Rudi Deva, Australian
In August my wife was offered a promotion as Marketing Manager. This position was based in the Hague office. We were excited about the possibility of working in Europe, but at the same time we were worried about my career prospects. After the late boom in the 1990’s, the global trend in IT industry was not looking promising. We weighed all the pro’s and cons and in the end decided that her opportunity was too good to turn down. We decided that I would study an MBA if I was unable to find a job. My wife got the opportunity to visit The Hague before accepting the position. She was very pleased with what she saw, and I trusted her judgement. A few months later we relocated to The Hague. I started looking for a job as soon as I arrived. It didn’t take me very long to realize that the road ahead was not going to be easy. I didn’t speak Dutch, and I needed good local contacts to improve my chances of finding employment. While searching the Internet, I came across the C&G and immediately made contact with them. They made contact with me and organized a meeting with me for an initial interview. The outcome of the first meeting was very positive. One of C&G’s senior career consultants would be responsible for helping me find a job. Within a few days of meeting, I received a list of job advertisements in the mail. The initial list of jobs that I received covered a broad range (networking, helpdesk, database administration, software development). My career counsultant and I worked towards fine-tuning this list, which I started to receive via email. She also coached me on how to create covering letters, and how to create a CV tailored for the Dutch market. Each week, I applied for jobs that I found interesting. Furthermore, she used her contacts to organize interviews with recruitment agencies and potential employers. I didn’t realize that one of these contacts Steve, would be responsible for getting me my current job, which by the way, is the best job I’ve had in my professional life. At the end of each week, Jane and I would review the past week, and change or fine-tune our strategy where necessary. This is one of the many things I liked about C&G. After 3 months of searching, I found a job at a British Company with an office located in The Hague. In addition to my interview with the Human Resource director, my career consultant spoke to the Human Resources director, to ensure that I was well briefed. Afterall, the employment laws in The Netherlands are very different to the employment Laws in Australia, and one needs to know where he/she stands. Employees are sometimes concerned about the work permit; they lack good information. My career consultant was able to explain the entire process to them in Dutch, ensuring that I commenced work at the earliest possible date. While working there, I continued to keep in contact with Steve, one of the recruitment agents that my career consultant had introduced to me earlier. Steve had changed jobs, and was now the Human Resource director at a very successful IT Consulting firm in The Netherlands, Southern Europe, and Eastern Europe. Steve invited me for an interview, and I walked out with a contract that very day.
Ann Hastings
"I had to leave a great marketing job behind when we relocated to Shanghai. The employer of my husband gave us a lot of support with the relocation and settling in, but they also offered me assistance in pursuing my career in Shanghai. The Career Counsellor of C&G provided me with a thorough scan of my job opportunities and coached me during my job search. My focus was on developing the right contacts in a short period of time towards the European and US companies in the area. The already established network of the Career Counsellor was a great help, and I managed to find a full time job as Product Manager for a US electronics company."
Linda Verburg
"My friend and I wanted to live and work abroad for some time already when he got offered a job in Italy. After a short visit to Milan we both decided to take this challenge and move. I found out that I had to be fluent in Italian before I even could get an interview and this took me about 5 months. I have to say it depressed me to be out of work for such a period of time. With the assistance of C&G I contacted several Dutch, UK and German companies and landed a job with a major airline. I work now on a department with 8 Italians (not all male) and really like it over here, though it is definitely different then in the Netherlands."
Maria Esperanza Garcia
"Amsterdam was a completely different city compared to Barcelona. First I thought I had to speak Dutch to find work, but I found out I could manage with speaking English. I use my basic Dutch now only in the shops and in restaurants. The Program that C&G offered was a great help, especially in preparing my CV and my interviews. I work now for a small export company, and deal with Spanish and South American clients."
