I started my journey to move from the US to Europe over a year ago, and I started out a pretty high point. I found that through my family’s heritage I could actually obtain Hungarian citizenship, and through months of paperwork and waiting managed to successfully do so.
So that’s pretty much it. I thought to myself. Because the biggest hurdle companies face is whether it’s worth it to sponsor a visa of someone when they could just find a local candidate. I thought that the moment I could proudly say I was citizen of an EU country that would allow me to work in (most) countries, things would get easier.
But I have never been more wrong in my life. I’m a fresh out of college IT worker that has 4 years of work experience and 3 certifications under my belt, and I have managed to get exactly 2 interviews and maybe 20-30 real human responses in about 5 months despite hundreds of applications. And it’s not like I am thinking high and mighty of myself and looking at jobs that I want. I’ve applied to the lowest paying helpdesk roles up to the ones that I barely have any overlapping skills. I have revised my resume 2-3 times, had professionals look at it during a resume workshop at college… I just get nothing. Some seem to think that I am asking for sponsorship or relocation benefits despite the fact that it is boldly written at the top of my resume, and I always make sure to include it in my cover letter.
Am I doing something wrong? Is there something I should be doing besides trolling LinkedIn and other job sites for roles? I don’t know if this is a rant post or advice post. I am just so sick of getting ghosted or looking for that dreaded “unfortunately” email in my inbox every morning.
Do you speak the local language?
You’ve only revised your resume 2-3 times for hundreds of applications? Dude, you need to revise your resume for EVERY SINGLE JOB you apply for. When I job hunt, I spend an hour per application. Custom resume and custom cover letter. You need to match as many keywords and phrases as possible otherwise the automatic ATS screeners won’t even filter your resume to the recruiter’s desk. Last year during my last job hunt, I applied to just 2 dozen jobs, heard back from 20, interviewed with 12, and got an offer in 6 weeks. Oh, and this from relocation to Amsterdam from the U.S. They paid for me to move and gave me a visa.
Just move somewhere and get a job not in your field, you’re young and there’s plenty of time. Once in your new city make friends and have fun. Apply to local jobs and if you have good new friends they will help you navigate finding a job in your field.
From experience on both the hiring and applying side: make sure your EU citizenship is prominently on your CV and one of the first things the HR person will read. Otherwise they’re going to see a US address, US phone number, US employer, US college… and they’ve stopped reading already.
Speaking the local language at a fluent level (or even a B level with express intent to improve) will open many more opportunities. Lots of companies have English as a working language, but a lot don’t.
Another option might be to come do a masters in Europe.
Its the first thing on my resume, and its in a bolded font thats larger than everything else. I feel its rather hard to ignore.
I understand the language limitation and have tried to work around it by applying solely to jobs that do not ask for additional languages. Roles that say ‘Dutch and English’ for example are ones I do not apply for.
As for getting my masters… I really don’t know if I want to do more schooling at this point… Though I bet that would open even more opportunities.
When it comes to first screening from open job postings, they would always resort to local first unless you have a niche and specific skillset for them to relocate you. As a fresh graduate, you stand little chance in this bracket.
Second option to consider is start networking, get your resume on referral pile. Get an insider to understand your capabilities and ‘how fun you are as colleague’, in the end people hire who they want to work with and majority of people do land jobs these way if they are not being headhunted.
Things such as developer meetups, tech conferences, forums, tech twitter, various discords. Get yourself out there and make friends, it’s not going to be a quick solution because building relationship takes time but often they bear fruit when you most needed it.
Market is rough right now, I wish you the best of luck.
Your situation seems a bit (unnecessarily) complicated. If I understand correctly, you have dual US/Hungarian citizenship and currently live in the US and you are looking for a job in Western European countries.
You should know that most IT jobs have been outsorced to Central and Eastern Europe. Finding a job in Germany, for example, is much more difficult than in Hungary, Czech Republic or Poland. Especially when you’re not German.
If you like Hungary, I can advise you to look for a job there. The earnings will be nominally lower than in Western Europe or the USA, but compared to the cost of living you will be satisfied. In IT you should earn 2x or 3x the national average, which gives you a very comfortable standard of living. You will be able to rent an apartment, everyday expenses will not be a problem and you will be able to save. Of course, when you come back to the US, everything will seem expensive.
I guess I am more interested in looking for jobs in western European countries because those are the countries that I want to live in. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Hungary, Poland, all those countries are lovely places to live, but I just feel like I the western countries have more things I am looking for.
That being said, I suppose I could always look for jobs in those countries and hop jobs at a later date when I am more settled.
It’s understandable. In such a case Hungarian citizenship won’t help you much at the recruitment stage. It will play its role when signing a contract, but on a CV it unnecessarily complicates your situation.
Each application should take you 2-3 hours if you are personally tailoring your CV to each role and/or cover letter. The way you frame your experience and profile is going to need to be different for every employer.
If you’ve done hundreds of applications, chances are they’re low quality. In my entire working life I think I’ve done maybe 15 job applications, and I’ve worked in 3 countries (now in Thailand).
Apply for roles that you’re actually a good fit for, and absolutely perfect your CV. Don’t waste your time spamming companies.
Are you using a U.S. format resume or a more EU-format CV? Have you looked at the typical CV format for each country you’re applying in?