Finding a Job in Ukraine through the Internet



This article is to help those looking for work in Ukraine through the Internet. Admittedly, this is not an easy thing to do, but hard work and persistence can bring results.

First of all, as far as I am aware, there are almost no useful websites with Ukraine job postings specifically for foreigners. There are a few with sporadic postings such as EscapeArtists.com. You can find other similar sites with almost no useful information by doing Google searches for "Ukraine jobs," "Ukraine employment," etc.

Kyiv Post employment ads

The most interesting job ads in English are at the Kyiv Post's website and in the weekly editions of the Kyiv Post newspaper. However, you will notice that the focus is on jobs for English speaking locals, not foreigners. The Kyiv Post's largest audience are English speaking Ukrainians. Positions advertised here tend to be at prestigious companies and organizations. Most jobs are high-profile.

Sometimes foreigners post mini-resumes at The Kyiv Post. This is certainly not a bad idea. If you are not yet in Ukraine, you can send them your ad or mini-resume by fax and agree on a form of payment. Ads go out every Thursday.

Searching Ukrainian employment sites

The opportunities for finding work are greater if you use Ukrainian job search websites. The top three are www.rabota.com.ua, www.ajob.com.ua, and www.job.bigmir.net. There are numerous others as well, but they tend to be redundant. It is free to place job ads on these sites, so employers often post vacancies on several sites at once. Most jobs on these sites are in Kyiv; a few are in other big cities.

To work with these sites you will need to either understand Russian and/or Ukrainian or carefully follow my instructions below. If you understand Russian, just find the "поиск вакансий" link on the sites I have listed and do some searches. It's easy enough.

Finding vacancies for English speakers

Let's say you're interested in working at a Ukrainian company, but you don't speak Russian or Ukrainian. And all these Ukrainian job search sites are in Russian (a few are in Ukrainian). No problem. You can get around this problem by going to the "advanced search" page of each of these job sites and type "english" as a search word in the appropriate box. The results will give you all the job ads that are in English. Follow these instructions:

www.rabota.com.ua


Click on the link above. Find the yellow form with fields to be filled in. Type "english" in the last box and ignore the rest. Press the button at the bottom of the form.

www.ajob.com.ua

Click on the link above. In the first menu of the form select the first item in the list (it means "all categories"). In the next box directly below type "english." Press the left button at the bottom of the form.

www.job.bigmir.net

Click on the link above. Type "english" in the last box of the form and press the button. The default city is set as Kyiv, so if you read Russian you can select other cities as well (it might turn out 0 results, though).

Have a resume ready to send, and include at least a small note in the e-mail. Expect most employers to not reply. After some searching and experimenting you will understand what I said about persistence and hard work.

Approaching companies directly

This method involves finding out which companies in Ukraine work in the field you are interested in and writing to them directly, regardless of whether or not they have job vacancies posted. Finding businesses through searches and business directories will be time-consuming, but this could be just as or more effective than going through the job vacancies every few days on employment sites.

Some advice for job seekers

Realize that it is unusual for companies to be approached by foreigners looking for work. Use this to your advantage. Demonstrate your value as a foreigner (language, special skills and knowledge, etc.). Some companies might be interested just in having an in-house English language advisor/teacher/expert. If you don't know Russian or Ukrainian, look for companies where you would expect most staff to know some English (or French or whatever).
If you meet employers in person, be sure to dress up a bit. Western-style "casual" dress often comes across as "brazenly unkempt" in Ukraine. Demonstrate your readiness to adapt to their work methods and etiquette rather than imposing your non-Ukrainian behavior styles on them. This can be difficult. Ukraine is a very different place. At the same time, if you are a foreigner, they will expect you to be different in many ways. But these differences need to be useful to them and not a hindrance.

Ukrainian employers are overly impressed by diplomas and certificates and other documents. If you've got any, use them. Rather than bragging about what you can do, try to present some solid proof or at least describe what you are able to do and how you learned it.

Make sure you are able to explain to employers why you are in Ukraine in the first place and for how long.

Wish you a great success!


*will be updated soon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at Larisa.Varenikova{@}yahoo.com
Dr.Larisa I.Varenikova
Independent Executive Search Consultant
Ukraine, Kiev