Tips on Career Abroad

As freshers and students, many aim to build a career abroad.

But unfortunately lack the guidance, support, and system to take you there.

It is not as difficult as perceived but there are points one needs to be aware of to make it happen.

With experience of moving abroad and starting a career in the UK, I have collated tips on how you could start the process and get closer to achieving your goal:

1. Improve your spoken English - US, Canada & the UK, place a lot of importance to English language. All transactions and businesses happen in English and anyone coming in is expected to having basic English skills & fluency. It is important to note that, accent is not important. You will meet people from across the globe and everyone flaunting a different home country accent – Be yourself. When I say English speaking skills, I mean – Vocabulary, fluency, grammar, and Etiquette.
2. Build a powerful resume.This is where most fall behind. In the UK (atleast that I know of) – Resume is given a lot of importance. Your resume is expected to contain – Goal statement including your passion to work in the field you are applying for, a detailed entry of past experiences, your skills (which must be relevant to the job you are applying to), Educational and professional qualifications (marks is not important), Other interests you have. In the UK, it is suggested that your resume should change according to every job advert you apply for – according to the mandatory skills each job advert wants the candidate to possess.
3. Personal statement. Some jobs adverts ask for a separate page of personal statement while some ask for a cover letter. Drafting a personal statement can work for the latter as well. This should be a brief of your educational and professional journey, highlight your passion to work in the field you are applying for, you could also go on to explain how you built passion for the same and how you have the skills for it as well and how you will be an addition to the organisation.
4. In the western world, everything takes time. In India, it is common to see people landing a job within a month of starting the process. But here, atleast in the UK, that is impossible. Why? – Systems. There is a strongly built system which all companies follow and, no one is in a rush to fill the position. They would like to spend time to choose the best candidate for the position rather than filling it, so they are in no hurry, they take time. Having said that, it is wise to set aside atleast 4 months for the entire process. [My husband is a doctor, he started applying for jobs in February and landed a job in May. I started applying for jobs in October and landed one in December.]
5. You can apply from anywhere in the globe. There is a common idea that you need to be in the UK to find a job in the UK – it is false, it does not matter from which part of the world you are applying.All that matters is actively looking for jobs on UK job portals (using a UK VPN), applying for many jobs and staying hooked to your email and attend interviews online with a strong internet connection.Do not get sucked into planning for ways to come into the country before getting a job, focus on landing a job instead.
6. Numbers matter – Apply for as many jobs as you can. It is impractical to apply for just 5 jobs and expect to be called in for an interview by 4. If you apply for 20 jobs, it is likely you will be called for an interview by 1 – it is for a fact.
7. Emails is everything – All communications and all business happens online – Digital is for real. Ensure you give your right email address and stay hooked to it.
8. Take this very seriously - Prepare well for the interview, this is another area where most do not do well. Interviews here easily last for an hour and questions involve – Technical questions and soft skill questions. How to prepare? – Be thorough on the subject knowledge for the job you are applying for, prepare for scenario-based questions on soft skills relevant to your role (such as, leadership, resilience, communication skills etc). Suggested book to read –
9. No one here cares about – career gaps, shift in career pathway, personal life events such as marriage/childbirth. All that matters is how convicted and clear you are and how you present yourself.
10. There is another common idea that you need to upskill from global academies/institutes/universities to land a job here. It is not true. You need to have a valid qualification and hone soft skills. Yes, you could take courses relevant to your field to add leverage to your resume but do not overdo it - you will have more opportunities to upskill here once you land a job. What you should instead focus on is refining your soft skills – that is given a lot of importance here. So, if you need to take courses for that, that is advised.
11. Apply for jobs that clearly mention – they will provide sponsorship. As you are not a citizen of the country you are applying for jobs in, you will need a work visa to enter and work. And that work visa must be sponsored by your new employer. [Every country set rules on which industries can provide work visas to their employees. Further every company applying to the government permission to provide sponsorship must prove why they are unable to fill people from within the country]. Many job adverts will also clearly mention that the candidate is expected to have a valid visa to work and that they will not provide a work visa – do NOT apply for those jobs.
12. In continuance to the above – it may be slightly difficult to obtain an entry level job because of sponsorship rules. You are more likely to get a job higher in the hierarchy. Hence it is suggested you gain some work experience in your home country before starting the process of starting a career abroad.
13. Finally, be truthful – about your past, reason for any career gaps, what your future goal is. The more trustworthy you appear, the more likely you are to land a job.

Fly high and catch your dreams.