon!
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