Many people dream about living abroad, but unfortunately, very often it remains just a dream. The most common reason for this is that people are not able to find a job abroad and quite often the reason is because they’re trying to find it in a way where it’s almost impossible to succeed. When no job is found, the spark disappears, and the natural human process of justifying “why it’s actually better to stay at your home country” starts.

Personally, I’m from Espoo, Finland and have lived in Madrid, Spain since 2014. The reason is partly because I love the city of Madrid, and partly because of my job. Daily I keep getting messages and questions from people seeking my advice on how to find a job in another country.

Here are few tips/alternatives that I think are the most realistic in today’s business world:

1. Get yourself first into a big international company at your home country

This may be the easiest and most common way to find a job and move abroad. When you enter a big international company, it can quickly open doors to other countries. In large corporations, there are usually a lot of positions open all the time around the world, and obviously, in-house candidates are the top priority. The biggest problem with this option is that you may not have much of a say in where to go and how long you can be there before the order comes that gets you to another place. That being said, when choosing this option, you are more or less at the mercy of your employer.

2. Study/get a degree abroad and then find a job

This is a very effective way. If the life and the financial situation allows it, studying abroad will open the doors to the international labor market, and especially to the country where the degree is obtained.

3. Pack your bags, move to another country and then find a job

This option is risky and requires stress tolerance as well as a lot of work and activity. In many big cities, such as Madrid, there are very active international communities and getting into those, and being active and open minded, can quickly lead to something very interesting. Applying for open positions also becomes a lot easier when you are next to the job opportunities, able to act fast and get yourself into the job interviews.

4. Becoming an entrepreneur and taking your own business to international markets

This is not necessarily the option that comes to mind first, but over the last few years I’ve seen a lot of examples of people who have found a new life and home this way in the United States, Dubai, Singapore, etc. A couple of years back I did some research and it seemed that the “easiest” way to a get a permanent VISA in the United States was establishing/exporting your business into the US markets. Of course, there are lots of points that need to be filled, stuff to be shown etc., and the business must be of a reasonable size with a trustworthy business plan, but still it didn’t seem that tough considering the other options.

Written,

Teemu Ruuska

Director

InHunt World

www.linkedin.com/in/teemuruuska

Teemu is a Director of InHunt World and has been working in the recruitment and headhunting industry since 2009. Teemu is from Finland and came to Spain in 2014 to set up and open new headhunting offices in Madrid, and later in Barcelona. Since 2016, Teemu has been focusing on designing, creating, and running the new InHunt World International Headhunting Network, which already covers over 30 countries.

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