How to get recruited in Europe (?)
By: Yaprak Boyacioglu
Tags: Work, Recruitment, Immigration, Visa, European Union

Really. This is actually a question for you all. Do you know how can I get recruited in Europe as a Turkish citizen? If you do slide in my DMs and enlighten me. I would truly appreciate it.

For those failed by their education system, Turkey is this weird little (but not so little) country right between Europe and Asia.

For tourists and travellers, it’s exotic; people are very welcoming and warm; it has the most beautiful beaches; ancient cities are mind-blowing; it's a great holiday destination for literally anyone. The Turkish government should pay me for the number of people I invited to Turkey. For locals, depending on where and to which family you were born, it’s magical and depressing at the same time. So it’s literally like anywhere else in the world.

However, the country is also deeply divided, in debt and very much famous for imprisoning journalists and for many other human rights violations. The multifaceted reality of the place I was born in has initiated very interested and very dull conversations during my adult life. One being Turkey joining the EU.

When I was a kid, there were hot discussions on if the country should or shouldn’t be part of the EU, which is now a discussion on hold, indefinitely. At this point, I don’t even know if it makes sense to talk about Turkey becoming a member of the EU, it just seems too unreal for various socio-economical reasons.

All this is to say, when I was growing up, there was this seed of hope that someday Turkish people would also have the right to freely move on EU territory. When you are a kid, you don’t care about the politics behind it. It just means that you wouldn’t need a visa every single time you need to go abroad. Life would be simpler, you would be freer. I seriously love how I used to see the world as a kid. There were moments I genuinely sat down looking at the blank wall, thinking as hard as I could why frontiers exist (or do they really?). Around 30 minutes ago I was having a staring contest with my EU Law paper so let me tell you, they do exist. Although I still have a hard time understanding the concept. It must be the child in me… (Or that I am absolutely refusing to study for my paper lol)

Since I was lucky enough to be studying in France, I have a lot of friends from different European countries. And I really couldn’t believe at first how a good number of them were very foreign to the idea of visas. They were literally having a hard time understanding the daily reality of non-EU citizens. They, of course, meant good, it’s not their fault. What I realized was, they were simply thinking exactly like I did when I was 7 and frontiers didn’t exist. So in every conversation, I was laughing on the outside while screaming on the inside “What the heeeeeellllllll”. I was victimizing myself for being born in Turkey, and for losing the child’s perspective. Which is pretty useless when you think about it. However it doesn’t change the fact that if these last 3 years were a reality show in which I featured, people who are watching should have already created a drinking game: “ Each time Yaprak says visa, take a shot”. Even the ones who have a high tolerance for alcohol would be wasted by now. Visa is definitely on my Top 20 list, alongside with avocados. I just love avocados a lot.

I became distinctly obsessed with visas since I started looking for a job in Europe. I am ashamed to say this but I know the French government website on visas by heart and if you have any familiarity with the French government, it’s not a pleasant thought to have in your mind all day. Désolée France.

It gets even more challenging if you don’t believe in traditional education and if you want to follow a somewhat different way than the famous Licence-Master-Alternance trilogy. I love the idea of hustling, figuring your life out while freelancing or doing different things. But apparently, I need to go back to Turkey to do all that legally. If I choose to stay in France, I then need to juggle between my studies and a part-time role, while trying to find a job that will actually help with my visa as a recent graduate.

And I tried, oh I did. This whole Covid situation obviously didn’t help but I applied to a bunch of positions I am overqualified for and I didn’t even get shortlisted. And boy, my self-esteem was like Trump after the elections. Maybe this is becoming my Twitter. *chills*. Moving on.

Rejection is never pleasant when you feel the most vulnerable. After being rejected so many times, I started to think that it was actually not fully because I was incompetent for every single position that I was applying for. Maybe the fact that I was Turkish was playing a greater role than I had imagined in the recruitment scene. And maybe, I should have started going a little easy on myself.

If you are a non-European who went through the process of recruitment in Europe you must know this stigma: “Oh well, they just recruited the other candidate because they are European”. This is a very comforting thought and I would be lying if I told you it doesn’t keep me warm and happy in this cold cold winter in Strasbourg. But at the same time, it is very dangerous because it translates into my life as willingly constructing a mental barrier. It feeds me the belief that no matter how good I am at what I do, I will be cast aside, just because I am Turkish? Well, respectfully, fuck that. I truly don’t want to believe this is true.

Why? Because believing that doesn’t do me any good.

I am sometimes very cynical when I don’t feel motivated for new pursuits, which leads my friends to think of me as a pessimist. This is not true. If not the most, I am one of the above-average optimists out there. I trust in life and I believe that people are fundamentally good. It’s their government who’s forcing them to adopt these racist and discriminatory policies. And every now and then, there are people who will think outside of the box and surprise you. I love that. Best surprise ever. Are you my future recruiter? Hi :)

On a more serious note, if you don’t always feel like raging against the machine and protesting systematic discrimination, it’s fine. I am with you. I have spent so many hours contemplating this reality and ended up feeling frustrated and desperate. If that’s doing the trick for you, keep going. Personally, it really tires me out and I don’t see the point to it anymore. The alternative I am trying to adopt is the following: Wish them luck, swear genuinely inside and move on. Of course, after each rejection, there are tiny periods of grieving: of what could have been, and of how you would be so insanely good for that role. Well, you and 1988912 other people who don’t need a visa.

Will this funnily end up by me blaming the governments for their inability to generate relevant jobs for our generation? Probably, I mean we all know that democracy is deeply flawed and our politicians are sadly incompetent and have buried their heads really fricking deep in the sand but this is a different topic that I will save for later.

Memes are underrepresented on LinkedIn so let’s change that.

I focus on the things I can control because I have a limited amount of time.

This is becoming like a daily meditation session and I intend to end it very soon I promise. But honestly, if the laws will not be adopted tomorrow and if we cannot fix democracy all that fast, we might as well focus on being up to date on what is happening in the world, make ourselves useful, stay motivated and smile after getting 598569 rejections in a row. Yes, I like typing random numbers. Give me a break.

When hacking the system becomes a lifestyle

I have been living in Europe for the last 5 years (including that 1 year in the Brexit land which still counts). Of course, I love my home country and at the same time, 90% of my friends and professional network is based all around the world. As a foreign student, I definitely contributed to Europe my fair share financially and still doing so. The child in me is still looking at the wall and trying to figure out why I am being incentivised to go back to be able to work freely, without trying to hack the system. But you know what, this is our reality. So if no one recruits me because of my passport, I will stay on my given visa and improvise. I will start a company somewhere else, become a freelancer in my home country and “study”. Wink wink. And with time and experience, these “out of the box people” and I will meet and it will be glorious. I hope I am not admitting to a crime here… I go to my classes and I pay my taxes, so it should be fine.

Patience we must have my young padawans, we can do this. And in the meantime, we can think of this experience as a way of developing our creative skills. I heard they are very much needed in the job market nowadays.

Whatever you are doing right now, remember to drink some water.

Peace and love,

Yaprak