The High Cost of 'Good Enough': Why Your Expat Career Feels Stuck
Is there anything more annoying than the question: “So, what do you do for a living?”.
You're at a networking event, a birthday party, or in front of new fellow coursemates, and you're forced to introduce yourself. One of the first things they’ll ask is about your job.
Your eyes naturally wander, looking for an exit, and a brief silence follows. You take a quick sip of wine, or a deep breath and try your best not to show your annoyance while staying vague. This is the first sign you're feeling unfulfilled in your job.
Months, sometimes years, spent making a company rich, while you yourself wouldn’t even buy their product anymore. Hours are spent every week on empty tasks, while most of your ideas and concerns are not even taken into account.
Your job search so far has been a casual hobby. You try to participate in the application games, only to find yourself in the circus of poorly written AI rejections, interviews that lead nowhere, and the persistent feeling that you are either too much or not good enough (go figure why).
A little unidentified voice in your head is getting louder: “Maybe I should just settle. Does it pay the bills? Yes. Do I have a decent contract? Also.”
In terms of this being enough for you to be happy? Not even close (details, right?).
The 'Straitjacket' Effect: When Your Job No Longer Fits
When it comes to work, you are so flexible…to the point that it’s like you’re talking yourself into wearing an outfit that is two sizes too small because it covers the essentials and gives you a sense of certainty.
But how tight, uncomfortable, limiting, and outdated does it feel? How much does it limit your movement, wellbeing, and confidence?
This is the reality of being stuck in an expat career that no longer represents you. You feel trapped in a straitjacket, surrounded by people who call you crazy for wanting to take the risk of doing something different (especially after everything you built).
Honestly? No effing way.
It wouldn’t do you any justice to stay stuck where you are now, unfulfilled and unheard. The cost of not moving has an insanely steep price, and the receipt is way longer than you realized.
Stop Guessing: Why Your Expat Job Search Strategy is Failing
Looking for a job abroad without a clear direction is like throwing a bunch of random seeds on the ground, forgetting to read the label. Your talent and knowledge can't sprout everywhere. You don’t want to be a palm meant to freeze at the North Pole or a rose destined to become dust in a desert.
So you focus all your energy on tactics that don't work.
The 6-Second CV Myth
You try to squeeze years of experience into one page because some legend says recruiters take 6 seconds to read a resume (says who?). This myth is killing your chances, forcing you to strip the value from your story (hello 1 page CV with too few info…).
The ATS Black Hole
Every application is a marathon to list as many skills as possible, because you've been told the ATS eats the “bad” CVs (yes, and Earth is flat too, perhaps). This "keyword stuffing" approach makes your CV for the European job market look generic and desperate.
Conflicting "Influencer" Advice
The many career influencers and self-proclaimed coaches you follow are sharing tips that go directly against the way recruiters actually choose candidates.
Different cultures equal a different approach to hiring (and applying). And hey, you cannot know what you don’t know.
But, once again, this doesn’t mean you have to give up or repeat what you already tried. You can find someone who has been down the same road and perhaps hired people like you (for real - cough, cough, the Expats’ Career Coach rings any bell?).
The Real Price of Staying Unfulfilled Abroad
Watching your confidence and wellbeing decrease steadily is a heavy price.
To quote Dr. Gabor Mate:
‘The roles we are assigned or denied, how we fit into society or are excluded from it, and what the culture induces us to believe about ourselves, determine much about the health we enjoy or the diseases that plague us.’
Some of my clients, when asked about their values, started to repeat the company’s values, cringing at the idea that they lost their own identity without even realizing it. Their self-esteem was heavily dependent on what the company perceived as an achievement.
So what happens when you don’t fully trust yourself and your purpose anymore? When you constantly feel like you are wasting your life on a meaningless set of tasks?
You struggle to connect with people.
You Compromise the Most Important Relationships
You either burst into anger, complaints, or isolation, or you repress emotions and mentally check out. Your loved ones stop understanding you. They miss your presence and attention, divided between feeling neglected and trying to figure out how to best support you (often offering unsolicited advice - aka more gasoline on the fire).
At first, time seems to pass slowly. Then, before you know it, it’s been years. Like in quicksand, you feel more and more incapable of getting out and doing something different.
When you let a toxic workplace or an alienating job dictate who you are, you give up on possibilities.
This is What You're Really Losing:
Meaningful learning and responsibilities that make you grow.
The kind of salary to afford those experiences that make life worth living.
Time for hobbies, travels, concerts, and building memories with those you love.
Meaningful connections that fuel a sense of belonging and joy.
Making decisions that positively impact the lives of others and the causes you care about.
And then, one day, you’ll look back at all those moments you sacrificed for a job that was just a job, without any impact or deeper connection to who you really are.
What hurts the most often is not our mistakes (those are part of growing). What stings are all of those wasted occasions, and that question: “What could have been if only I had…”.
From 'Lost' to 'Top Candidate': A Path to Career Clarity
With career coaching, we discover if the path you are on is really the one you wanted or what is limiting you. You go from feeling lost and demoralized to reaching full career clarity on a profitable, re-energizing path. We create a manageable plan to conduct your job search in the best possible way.
Imagine presenting yourself as the top candidate, from your CV and LinkedIn to expert interview preparation, filled with the insider secrets only a former recruiter from top global companies can share.
Want proof that landing a meaningful, high-income job abroad is possible? Read what my clients achieved with my most popular coaching plan, The International Career Changer :
‘I was deeply dissatisfied with my situation and, whenever that frustration peaked, I would randomly send out job applications. I knew I wanted to move abroad in search of a different way of living and working. Having someone with a solid background in recruitment by my side, who truly understands what companies are looking for, greatly strengthened my performance in interviews.
Before working with Roberta, I couldn’t see the real value that a potential employer might recognize in my experience. Thanks to her, I learned how to highlight my story, both professional and personal, in a more strategic and effective way during interviews.
This led to a significant improvement in my salary. Simply by following Roberta’s advice on how to acknowledge the recruiter’s role properly, I ended up earning about €15,000 more per year, without even having to ask for a raise compared to the initial offer.
As for LinkedIn, I noticed a clear improvement as well, with my profile views doubling. It was precisely my desire to react and change that led me to seek Roberta’s help, and doing so saved me an enormous amount of time compared to figuring all of this out on my own’.
— Petar, who landed his dream job at Google
Phase 1: Find Your Direction
We dive deep to rediscover what you stand for, what you need to be happy at work, and your non-negotiables. You break the cycle and choose the right career. Then, we revisit your career story and shift the way you talk about your experience to align with the roles you truly want.
Phase 2: Build Your Strategy
We turn your LinkedIn into an asset, easily discoverable by recruiters. We revamp your CV and cover letter to capture your real value, so you apply less and get more interviews. Then, we ensure you are 100% prepared to nail your interviews, build genuine relationships, and get those offers, with the salary you deserve.
Want to start a strategic partnership to achieve your career objectives?
Complete the super short form to share a little about you, and I’ll be back within 48 hours to set up a free call to see if we’re a match.
