GoKawiilI want to start with the core idea, because everything in this guide comes back to it:
If relocation is the only reason you want a job abroad, do not expect the company to be excited about hiring you.
That sounds harsh, and I know how it lands, because the desire to move is one of the most genuine and personal things a person can carry. I’ve spent years working with engineers who want to relocate, and I understand this drive.
But during an interview, that same desire can quietly work against you, and I want to make sure that does not happen to you.
This is the kind of impression you should avoid giving to recruiters!
The most common mistake, and please do not beat yourself up if you made it
After working so many years with people who want to relocate, I have watched the same thing happen again and again. Which is...
In interviews, candidates focus so hard on the idea of moving that they forget the person across the table is looking for someone who cares about what the company does, what the team is building, and where the product is going.
It is obvious why this happens, and it is honest. Most people answer relocation questions by talking almost exclusively about wanting to move abroad, seeking a better quality of life, higher salaries paid in a hard currency, and getting away from a difficult situation in their home country. Occasionally, there is the extra detail of a neighbor who claimed a Spanish passport and went to live abroad, while you have no second nationality to fall back on. All of that is true, in the sense that, I get it: it’s a massive motivator. Any recruiter who opened a search from Singapore, from the Netherlands, or from the Basque Country in Spain already knows it and already assumes it. So actually, if you think it this way… your wish to relocate is not a surprise to anyone.
Here is the problem. When that is the whole answer, you create the wrong impression of what you want and of whether you will be a good hire. You give the recruiter three quiet worries:
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