Inspiration | Custom Professional Training Systems

A close family friend from the other side of the pond (Malta – a small island between Lybia and Italy) offered this. No lie, I didn’t even change the formatting, this is actually how he sent it. Cool or what?

Written by: Gerard Paulin, Head of Customer Operations Malta at Betfair

Ay mate, (he actually said that, I love this guy.)

Good to hear from you. So I guess the most important questions you have to ask yourself are the following:

What type of employment am I looking for – being a company employee (bringing more security) or being a consultant (bringing more cash)?
What type of job am I looking for – Marketing, Operations, Sales / People management or stand alone job?
What type of industry I want to work in – for some people (including me), I need to be able to relate to the product my company is dealing with. For example, I could not find any motivation working for an Oil company. For some other, no matter the industry as long they do what they like doing.

Next set of questions:

Where do I want to work – In the US or abroad?
If it’s abroad, which are the countries where I do not need any visa and which are the other ones?

If you want to work in a country where a visa is needed, few additional questions:

Do I have specific skills that cannot be found abroad – can influence a company to apply for a visa on your behalf?
Do I have to apply for a visa myself and then look for a job?
Is it easier/faster to find a US based company which could send me abroad at a latest stage?

As soon as you get all these answers, you can properly target the company you want to apply for. I know it sounds a bit patronizing, but that’s what I’ve always done.

If you want to work for a European based company, here are few points which are really important:

Know who you are, your strengths and be confident when talking about them – you will not look like arrogant but someone who knows himself,
Be prepared (in 99% of the cases) to tell them why they should hire you and no one else – What are the plus you can bring as a person but also as a worker (both being equally important),
European are very proud and like being independent and not under US influence. In Europe we have a tendency of seeing American people, very arrogant, etc… <not towards me personally> So even though you’re not like this, this could be their first idea about you. So make sure you show them how open you are re other cultures, people, etc…

When it comes to salary, know exactly what you want and what you’re worth and don’t compromise. Of course this needs to be linked to cost of living…

Ok now back to the high level market. So personally, I would start at $100k and not $60k. If I take my industry and I guess it’s the same in any industry, higher up you are and less job you’ll find available. Usually people start to know each other and it can be good and bad.

Good because if you’re a highly appreciated professional, head hunter will hear about you (from colleagues or other) and will contact you pro-actively when next job becomes available.

Bad because you have to be extra careful when looking for another job as this can be easily known within your organization… Something to keep in mind when reaching high level is that loyalty and respect are keys. If you resign from your job, always try to give as much notice as possible, be loyal till the end as this is a small world and your previous boss can become your new one in a near future and here I’m speaking globally not only within the same country.

The other points is that you cannot afford mistakes – the main reason being the same than above – everybody knows everybody and i got to know people who had to change industry because they were simply burnt.

I feel that the high level market is getting harder and harder as more and more “senior” people are left without job and are willing to accept senior management position at low salary – bills have to be paid. This leaves guys like me (late 30) with less room for salary negotiation…

Overall, I would say that the high level employment market is much harder than low level one but gives massive opportunities for the ones who managed to be recognized as the best and this is the only place where you can really imagine massive salary jump – up to 60%.

And as my beautiful wife always says, “You don’t need tons of opportunities, just the right one!” I don’t know if you’ll find this helpful or if I answer your question(s)… Just let me know.

Cheers Bro,

Well, you hit the nail on the head. From time to time I am blessed with great advice from all over the world. Most of the time it’s a revelation over a glass of wine, doing laundry or online chat with my brother, but sometimes its laid out like this and I just have to share.