Experienced professional – but no Luxembourg experience…

My husband is a “trailing spouse” and now has an automatic work permit. His areas of expertise are in finance/accounting and project management and he has 10+ years of experience and a master’s degree. He speaks English and beginner level French. 

However, he doesn’t have local market experience and is struggling to find a job. Everyone wants someone with local experience. When he applies for entry level jobs, he is being turned away because he doesn’t have a junior profile. He is registered with Adem already and is regularly applying to vacancies. He updated his CV as well to adapt to the market. What can he do to be more successful in his job search?

What your husband is experiencing is not unusual, he is however in a relatively good position in that he does have relevant hard skills for the Luxembourg market. Being an English speaker is also an advantage; these are both factors that should work in his favour.

Whilst there is a slowdown in new role creation, the Luxembourg market still remains in full employment – this means that generally speaking there is still a scarcity of qualified candidates for each open role. This should be good news for your husband as whilst local experience is preferred, under the right circumstances it is not always essential. However, it is critical that he is both positioning himself correctly for the types and seniority of roles that he is applying for (i.e not accidentally making himself ‘unattainable’).

Foot-in-the-door: The challenge is that employers avoid hiring experienced people for less senior roles as they will question the longevity of the person in the role and ultimately if they will make a good long-term investment.

Recruiter’s hints: 

Streamline CV: tone it down, don’t labour any big job titles instead focus on hard skills – reporting standards, systems etc – not on larger previous responsibilities or titles.

Actions: Use linkedin – make direct connections with hiring managers and local recruiters personally. Take a straightforward pragmatic approach.

Have a story: be authentic and honest, avoid ‘grandiosing’ or playing hard to get. Don’t make yourself over complicated as a potential employee.

Interim / short term contracts: Hard skills count in mission-based assignments. Not all missions will require local expertise and can be an excellent way to get a foothold in the market.

Courtney Charlton

First published Luxembourg Times February 2024