Reader,
I am reading these days about how degrees are valued less, compared to the skills needed for the day to day responsibilities of your job.
Those rejections that happen right away when you submit the application? It could be because you don't have the specific systems or tools needed for the job in your CV. Things like GitHub, Azure or Python.
There are many options for companies to get help right now from the workforce.
There are fractional workers and online freelancers, like on Upwork. So if you are not building your profile with all of the necessary skills and even buzzwords for your desired job, someone else is building that profile right now online. And they are working from home, doing it for much less compensation than a large salary.
If you were a company: would you pay a nice 90-100k€ salary to someone who has a question mark in their profile with regards to the skills based knowledge for the job?
Or would you rather pay by the hour, or by project completion. To someone who's ready to get started right now, with no onboarding, and plenty of recent successful projects to evaluate.
The online freelancer or fractional executive is much more cost effective and might even give you more confidence. And by the way, those freelancers usually don't have the masters degree from Oxford or Harvard. They are still finding plenty of work right now because they are accessible and low cost, but most importantly, they are knowledgable about the very specific skills for certain projects.
What to do about this if you want relocation?
Start doing those extra courses to get the system/tool names on your CV. It might sound simple but they need to match every single one on the JD. At least most of them.
You need to provide much more value than just one project if you want a job with an office and relocation. The company needs to justify paying for a space to host workers and bring them into the country. There are costs involved.
Who are you building a relationship with inside of the company?
If you can find an ally that sees you as more than a short-term solution to a project, that's when you get a chance to enter their "family".
It's really a team and corporate environment, but you have to think about a company as the most evolved form of group thinking or an ecosystem. There's a level of trust you need to gain in order to be let in to any unit, be it family or team. The risk outweighs the reward most of the time given the alternatives like low cost, online skills-based workers.
If you don't have all the necessary skills for the role, the most likely the way to get accepted for an interview from a new company will be someone giving you a favor out of compassion.
This is what we are doing right now.
Every week until August, I discuss with hiring managers the best way to make introductions, or how to apply to make sure an application gets proper attention.
We still have 3 spots left. Let me know what you are working on this week and if you are interested.
Otherwise, you know we always have the flexible monthly plan.
Thanks,
Kevin