Number of people seeking work abroad triples

The number of people interested in working abroad has tripled over the last two years in Navarre, according to the Servicio Navarro de Empleo, (Navarre Employment Service) in collaboration with EURES (portal europeo de movilidad professional), which answers enquiries by email, telephone or in person.

Moreover, the profile of those seeking work abroad has changed. Before the economic depression, the majority were young people without family ties, with university level education and knowledge of foreign languages. Today, according to the Employment Service, enquiries are received from older people with family responsibilities, without or with very little knowledge of languages and low professional qualifications.

Due to this increasing demand or obligation to find work abroad, the "first frontier" (primera frontera”) is to create a CV, a document in which cross-border differences are obvious: for example, the Germans do not conceive of a CV without a recent photo; nevertheless, in English speaking countries, above all in the USA and Ireland, photos are not attached in order to avoid racial discrimination.

A EUROPEAN CV MODEL

To avoid differences and facilitate movement, from this office in Navarre the CV EUROPASS has emerged. “It is based on a common model to present abilities and qualifications in a clear and efficient way. Nevertheless, although it is common in European projects, in some European countries and companies it is not often used”.

COMMON NORMS

Despite differences between countries, the Service emphasises that there are similarities in the writing of CVs that very often are not observed:

• Adapt and focus the CV to the job offer, activities and requirements of the company.
• Limit the CV to two pages.
• Avoid abbreviations and acronyms; they are usually only well-known in the country of origin
• Be careful with size and type of attached documents: they should be professional and not lengthy.