Hi all,
I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of advice. My wife is currently in the process of interviewing for a couple of jobs that she has been approached for in Antwerp, she has a skill set thats very desirable so chances are she will probably get one of these roles.
Unfortunately for her she is married to a simple englishman, I do not have a degree; in England this wouldn't really hold you back but it seems that its more common in Europe from some of the jobs I look at.
For instance a lot of jobs I see would be classified as entry level in England and wouldn't require a degree, only a basic school education, and yet I see said jobs stating they require a university level education!
I do own my own successful business, and have experience managing staff and all the other expected tasks that go with being in charge of your own company.
My dutch is ok, but wouldnt be enough to go straight into a job role.
Does anyone have any experience of a similar situation where they've had to move to Belgium and find work while only having English as their main language?
Thanks in advance,
Mark.
Moving to Antwerp
Hi and welcome to the Forum.
I can relate to your story; I found myself in a similar position, although my Dutch was probably a bit better than OK; in that I mean I could attend interviews in Dutch. My experience was that I didn't have recognised Dutch qualifications, although I had considerable relevant experience. It was the experience that let me down; almost all the people that interviewed me said they thought I'd get bored very quickly. I ended up taking a middle management position in the UK and commuting.
Thanks for the reply.
Did you feel that not having Belgian qualifications had any impact on your ability to get interviews or was your experience enough to get you an interview?
That's my main concern, that even when I become fluent that I'll be held back by not having their recognised qualifications.
Many countries are very big in qualifications; if you want a management position, then they expect an appropriate education level to go with it; to the extent that they have enough people applying for jobs who have the qualifications so that they don't need to consider us lesser mortals. In the end, I went to Uni to get that important degree.
I always look at job hunting in this way; to get a decent job anywhere and because of the way that recruitment works nowadays, you need 4 things:
Relevant qualifications
Relevant experience
Speak the local language
Luck
The more of those you have, the better your chance of getting that decent job. Now apply that to yourself, you probably have one of them. You say your spoken Dutch is OK; how about written; could you write an e-mail or a Memo in Dutch? Belgium is a dual language country, French is also important.
My daughter moved back to Holland a few years ago; she got a job within days, no problem (she ticked all the boxes), within a month, she realised that although she was absolutely fluent in Dutch, her written Dutch was at the level of a 10-year old and it became a source of embarrassment; she decided she needed to go back to school to improve it. Having done it, her boss was so impressed that he's paid for her to go to Uni; so it can be done, you just need to do a bit of work to get those boxes ticked off; and of course, that bit of luck.
Hope this helps.
Cynic
Expat Team
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