Secrets of finding a job abroad from a practicing headhunter

I think that it is no secret to anyone that in our digital age everything is becoming more and more virtualized. Almost everything that we do in our daily life can now be done online, and this trend will only increase.

So, the most massive way for job seekers in any industry has become a response to a job posted on the Internet, regardless of where it is posted: on job sites like HH, Glassdoor, Monster, or any other similar. Many job seekers also monitor and respond to LinkedIn jobs. Unfortunately, in rare cases, only faceless automatic replies come in response, and more often than not, the applicant does not receive any answer at all, and the applicant's experience, his level of professional training or the degree of compliance with the vacancy do not matter. The lack of a response from a potential employer company in response to an appeal has become familiar to both the senior candidate and the applicant without experience. This is especially true of vacancies in other countries - where relocation is required.

As the analysis of the numerous responses of job seekers shows, in the overwhelming majority of cases at present these methods do not bring the applicant to receive a proposal, and the lack of feedback causes upset and reduced self-esteem, which further aggravates the position of the applicant.
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What to do?

In fact, there is a way out, but first let's see: why respond to every job posted on the Internet is a priori a bad idea.

Few applicants are aware that the screening process for applicants for online vacancies has also been digitized in recent years in the vast majority of cases.

What does this mean and does it affect your chances of getting a welcome invitation to an interview from an employing company? It influences in the most direct way, about which I will tell you now in more detail - how automatic candidate assessment systems ruin your chances of getting a job.

For most companies, the method of initial screening of online applicants through the algorithms of the matching system of candidates for this ATS job vacancy is becoming increasingly common - thus companies optimize expenses on the whole are very often overstaffed with a staff of internal recruiters. What is it and why does this system need an employer?

ATS is a system that scans keywords from your resume to determine how accurately you are suitable for a given position. This happens before a person’s eyes can see your resume. If your resume or even a cover letter does not contain a certain number of words or terms from the job description, ATS automatically recognizes you as an inappropriate candidate and blocks. Unfortunately, this works exactly the same way and few applicants know about it. In this case, you will be lucky if you receive at least an automatic message that the company has chosen to move on with other candidates. As a result, your application did not fall and will not fall into the hands of a person, since you were filtered by the machine at the very first stage.

To get around ATS, many candidates try to take keywords or professional terminology from the job description and add them to their resumes. This seems like a good idea, but unfortunately it doesn't work either. Since this has become the practice of most applicants, companies have now begun to add keywords to the ATS algorithm that they do not even list in the job description in order to filter out more "inappropriate" applicants at an early stage. In my humble opinion, this makes it difficult to obtain high-quality job applicants for a company that uses this system in its work. Alas, even if your resume is well-written, you have a really relevant experience and you are ideally suited for this work or project, you can still be filtered by the machine, and most often it happens.

As a result, many candidates wonder why they are not considered, as there is no response from the company. You like the job and the company, you absolutely know that you have all the necessary skills and experience to successfully complete the tasks from the job description. Without receiving any response to your resume, you can even send a covering letter directly to the HR manager / director to try to draw their attention to your resume, evaluate your experience and competence again, as you are sure that you are in perfect compliance with this vacancy. But the problem is that more often than not, in fact, they already can do nothing. Even if they liked your cover letter, resume and / or portfolio, and you really would like to be invited to an interview, they will not be able to move on with your candidacy, because you have already been rejected (or, more simply, rejected) by the system. And not every manager will want to go contrary to the prescribed and approved processes in the company, especially in large system companies.

What to do and how can you change the situation to get a result in a job search?

In fact, if you have already sent your resume to any particular vacancy and have not received an answer, most likely, the situation here will not change.

And maybe right now, if you respond to a job on the Internet, send your resume and cover letter there, you will expect a response from the company. At least some. But I’m not afraid to say that you are very lucky if you receive an invitation to be interviewed in this way. Alas, the chances that the system will filter you and place on a stop list are much higher than the chances of your resume passing these filters. This is our digital reality in the labor market recently.

How is it - and most importantly effectively - to look for work using the Internet? What can and should be done BEFORE submitting an application online for a vacancy of interest to you, i.e. before getting on the company’s stop list


First: use the keywords from the job description in your resume for absolutely every job you want to apply for.

Yes, this means exactly what you thought: for each job your resume must be adapted. If you approach the matter even more competently and in a way that job seekers in developed countries have been doing for a long time, then you need to start communicating with company representatives on such sites as LinkedIn, XING or Viadeo in order to find out who is the hiring manager and / or immediate linear the manager and who, strictly speaking, makes the decision about hiring in this particular case. After receiving this information, you need to properly contact the decision maker and competently suggest your candidacy directly to these representatives of the employing company. But not immediately, but after a positive “pre-sale” communication has been built up - yes, these are sales and the “goods” here is your head, achievements and knowledge of the market.

But this is not the most important thing. How to make you feel right and want to know more about you, what tools are needed for this - a topic for a separate conversation, and in each case it will be individual.

Thus, if you really want to find a good job, you need to do more than just fill out an online application or click on the “send resume” button. To get a real result, you have to prepare, start communication with the goal of generating interest and only then directly contact decision makers in the companies you have selected, as well as the heads of HR departments in these companies with well-written cover letter and good resume. (at least without grammatical errors and to begin with). Ideally, before direct contact with the decision makers in the company you are looking for, you should know as much as possible about the activities of this company and at least “get familiar”. And the highest aerobatics - if you know about the current problems in this company and can offer live ways to solve them. Last is your guaranteed invitation for personal acquaintance to the company.

Important: all this must be done BEFORE responding to an online vacancy. After a response to a vacancy on the Internet, in most cases, any actions may simply be useless, and I have already described in some detail why.

So: please stop sending completely useless responses to vacancies on the Internet, especially if the vacancy is open in another country!

Stop sending the same resume for each job, save your time and reputation. Stop sending out identical cover letters, as this will lead nowhere - except to hit the stop list. Instead, start communicating with companies and senior hiring managers who are at least responsible for the region as a whole and do it best through LinkedIn, XING or Viadeo - depending on what country you are set to leave for.

Think about what is written here, get together and finally, begin to consciously approach the search for work through the Internet. And most importantly, before any contact with the company for a position that you are really interested in, collect all possible information about the activities of this company and if you have enough intelligence and search experience for this, gather information about the pressing problems in the company’s activities in order to be able to offer a competent and informed decision.

Believe my 26 years of experience in international recruitment: only this way will give you the desired and worthy result.

In the digital age, everything changes very quickly and we too will have to change and adapt so as not to stay on the bench. The time has come to change your attitude towards job search and take a lively, human initiative in your job search. Be active and be able to show the company why you are ideally suited to their team, what benefits you want and can bring to the company. Why exactly are you better than other of the hundreds of potential applicants on the same Amazon or Cisco Systems.

Do not allow a situation where your resume will be rejected by the company's automated system, blocking all your chances of getting into this company now and in the future.

Start to relate correctly in the job search process, learn how to correctly bypass the automatic system of screening candidates, and you will get the desired result - your new excellent work in the country of your dreams

Dare! And may luck be with you.

* Well, for the most ambitious and talented, there is an even more effective way to get a job in the USA by applying for an O-1 visa, which also involves getting a Green Card.
But there will be another article about the intricacies of this program - please write in the comments if you would like to see such material.