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Работа в Европе 2026: вся правда — Transcript

by Polina K. · 6,036 words · 893 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00In 2022, I found a job in the
0:02Netherlands in 3 weeks. 3 years later.
0:05In 2025, when I lost my job and hit the
0:08market, I was shocked because I sent
0:10150 applications and received only
0:12three interview invitations. Three. The
0:16most annoying part of this story is
0:17that I already realized at that point
0:19that the market had changed. However,
0:22like many others, I simply didn't
0:23understand, and sometimes still don't
0:25understand, what to do about it. If you
0:29opened this video now and realize that
0:31you've also sent about a hundred
0:33applications for various vacancies, but
0:35you only get emails saying "
0:36unfortunately" and so on, then you
0:38definitely understand the job market
0:40situation I'm talking about. And
0:43meanwhile, I live in the Netherlands
0:45and constantly read in the news that
0:46Europe is short of workers, short of
0:48manpower. That's why Europe is opening
0:50up additional spots and granting
0:52additional worker visas. So, are we
0:54short of people or are we short of work
0:56? Something doesn't add up here. Today
0:59we will figure out what really happened
1:00to the labor market in Europe. And by
1:03the way, I found one figure that
1:04literally made my jaw drop, because I
1:06didn't expect such a result at all.
1:09I'll tell you about the most absurd
1:10interview in my life, which also took
1:12place in Europe, specifically in the
1:14Netherlands. And I'll tell you how I
1:16found a job a year ago and how I
1:18received two offers in 2026. However,
1:21neither of them suited me, so I stayed
1:23at my previous job because the
1:24conditions there were still better. And
1:27there will be a step-by-step plan, so
1:29that will be the most useful part of
1:30this entire video. And plus, especially
1:33for you, I've compiled a list of
1:35companies hiring foreigners in 2026.
1:37And I will share it somewhere in the
1:39middle of this video. So make sure to
1:41watch until the end, guys. When I was
1:44little, I thought that I would get an
1:46education, I would grow up, have a
1:47great degree, have a great job, and I
1:49would be able to get a house, buy a
1:51house, rather, yes, buy a car and so on
1:53and all that. However, now I realize
1:57that the problem is not just that there
1:59is a lack of jobs for specialists like
2:01me working in IT, but also that, most
2:03likely, we will all soon be replaced by
2:06AI, or at least everything is heading
2:08towards AI replacing part of the
2:09specialists in the market, and it will
2:12be quite difficult for everyone to even
2:14earn enough for food, let alone
2:16something more. But let's go back a bit
2:19earlier to understand what actually
2:20happened to the market. The pandemic
2:22began in 2020. We all remember it well,
2:25and all businesses moved online.
2:27Because of that, there weren't enough
2:28specialists. There weren't enough
2:30specialists to build software. And it
2:33was exactly at that moment that a ton
2:35of specialists were hired to, well,
2:37actually build that software. In
2:40America alone, I saw statistics showing
2:42that, for example, a company like Meta
2:45hired twice as many employees. That is,
2:48their staff doubled during the pandemic
2:50to keep building that very software.
2:53Basically, anyone and everyone could
2:55become an IT specialist. It didn't
2:57matter if you wrote code, worked as a
2:59marketer in IT, or were a designer, and
3:01so on. There was a real shortage of
3:02hands. On that wave. In 2022, I arrived
3:04in the Netherlands from Ukraine. I knew
3:07nothing at all about the labor market
3:09or how things worked here. I had
3:11previously worked at a Ukrainian design
3:12agency where they taught us how to
3:14interview and how to present ourselves
3:16correctly. So, I already had some
3:17foundation of knowledge about that. And
3:19I decided to see what was happening in
3:21the Dutch market, what jobs and
3:22vacancies were available, and so on. I
3:25set up my LinkedIn, filled it out
3:26completely as we were taught, started
3:28applying to job postings with my resume
3:30, and I landed several interviews right
3:32away. I don't remember all the
3:34companies I interviewed with, but there
3:35were four of them. And after three
3:37weeks, two of them ended up offering me
3:39a job. Three weeks. And in each of
3:42those companies, I went through only
3:44two interview stages. First with HR,
3:46second with the design lead. That was
3:47it, there were no test assignments,
3:49whiteboard sessions, or endless
3:50conversations with different people.
3:53Now that sounds like a joke to me, like
3:55something unreal from a parallel
3:56universe, because these days you rarely
3:58see anything less than six stages. And
4:02by the way, I wasn't imagining it,
4:04because I looked at the statistics
4:06later, and the summer of 2022 in the
4:08Netherlands was statistically the best
4:10time to find a job because there were
4:12so many empty positions and so few
4:14specialists. So, specialists were truly
4:17being snatched up like hotcakes. My job
4:19was ready to offer me a Highly Skilled
4:21Migrant visa immediately, as well as
4:23support with renting housing and rental
4:25guarantees. In short, there were a lot
4:28of perks that I won't list now, but at
4:30the time I was truly surprised that
4:32foreign specialists were in such high
4:34demand, and it didn't even matter how
4:36good your English or Dutch was. My
4:39English was at an A2/B1 level. I could
4:42explain things, I could talk about work
4:44, but it wasn't exactly amazing.
4:45Essentially, I just hit the best market
4:48moment in the last 20 years with my two
4:50offers. And it's also very important to
4:53understand in this context that, to
4:55some extent, it wasn't me being great,
4:57but the market being great for offering
4:59us experts, yes, specialists, so many
5:01cool opportunities. And also, when I
5:04say that I found a job in 3 weeks, that
5:05is indeed the truth. But you need to
5:08understand the context of when that was
5:10, and the context that the market at
5:12that moment was the absolute best for
5:14experts to enter. But then the market
5:16started to gradually cool down,
5:17companies began watching their budgets,
5:19and companies started reorganizing. So,
5:22bit by bit, this IT hype started to
5:25fade away. And I saw it around me,
5:27because our design teams started, after
5:30a year, to gradually cut some teams,
5:32remove some, and transfer others.
5:34Meaning something unpleasant was
5:36constantly happening. But here is the
5:39most interesting part of this story.
5:41Even now, in 2026, the Netherlands has
5:45the most open job vacancies. And then
5:50the question arises: why do specialists
5:52here search for work for months, or
5:53even half a year? How does it happen
5:56that a market where there are millions,
5:58billions—okay, I'm exaggerating—
6:00where there are hundreds and thousands
6:02of open vacancies for specialists,
6:04cannot find those very specialists? And
6:06here we logically move on to chapter
6:08number two. If Europe is short on
6:10people, why won't they hire me? There
6:12was a period in my life, it was 2024,
6:14when I was living in Dubai at that time
6:17. And from Dubai, I decided to move
6:18back to the Netherlands. And I started
6:20looking for work in the Netherlands
6:21while staying directly in Dubai. I
6:23wanted them to help me with the
6:24relocation. I wanted them to help me
6:25with a visa and so on. Basically, I
6:27wanted to play it safe right from the
6:29start. And I entered that market
6:31knowing everything I already knew
6:32before. So, I entered the market with
6:35roughly the same concept, sent out
6:37about 150 applications, and got three
6:39interviews—three. I opened LinkedIn
6:42every day, I opened my email every day,
6:45I monitored vacancies every day. And it
6:47caused me huge panic because my time in
6:50Dubai was running out. Moreover, it was
6:52running out very quickly. I needed to
6:54pay my bills, I needed to buy tickets
6:56to the Netherlands, I needed to bring
6:57my things to the Netherlands, but at
6:59the same time, I couldn't find a job. I
7:01have never been in a situation where I
7:03was completely without work for any
7:04period of time. Usually, there are
7:07always some side projects, I have
7:09Upwork, but somehow at one point
7:10everything just stopped working, the
7:12market changed completely. And I really
7:15felt it very strongly myself. That, you
7:18know, semi-depression from not
7:19understanding: am I such a bad
7:21specialist, or is it that nobody needs
7:23me anymore, or have I been replaced, or
7:25are my skills no longer enough, or did
7:26I stay at a company for so long that I
7:28just went stale, so to speak, and as an
7:30expert, I'm no longer interesting or
7:32needed by anyone. In parallel with this
7:36, I open the news and see this
7:37constantly. Europe is short of workers,
7:40blah-blah-blah-blah-blah. Okay, take me
7:42, I am sitting right here. Here, please
7:44, take me. And in general, I figured
7:47out how it all works. Unemployment in
7:49the EU is now around 6%, and over the
7:52last year about 350,000 people have
7:56become unemployed. And then I saw a
7:59labor report, and it turned out that 98
8:01%of the professions that are in short
8:03supply in one country are in surplus in
8:06another. And here my jaw dropped a
8:10little, because I don't understand at
8:12all how this can be in the European
8:14Union, where we have no borders, where
8:16we can all move between countries,
8:18where we can all work wherever we want,
8:20and so on. How is this even possible?
8:23Now imagine a small hospital in Germany
8:26where there is a catastrophic shortage
8:28of nurses. The nurses working at this
8:31hospital are overworked, they are
8:33burning out, and they are quitting. In
8:35short, they are really short-handed.
8:38And now we have, for example, a girl
8:39named Anya. She is a nurse, but, let's
8:42say, in Latvia or Lithuania. And she
8:44hasn't been able to find a job for
8:45several months, even though she is a
8:46specialist in her field. She has 5
8:48years of work experience. And in
8:50general, in Lithuania, for example,
8:52there is a surplus of nurses. That is
8:54why Anya is sitting without a job. Anya
8:56sees a vacancy in Germany and
8:57immediately sees the requirement for
8:59German at a B2 level. And she
9:01understands that this is at least a
9:03year of investment in her language, in
9:05her German language skills. That is, it
9:07requires money, energy, and preferably
9:10a job to sponsor all this. Then it
9:12turns out that her diploma from
9:14Lithuania needs to be validated in
9:16Germany, because her diploma is not
9:18recognized in Germany. That means
9:20gathering documents, getting everything
9:21translated, and obtaining special
9:23licenses. At the same time, Anya also,
9:25for example, has a husband, an
9:26apartment, a child, yes, and everything
9:28else. Meaning her life is already
9:29established. Just picking up and moving
9:32to Germany to work as a nurse, even for
9:34more money, is simply not profitable.
9:36That is to say, those are the exact 98%
9:38. There are people, there are vacancies
9:41, but standing between them are
9:43language barriers, documents, licenses,
9:45and just your regular, standard life.
9:47And it's a bit painful for me to talk
9:48about this, because I am an IT
9:50specialist myself, in a way. But the
9:52advice "everyone go into IT" has long
9:54been outdated, because Europe is
9:55actually short on other specialists,
9:58for example, in logistics, technology,
10:00engineering, as well as nurses and
10:02doctors. An electrician or a plumber
10:04can find a high-paying job much faster
10:06on the local market than, for instance,
10:08a designer. But working in IT has one
10:11big advantage, because your entire
10:14workflow usually happens in English.
10:17Meaning, there isn't such a language
10:19barrier. That's one. Two. No one asks
10:22for degree validation or licenses,
10:23because it’s not the kind of
10:25profession that actually requires that.
10:27I arrived in Europe, in the Netherlands
10:28, myself, yes, without knowing the
10:29Dutch language. I got here with a
10:31degree in international relations,
10:33specializing in political science, so
10:35my profession is actually that of a
10:36politician-diplomat. And yet, I landed
10:39in an IT company where I worked as a UX
10:42/UI designer. And especially against
10:44the backdrop of AI and everything else,
10:46the advice "go into IT"——it has
10:47simply stopped being that magic pill,
10:49you know, where they take, pardon my
10:50expression, just anyone into IT. And
10:53now the market has transformed. But
10:54that doesn't mean it's impossible to
10:56find a job here at all. You just need
10:58to understand that it will take more of
11:01your time and more of your energy, but
11:03it is still possible. Let's talk a
11:05little bit about AI in this chapter, or
11:07the next one, yes. Remember when
11:09ChatGPT first appeared and everyone
11:11joked: "Ha-ha-ha, AI will replace
11:12people." And when an AI would put out
11:14some clumsy result, everyone would
11:16laugh at it. Now, in 2026, it's not so
11:18funny anymore; it's like AI is actually
11:21doing most of my routine work, and the
11:23work of everyone in IT in general. It
11:26writes code for programmers.
11:27Programmers just review it; it makes
11:29screens for me, and I also just review
11:31and rework them. In essence, it
11:33performs a huge amount of the routine
11:35work that I used to do with my own
11:36hands. And what happens next,
11:38consequently? Do you think they just
11:40let you work half as much? No. Now they
11:43expect 5 to 10 times more from you,
11:45because you can bring the company 10
11:47times more results. At the same time,
11:50the International Labour Organization
11:52estimated that every fourth profession
11:53in the world will be affected by AI in
11:55one way or another. And now, if you are
11:58, for example, a designer like me, they
12:00ask you not only to be a designer, but
12:03also an analyst, a marketer, a product
12:05owner, and so on—a code reviewer,
12:07even a vibe coder, heaven forbid. And
12:10all this, in essence, fits within the
12:11framework of a single profession. And
12:13your day consists of just arguing with
12:15artificial intelligence all day long
12:17because it keeps doing something wrong.
12:20But at the same time, you now have to
12:22do ten times as many tasks and complete
12:24these tasks ten times faster. The
12:27biggest problem here, it seems to me,
12:29is the issue with juniors, because
12:31companies are simply slowly stopping
12:32hiring junior-level staff. Because why
12:34would they need to? Because, in
12:36principle, AI is already performing all
12:38the functions of those very juniors.
12:40That is, it is no longer enough for a
12:41junior to just learn Figma, understand
12:43how design works in general, and so on.
12:45First, more is expected of them, and
12:47second, there are fewer vacancies
12:48because one person who knows how to use
12:50AI can replace three juniors. And here
12:52I am genuinely scared for those who are
12:55just starting out in these professions
12:57now, because the ladder I climbed back
12:59in the day, it just partially doesn't
13:01exist anymore; it has partly
13:02disappeared. And now the approach to
13:04starting this kind of work is
13:06completely different. But don't panic,
13:09designers, because it is very important
13:10right now to know exactly how to work
13:12with AI and guide it. And now, if you
13:15can competently show how you manage all
13:17the processes within AI and understand
13:20the system as a whole, then you can
13:22find another job that suits you without
13:24any problems. At the moment, companies
13:26still don't know how to do all this
13:28manually themselves. If you demonstrate
13:30your skills, and also apply them—for
13:32example, in the same Claude design—
13:34and make something cool that doesn't
13:35look like just another piece of AI slop
13:37, your place will definitely be yours.
13:39So, the next chapter. What did I do
13:42with my resume, and how did I
13:43eventually find a job? Back to my 150
13:45job applications: in 2024, I already
13:47understood that I had much more
13:49experience and much more
13:50professionalism, and I already knew how
13:52to manage a team, but I was still
13:54always met with silence, and I started
13:56digging. What exactly was I doing wrong
13:58? For one thing, my resume was two
14:00pages long. It had a photo on it, and
14:02it included all the experience I could
14:04possibly come up with. I was cramming
14:07it in there to show the company how
14:09great I am, how versatile I am, and how
14:11responsible I am for so many tasks. So,
14:14what did I end up doing? I went to look
14:15at the portfolios of other great
14:17designers and their resumes, and how
14:18they actually put it all together. And
14:20you know what I realized? That their
14:22resumes take up a maximum of one page.
14:24And in fact, it’s a golden unwritten
14:27rule that your resume should fit on one
14:29to one and a half pages at most.
14:31Because the less information you
14:33provide about yourself, actually, the
14:36better, because the information you do
14:38include in your resume must perfectly,
14:40perfectly match the company and the job
14:43description of the company you are
14:45applying to. By the way, this year I
14:47also created my own personal portfolio
14:49website, because before that, my
14:51portfolio was on Behance, where I
14:52detailed all my cases and described
14:54exactly how I work. I also completely
14:57revamped my LinkedIn and started
14:58posting things there sometimes, yes, to
15:00increase some activity. And even right
15:03now in 2026, firstly, I practically
15:05received an offer at that one place.
15:08They turned me down at the last minute
15:09because they didn't have enough budget
15:11for the role. Secondly, I received an
15:14offer from another American company,
15:15which I declined simply because working
15:17on US time didn't suit me. So, in 2026,
15:20finding a job as a designer is still
15:22possible and still not that difficult.
15:24That is why I would advise you to start
15:26revamping your resume right now. And
15:28please, adapt your resume for every
15:30single job opening. That is, if there
15:33is a certain skill in a job posting,
15:35you can add it to your resume so that
15:37these keywords match. Even if—a
15:40little life hack from me—even if you
15:42don't know what this skill is, or
15:43rather, no, you know what the skill is,
15:45but you don't know how to apply it, you
15:47lack the experience, yes, of applying
15:49this skill, write it down anyway
15:50because you can learn it along the way.
15:53You will be taught certain skills in
15:55the process at a European company
15:57anyway. The main thing for you is to
15:59cross this barrier, yes, between your
16:01resume and talking to a recruiter. This
16:04is the most, most important thing—to
16:06cross this bridge. And later, when
16:09you've already established a personal
16:11connection with a recruiter, are
16:12talking to them directly, and moving
16:14through different interview stages, yes
16:16, it will be much easier to talk about
16:18your experience and also explain that,
16:20for example, this skill isn't very
16:21developed yet, but I'm ready to learn,
16:23and I'm ready to put in every effort so
16:25that by the time I start the job, this
16:27skill is, for instance, mastered to a
16:29good enough percentage to be sufficient
16:31for the company. So, this is something
16:35you can discuss more or less, but in
16:37order to even reach the interview stage
16:39, sometimes you need to tweak your
16:40resume a little, change the way your
16:42information is presented. A recruiter
16:45looks at your resume for only a few
16:47seconds, and in those few seconds, they
16:50need to see immediately whether you are
16:52a fit or not. It’s understandable
16:54that a miracle didn't happen to me
16:56immediately after all that. For every
16:5815-20 applications, I roughly land one
17:01interview. And that is actually a clear
17:04and good conversion rate for the
17:05current market, because I've seen
17:07conversion rates for others where they
17:09get maybe two interviews out of 100
17:11applications. That's the reality, yes.
17:13Therefore, if you get two interviews
17:14out of 100 applications, then you're
17:16doing a great job in 2026. So,
17:18interviewing in 2026 is complete
17:20absurdity, because they can have five,
17:22six, or seven stages. And it takes
17:26months. Sometimes, literally months. It
17:29could be a screening with a recruiter,
17:31a screening with a manager, a test
17:32assignment, a presentation of the test,
17:34a portfolio presentation, a whiteboard
17:36session, a talk with the CEO, a talk
17:37with the CTO, a talk with the team, and
17:39then you get an email: "Sorry, we've
17:40decided to move forward with other
17:42candidates." I've had 10-hour test
17:44assignments and whiteboard sessions.
17:47And in the end, I realized that the
17:48best companies that actually hired me
17:50were the ones that either really
17:51conducted whiteboard sessions, yes,
17:53when you do test tasks essentially
17:55during the call. And I actually like
17:58that much more because I can
17:59essentially handle it in an hour. But
18:02test assignments are given for 4, 5, 8,
18:04or 10 hours. And you sit over them for
18:06hours, and you don't understand how
18:08well you've progressed in that test,
18:09and in the end, they just reject you.
18:11So, I realized that I don't want to do
18:13test assignments, and I won't do them
18:14if they take longer than 2 hours. And
18:16the toughest test I probably had was
18:18when I was told: "Please, for this
18:20financial company, look at all these
18:21flows and redesign the main ones, the
18:23way you understand them." Excuse me,
18:26but redesigning core flows is a
18:28full-time job, potentially taking six
18:31months, because to redesign those flows
18:33, you need to talk to users, conduct
18:35interviews, look at metrics, and,
18:37excuse me, create Figma screens and
18:39build a design system. This is a task
18:43that takes a huge number of hours. So,
18:45it also depends on how much I want to
18:47redo them, right, and how much detail I
18:49want to put into that redesign. In the
18:51end, I did the flows as wireframes,
18:52meaning I didn't flesh them out into
18:53high-fidelity designs. It took me about
18:55a week. I was genuinely interested in
18:57working on it. I wrote out the
18:58reasoning for every screen, why I made
19:00specific decisions, and so on. And do
19:01you know why they turned me down?
19:02Because they said my screens weren't
19:05detailed enough. Not detailed enough.
19:08Guys, were you just looking for
19:10finished work from me so you could
19:11reject me later and just take those
19:13designs to use on your website? No,
19:15thank you, that’s not going to happen
19:17. I once had a truly absurd interview
19:19at a Dutch company. It was a technology
19:21company. They were building some kind
19:23of AI product related to code. And as a
19:25designer, I was supposed to come up
19:27with an interface for this product. So
19:29I show up, and the first thing they say
19:31is, "We’re not going to tell you
19:33anything about the company at all.""
19:35Tell us what you’ve gathered about
19:37the company and ask us the right
19:38questions about our product.""If you
19:40ask the wrong questions, we’ll know
19:42you’re not an expert." To which I
19:44said, "Guys, thanks a lot." But job
19:46hunting is a process where two people
19:48are mutually interested in the outcome.
19:50You clearly aren't interested in this
19:52process, so good luck. And yes,
19:53regarding test assignments. A large
19:55test assignment by itself is not
19:56necessarily a red flag. But if it is a
19:57large assignment, it should be paid,
19:59and if they don't hire you, they should
20:01explain exactly what you did wrong. In
20:03the Netherlands, this is a very common
20:04practice, because I’ve done other
20:05test assignments twice—specifically
20:07the large ones, if you don't count that
20:08financial company. And I was paid there
20:10; for one, I was paid 100 euros for the
20:13assignment, and for the other, 500
20:14euros. And I think that was quite fair,
20:18because the first assignment took me, I
20:20believe, 4 hours of work, and the
20:22second one took me 2 days, and they
20:24paid 500 euros for it. If you’ve also
20:27had some strange or interesting
20:29interviews in Europe, share them in the
20:30comments. I will definitely read them.
20:32And maybe I’ll make a separate video
20:34about interviews, how to pass them, and
20:36what my experience has been. Let me
20:38know if you would be interested in that
20:39. Next chapter. Who can actually hire
20:42you? I truly see a common mistake where
20:45people apply for jobs in Europe for
20:47which they have no chance. For example,
20:50some vacancies require a specific
20:52language, some require special
20:53documents. Yes, and in job postings,
20:55you need to look at four things that
20:57everyone often forgets or confuses.
20:59First: English as a working language.
21:01Second: relocation assistance. Third:
21:03visa sponsorship. And fourth, if it’s
21:06remote work, remote work within the EU.
21:09If it is remote work within the EU, you
21:11must understand that the company most
21:13likely won't sponsor your visa, yet you
21:15still must work within the EU. This
21:18means you need to figure out yourself
21:19which visa to get and where and how to
21:21settle in Europe. For example, a nomad
21:24visa in Spain, or some visa in Serbia,
21:27or well, basically any visa, but it
21:29must be within the EU territory for
21:31your own reasons. In other words, the
21:34company won't do anything for you. In
21:35the Netherlands, for example, there is
21:36no nomad visa, nothing like that. So,
21:39if you want to relocate to the
21:40Netherlands on a work visa, you need to
21:43look at the list of licensed companies
21:45on the IND website that can help you
21:46with that very visa. And because people
21:50often don't even know this exists, they
21:53can't find a job for months. Another
21:55funny fact. If you are under 30, it is
21:57easier and cheaper for companies in the
21:59Netherlands to hire you. So, let's get
22:02to it. And I understand that sitting
22:04and searching for every company in a
22:05registry, every company in a specific
22:07country, checking if they sponsor a
22:09visa or not, is very, very
22:10time-consuming. I did that myself for a
22:13long time. Therefore, so that you don't
22:16waste time on this, I have compiled a
22:18huge list of companies that either
22:20sponsor visas, have Russian-speaking
22:22specialists, or have Russian-speaking
22:24teams within Europe. Please, take this
22:26list for free, absolutely free, on my
22:28Telegram channel. There, I also share
22:30what the design profession is like, how
22:32to get into design, how to get a job in
22:33Europe, how to pass interviews, and so
22:35on. So, there is a lot of interesting
22:37content. And where do I work now? Right
22:39now, I work on a B2B contract. I work
22:42for a London-based company. At the same
22:44time, I am based in the Netherlands.
22:46For me, the absence of an office is
22:47very important, because in the
22:49Netherlands, and actually across Europe
22:51in general, there is a trend now to
22:52herd everyone back into offices. All
22:54professions, practically all office
22:56professions, are hybrid now. That
22:59usually means 2-3 days a week in the
23:00office, and the rest of the time at
23:01home. Very often, for the first 3
23:03months, for example, or the first six
23:05months, you have to go to the office
23:06every day to, like, settle in, get to
23:08know the team, and so on. And then they
23:10give you some remote days. That path
23:12didn't work for me. I didn't like going
23:14to the office. I tried three offices in
23:16the Netherlands. I didn't like any of
23:18them. That's why I decided to go with
23:20this kind of contract. And I'm
23:22currently working remotely for a
23:23London-based company. The downside of
23:25B2B is that you're practically
23:27unprotected. I mean, my contract states
23:29that I can be fired with two weeks '
23:31notice. So, in essence, they tell me
23:33I'm fired, and in two weeks I have to
23:34leave the project. Accordingly, no one
23:36will pay me anything. I don't have sick
23:39leave days, for instance, under the
23:41contract. But at the same time, I love
23:44how much freedom it gives me in my
23:47everyday life. In general, this
23:48uncertainty. Sometimes it stresses me
23:51out, but then again, I've learned,
23:54firstly, to cope with it, and secondly,
23:56it's very important for me to be the
23:58master of my day: working when I want,
24:00completing tasks at my own set time,
24:03and being able to step away for a
24:05couple of hours during the workday to
24:07go to the store. Because, as we know,
24:10everything in Europe closes at 5:00.
24:12And if I were sitting in an office from
24:149 to 5, I couldn't even simply go
24:16shopping after 5:00 PM to pick up
24:17things, because all the shops are
24:19closed. And for me, it was really,
24:22really important that my entire
24:24schedule be built exactly how I decide
24:26for myself. And by the way, if you are
24:28interested in the format of my regular
24:30life, how I work, what I do, check out
24:31my Instagram, subscribe, where I share
24:33my whole journey and what it's like for
24:34me to be here in the Netherlands. So,
24:37remember, I promised to tell you how my
24:40job search ended, my, my job search in
24:432025. I lost my job last year,
24:46completely unexpectedly, let's say. And
24:49I knocked on all the doors of Dutch
24:51companies. I kept knocking for a long,
24:53long time, but it so happened that I
24:55lost my job in September. And September
24:58, October, November is just the golden
25:00period for job hunting, because hiring
25:02is going very, very, very well. I made
25:06my personal portfolio website. I had
25:08already started making it last year.
25:09This year, I finally finished it. But
25:12at that point, I already had, I think,
25:13one or two case studies on that site.
25:15It was unfinished, but it was already,
25:17sort of, in progress. And it seemed
25:19logical to me that if I live in the
25:20Netherlands, my job should be in the
25:21Netherlands, because back then I was
25:23still counting on getting some kind of
25:24visa. And after a hundred applications,
25:27I really felt tired, I felt angry, I
25:29felt it was unfair, because again, I
25:30had already gone down this path; I
25:32already understood that you need to
25:34adapt yourself, adapt your resume,
25:36adapt your cover letters, and so on. So
25:38I already understood the process, but
25:40why was it still not working out for me
25:42? And then I decided to look at the
25:44problem from a different angle. I
25:46started to expand my search area. That
25:48is, I started looking not only at the
25:49Dutch market, but also at the
25:51international market. Because, in
25:52principle, I don't have any visa
25:53problems in the Netherlands, since I am
25:54under temporary protection. So, I can
25:56basically stay under temporary
25:57protection and work here comfortably on
25:59a B2B contract, for example. And this
26:02is where the strategy of job hunting
26:04through LinkedIn and direct contacts
26:06helped me. I looked at lists of
26:10companies that hire experts abroad,
26:12either remotely or, well, just
26:14companies like that. And I made a list
26:17of small companies, say, located in
26:19other countries that have employees who
26:21are either Russian-speaking or from
26:23other countries, because then I know
26:25right away that they can hire you, and
26:27you can just sit and work from your
26:28current country. And I started adding
26:31these folks to my friends list on
26:33LinkedIn, messaging them, and talking
26:35to them. And as a result, I started
26:38slowly "looting" interviews. By the way
26:41, my entire LinkedIn funnel and so on
26:43is recorded in a separate video. You
26:44can find it on my YouTube channel, a
26:46video about LinkedIn. I explain in
26:48detail exactly what I do, how I do it,
26:50who I write to, how I write to them,
26:52and so on. It has all the proof, all
26:55the message examples, and also
26:56templates for those very messages so
26:58you can use them yourselves. In the end
27:01, I went through three stages, which
27:03was also very, very few. It was a call
27:05with an HR manager, a call with the
27:07technical team, and a whiteboard
27:08session. After that, they sent me my
27:11offer. I talked a little bit about the
27:14salary because I wasn't satisfied—or
27:15rather, no, I was satisfied with their
27:16salary, but I wanted to raise it just a
27:17little bit. They approved that request,
27:20and accordingly, they hired me. And I
27:23have now been in this job for one year
27:25and one month. I am very, very happy.
27:27In essence, in 2022, the market was
27:29doing great. In 2024 and 2025, I was
27:31the one doing great, as I looked a bit
27:33further than the market and already
27:34understood the mechanics of how this
27:36very market works. I understood the
27:39constraints, I knew where to look for
27:41vacancies, I knew how to do outreach on
27:43LinkedIn, I knew how to promote myself
27:46as an expert on that very LinkedIn, and
27:48how to create my portfolio, resume,
27:49cover letters, and so on. So, here is
27:52the plan. What should you do if you are
27:54looking for a job right now? Choose two
27:56or three countries and a specific
27:58position you will be applying for. That
28:00is, you need to create a specific
28:02positioning, meaning a specific set of
28:04skills, a specific set of results, and
28:06a specific—well, not a set, but
28:08rather—a specific profession you will
28:10be applying for. Check your profession
28:13on the website that handles employment
28:15in Europe. In other words, where there
28:17is an oversupply of your profession,
28:18and where there is a shortage. Perhaps
28:20this will give you some new ideas on
28:22which country you might consider for
28:24life and work. Check if you can legally
28:28work there, or what you will need to
28:30work there legally. Collect at least 30
28:33, or preferably 50, companies. Again,
28:36take my list of companies from Telegram
28:37, and be sure to keep a tracking table
28:39of your applications and see what
28:40specifically works. If you aren't
28:43getting any responses at all, change
28:45your format, change your country,
28:47change the market, change your
28:48positioning, change your resume, but
28:50definitely track what worked and what
28:52didn't so you understand what can be
28:54changed to make the process go faster.
28:57The best option, of course, is to have
28:59at least some experience working with
29:01European or American companies so that
29:03you have that international experience
29:05in the labor market. That is, you could
29:08work remotely for a company before
29:10eventually relocating. But that is the
29:12ideal scenario. So, the takeaways from
29:14this video. In 2024, finding a job in
29:16Europe is much harder than it was in
29:182022. But that does not mean it is
29:20impossible. It’s just that the old
29:22ways and the old rules no longer work.
29:24And in general, you need to shift your
29:26perspective on the local market a
29:28little bit. If you have sent 100
29:30applications now and nobody has replied
29:32, and you think there is something
29:33wrong with you, please remember me, who
29:35sent 150 applications and got three
29:37interviews in total. There is nothing
29:39wrong with you. You just need to look a
29:41bit broader and figure out where the
29:44actual problem lies. You are just fine,
29:46the market has simply changed. If you
29:49happen to need help with writing a
29:50resume, putting together a portfolio,
29:52or anything at all, any career path
29:54questions, please message me on
29:56Telegram. I work providing
29:57consultations, taking people on for
29:59sessions specifically on those topics.
30:01And of course, I don't know what will
30:03happen in the coming years with all
30:05this artificial intelligence and so on,
30:07but for some reason I'm sure there will
30:09be some regulations on the use of
30:11artificial intelligence, especially in
30:13Europe, because everyone can't just end
30:15up unemployed, as then the economies of
30:17all countries would simply collapse.
30:18And that was everything. This was
30:20Polina. If you are interested in life
30:22in the Netherlands, work, Europe, how
30:24to find a job and so on, please
30:25subscribe to my Telegram, my Instagram,
30:27and my YouTube channel. And I will be
30:29waiting for all of you in the next
30:30video. Bye-bye everyone.

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