Progress

Few month ago someone asked me in the comments whether I've made some progress? Well, I did! Happy to say that I've found a job, which exceeded my expectations. But the interesting part is how I got the job.

I've just started a job with a family company in a small village and desperately imagined my future without progress there when one day I received an invitation for an interview in Brussels. Didn't pay much attention to it since I wasn't allowed to take days off from my current job. So I explained that the only way I could do this interview is through Skype in my lunch break! Surprisingly enough they agreed! So here I was, spent almost an hour on Skype, in my car, interviewed for a job to a company I didn't even take a look at the website.

I had this habit to prepare myself carefully for an interview, to take a look at different sections of the website, read at least a few newsletters, get acquainted with the people I expect will interview me! Not this time!

Completely unprepared, totally comfortable with that, very confident from the position of someone who has nothing to loose, I did the interview. Few days later, again completely unexpected, they asked me to meet the Board of Directors in Brussels! Well, that deserved asking for a day-off!

The interview went well. My only impression was that there was a guy looking mean during the interview, one posing difficult questions, and one taking notes and nodding all the time. Wasn't sure who has more weigh in the decision but now, after six months on the job, I figured out that the mean guy is absolutely not mean :)

But in the end, what really go me the job wasn't my fantastic interview or CV. It was the references from all my previous jobs in Brussels. Apparently, they called all my previous supervisors, and they were all very, very positive about me. I am not much of an ass-kisser but it's good to know that your efforts have been noticed, that your talents are cherished and that you made a positive contribution.

So the moral of this tail is: No need to kiss asses when you can just be yourself and keep up the good work!

Good luck with your job hunt! And stay tuned for more tips and tricks!

Chased by a hunter

It's official. I've been chased by a hunter, a job hunter, I mean.  I have been a Brussels-intern for more than a year now. I've worked with different European, pan-European, international and multinational organisations and part of my job has always been monitoring the general email account of these organisation. You cannot imagine how much fun this could be! Especially, if you're lucky, just as I was. Throughout my internships, I have been able to follow up on the career advancement (or the lack of it) of a certain candidate, whose CV I have personally received more than 10 times. It's the perfect example of how you'll never land a job. Not only in Brussels. 

It was also an excellent example of a bad CV, or what's even more disturbing, a good profile with a very lousy CV. Decent education, remarkable experience, excellent language skills and all that presented in a boring, ugly Europass format. A couple of months later, I have received an updated version of the CV. This time no Europass format, yet a screaming inability to hyperlink, describe a job in less than 1 page or begin a sentence with anything but "I".

The second reason why this candidate will never get a job this way is because (s)he is not reaching HR at all. Sending your CV to the first random email address that you come across, is not really a good strategy. It's no strategy at all.

Last but not least, sending a spontaneous application requires more research than applying for a vacancy. Write a motivation letter, show why you want to work for this company, how you will be an asset to them. 

 "Dear [organisation], In annex I send you my Curriculum, CV for position you will evaluate" 

Well, my dear, guess what? I am not the one "evaluating" neither CVs, nor positions. If I were the one, I would have "evaluated" one for myself a long time ago. And your CV is nothing but junk mail. 

10 Smart Things A Job Seeker Can Do

A friend of mine recently shared this article with me. The tips may sound a bit of a cliché but I like them so reposting here with my Brussels-perspective comments to these tips:

10 Smart Things A Job Seeker Can Do *

#10 Be positive!

Prepare yourself mentally. It will be a long process. Don't expect to get hired straight away. The bar in Brussels is really high so if you're not an exact match to a certain profile or if you're not born under a lucky star, it could take a while.  

Take a hard look at your finances. Really important. Lots of internships are unpaid & full-time. Don't wait to get the internship offered so that you start negotiating for an allowance. NGOs budget at least an year in advance so chances are that they will stick to that part. Forget also about working part-time. If you don't have the finances, don't apply at all. This will keep you out of the black list of applicants.

Doing a SWAT analysis is a useful thing. I would personally not rely on my own biased judgement. My advice - ask a friend or a couple of friends to do this for you. It's easier to have a clear perspective on your weaknesses and threats from a certain distance.  

Set realistic goals. True. Please don't review them daily. You'll get crazy if you do that.

Develop a job search strategy. And by that I certainly don't mean knocking on the doors of NGOs with a CV in your hand. That's not a job search strategy. But hey, you've just scored a 10 on the Brussels humiliation scale.  

Treat your search as your job. It is a job, and it's a full-time one. Take the time to review your application before sending off.

Network to build relationships not to find a job. Smart advice. How do you spot the novice intern in Brussels? (S)he starts the conversation with "Hi, I'm an intern at... I am looking for a job, blah, blah, blah" I'm not kidding. I've heard that at least a dozen times. Never gives the right impression. So be curios, but be smart.  

Focus on self-improvement. Work on your French/German/Spanish or whatever transitional skills you (would like to) have. You can never lose an investment in knowledge and it's one of the few things that employers actually do care about.  

Volunteer and stay relevant. Plenty of opportunities to do that in Belgium. Don't miss the chance to get to learn a new organisation & some people. Go to conference, seminars, trainings...  

Be positive. That's easier said than done. I'm a huge fan of negative thinking so I established a ritual: each time that I get a negative response to a job application I go for a beer! A Belgian one ;)


* Credits to Brad Attig, Ivy Exec’s Director of Talent Development

Click here to apply

Not surprisingly the first thing to see when you open the EU Careers webpage is the "Face a bigger challenge" banner. EU Institutions and their websites do indeed qualify as a bigger challenge than being unemployed.

Most EU Institutions have webpages that perfectly reflect their functioning- messy & disturbing at times. Bad design and user interface which will confuse even the most computer savvy among us is the first obstacle to find, say, an internship at European institutions. Even if you have for some reason lost the battle with EU Institutions though, you still have a chance to win the war. Brussels offers a variety of opportunities at NGOs and think thanks. Here's a short overview of the most important websites for vacancies.

The bibles for every graduate looking for a job or an internship in Brussels are:

• The job site of EurActiv 
• And Eurobrussels

Both offer a very good and up to date database of the current vacancies in Brussels and the region. The websites are really useful, especially for positions in marketing, communications, EU policy or general administration. A user-friendly filter allows you to specify job category, location and your experience (or the lack of it ;)) The downside, of course, is that many other applicants follow the same websites.

Here's one which I personally just discovered. Judging on the quality of the website, it is worth a try.

Something similar could be found here.  Although I have to warn you to look carefully at the vacancies before applying. It is possible that the vacancy is 2-3 years old. Also some of the links are often broken. What this website is highly useful for is that it provides a really good overview of organisations with internship programmes. By simply scrolling down, you can see a very extensive list of NGOs and think tanks. Even if they have no openings at the moment, it is definitely good to keep an eye on them. 

A Guide to Internships at EU Institutions

Ever wondered where and how to apply for an internship at the EU Institutions? Personally, I do it all the time (I mean wondering). The procedures are quite unclear, slow, confusing. Websites are extremely user-unfriendly, but given the potential they're worth giving a try. Here's an overview of the main EU institutions in Brussels where you can apply for an internship.

Traineeships and Study Visits in the European Parliament 

Traineeship at the European Commission  

Traineeship at the European Ombudsman service

Traineeships at the European Economic and Social Committee

Traineeships at the various Community Agencies

And although I am pretty sure that you can do an internship at the Committee of the Regions, I couldn't find any link with further information. 

Connect the dots, said Steve Jobs

If you’re one of the thousands of young graduates that have recently applied for a job, then you most likely know the feeling; the feeling of disappointment when you found out that you’re not going to get the job (internship) you’ve applied for. The bitter feeling takes over you and you start questioning your skills, personality and even the significance of your achievements. The feeling is even worse if the job was one that you appreciated, sincerely wanted and believed to be experienced enough for.

Most HR specialists will always manage to take a rabbit out of their hat and tell you a reason why you are not suitable for a position. To name just a few: lack of experience, not the right qualifications, or an unsatisfactory interview.  As I was reflecting on this today, I came across, not surprisingly given the circumstances,  SteveJobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. It is quite moving, regardless of whether you're an Apple-maniac or not, so if you haven’t heard it, now is the perfect time to do so. To make the long story short, Jobs explains how everything in his life had happened for a reason.  Dropping out of college and being fired from the company that he established was his destiny, the route he had to follow. Without following exactly the same (career)path he wouldn’t have been the visionary Steve Jobs that we knew. 

This made me think and re-think my perspective. Maybe it’s not you, your application, personality or qualifications. What if it is simply destiny? So if you’ve also quit college, have been recently fired, are doing the third (un)paid internship in your life, a PhD, or a third MA or you’re simply not getting the dream job, it is (maybe) because this is your destiny, the route you have to follow. All these things are just dots. And even if now, from the perspective of an unemployed job-seeker, you fail to see how these dots could be related to each other, how these unfortunate career steps could actually be part of your way up, a sort of destiny master-plan for you, one day you will. Because:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your guts, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

So next time when you hear that you’re not the person they’ve been looking for, remember that maybe it's exactly the opposite - this is not the company YOU're looking for. A failed job opportunity is just a dot, a dot, which will soon make sense. A blessing in disguise...

Never say it out loud

While surfing on the net today, I discovered a website with different types of "catchy" openings for cover letters. One of the recommendations, obviously suitable for overconfident applicants who target the same type of recruiters, was to start your letter with "You should be crazy not to take me!"

Yeah, right! I quickly closed that page in an attempt to clear my mind from that contagious thought. Truth is every time I start writing a cover letter this idea just gets stuck into my mind, making me believe that I am the only possible candidate who fulfills the requirements and is available immediately. The ugly truth is - I am not. There are at least a couple of more candidates, who if not better, are equally good as me (you). Thinking that "they" should be crazy not to take "you" is wrong on so many levels, so where should I begin?

First, confidence is one thing. Overconfidence is something totally different. It blurs your assessment of where you stand, what your skills and qualifications are and what they need to be. If you start writing a cover letter with that idea in mind, you will most likely fail to identify your weaknesses. By only pointing out how you "fit" the requirements you neglect your vulnerable points. And I honestly believe that mentioning your weaknesses in a positive way in the cover letter is a must.

Second, overconfidence can backfire. HR people are different. You never know what kind of person will look at your application. So in case you are not familiar with the person or organisation your applying for, be careful with bold (opening) lines.

Third, if you're not swearing by the power of positive thinking, my advice is to be moderate in your expectations. This way actually being invited for an interview will be a surprisingly good event.

Last but not least, I've heard already a couple of people applying for jobs they are not qualified for, say the same thing. So even if this thought slips into your mind, never say it out loud.  You cannot imagine how ridiculous it could sound.

Fingers crossed!