How to approach the job search for relocation and visa sponsorship jobs?
Table of Contents
– First things first
– Research
– How to Google/LinkedIn for jobs that offer relocation?
– Tips on approaching Recruiters/Hiring Managers for details
– How to apply for jobs that offer relocation?
First things first:
The first step to even begin to prepare for the process of applying for jobs abroad that offer relocation and visa sponsorship is to make a solid decision if you really want to do this.
We need a solid decisive step here at the start because this will be a motivational force for you throughout the process, which can be a pretty long and cumbersome process.
Let’s start with how it was for me. I started applying for jobs back in 2019 for the sole purpose of understanding the difference between my learning and the one expected of me at this stage on the international level. I still remember that I started with crossover because it seemed really lucrative at that time and trust me that even sometimes we prefer learning, challenges and growth in a position, the financial aspect is always there too. So for me, Crossover offered a new challenge and also some better financial prospects for me at that point in time.
I would say that in a journey like this where you have a very long-term goal to be able to become an expert in your field, you need consistency, hard work, and internal motivation. I was really lucky I had support from my family, friends, and also from my professional network as well. This support was instrumental for me to even try to apply for positions that looked difficult at first sight.
So, the first step is taking the leap with full belief that you will make it or at least that even if you failed, you will not fail. Rather, you will learn from your mistakes and come up with a more learned and prepared approach.
Research:
I think this is the most important and overlooked factor for all the job applicants I have interacted with so far, and to be very honest, I used to commit the same mistakes as well. However, on one fine day, I came across this job opportunity at Facebook (now Meta) that I could apply for having the relevant experience.
Luckily enough I found a person that I know on LinkedIn was working in the same department, so I was able to send them a message with some context and details on my experience. Later I was able to discuss this position with them and explained to them my skills and experience which made me a relevant candidate for that position. He was really welcoming of me and was able to guide me about the referral process, he mentioned that you can not just refer everyone with your referral to a company, however, if someone you either know directly or indirectly through a trusted person then you can initiate the process of referring someone to a company.
I was able to find someone who can vouch for my skills to him, and therefore he agreed to refer me to Facebook. Now comes the most important and the part where we all make the most mistakes, at least I used to make hundreds of mistakes there.
The resume is probably the first thing that shows who you really are, sometimes we really take it so lightly that it’s just a piece of paper and one piece of paper can not really make any difference.
However, the resume is probably the first impression that recruiters can have from your side, a well-researched and articulated resume stands out from the rest of the pile. I did not believe this back in 2019, but when I sent my resume to that person at Facebook for referral, he instantly replied after reviewing it that there is no way you can get an interview call with this resume. It looked like this.
The reply from that person was that your resume needs a lot of work and then he helped me improve my resume and shared a resume format that can be easy to read and understand by recruiters. I spent a number of days improving all aspects of my resume, including clearly mentioning my individual contributions to the projects I had worked on and adding the relevant details as per the position I am applying for. Long story short, I didn’t even get an interview call for that position after applying with dedicated effort.
So what I learned from all this effort was that sometimes rejection is just God’s way of telling you not right now or maybe you have not learned enough. I continued learning more tools and technologies while networking with seniors on LinkedIn to get insights into how getting jobs with Visa sponsorships work.
I wrote some articles to share my knowledge and to improve my understanding of the topics which I thought that I am already pretty good at because writing something requires a very solid understanding otherwise you will not be able to articulate your thoughts into writing effectively.
Not only that, but I got some opportunities through my network to conduct some online workshops during COVID-19 in 2020 and it felt superb to give something back to the community and to share my knowledge with the young graduates. During the pandemic, I continued my research and got in contact with some of my university seniors already in Germany and they went directly from Pakistan to Germany with Relocation and Visa support. I got to know about stack overflow as a job board from a senior and started applying for positions that were a perfect match for me. I started getting some replies because my resume was already pretty good thanks to the guy from Facebook and his help, it looked like this now.
Now let’s move on to the next part on how I searched for the jobs and how you can approach recruiters for guidance.
How to Google/LinkedIn for jobs that offer relocation?
I have already explained this in detail in my LinkedIn post as well as in my previous medium article.
Tips on approaching recruiters or hiring managers
This is the most important, as here you are going to have the best contact with a person from the company that you intend to work at in the future. When you contact any person from a company you want to apply for, make sure you have already done your homework about the company name, positions open and also if you fit the basic qualifications required for the position.
I have messaged almost hundreds of people throughout my professional journey and I have noticed that if a message is written clearly and concisely (not too long or not too short) then you will get a reply from the other person around 90% of the time. The key here is not to try to ask them to get you the job, but rather to have professional communication with them so that they can at least appreciate your good written communication skills on the first impression.
Let me share some examples of what to send and what not to send:
Never ever send a simple Hi message or just a Hi message asking How are you?
Always send a complete message on LinkedIn, and you can write the message on a notepad or any other text editor before. You can start with Hi, Person name and then you can explain your current job and company plus explaining your relevant experience for the position you want to apply for. You can share these details only with the people you are already connected with and have had some interaction with before and that interaction can be on a post or in a message.
Otherwise, you can never ask anyone for a reference or job position if you do not know them personally or professionally, the good thing is that you can have interaction with people on LinkedIn in various ways by interacting constructively to their posts or maybe discussing some topics related to their field of expertise and highlighting your expertise in it during the same time as well.
Finally, always make sure that the person you are sending a message to is responsible for the hiring of that position and if you are not sure then please ask them politely in the message to share contact details of the person responsible for hiring for the position you want to apply for.
How to apply for jobs that offer relocation?
I have already shared this in detail in one of my articles on medium and if you want to apply for such jobs then you can visit this article here.
I will write the second part of this article later which will help you prepare for the interviews once you submit your job application and you start receiving interview calls from companies, If you liked this article then please follow me here and clap on this article and share with your friends to help them.
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
