A Practical Guide to Preparing for Migration
- Before migrating, work and live in Iran. Migration itself is hard. Don’t let the challenges of living alone for the first time add to the difficulties of migration.
- Learn and master the language(s) of your destination country, especially their street-level slang.
- Learn as much as possible, even the impossible, in your field and become a professional. Prove to your future employer that you know more than the unemployed back home.
- Spend two years in military service and get stretched to your limits.
- Prepare yourself and your family for separation in the truest sense.
- Save enough money to cover one month of living expenses in the destination country + return costs (in case you fail) by any means necessary.
- Write your English CV with 80% exaggeration. (Why?)
- Look for jobs in your field on LinkedIn and local job websites of the destination country.
- Handle written and video interviews with maximum confidence and a composed appearance. (I’d swear a laid-back junior looks way more valuable than an anxious senior in the employer’s eyes.)
- Ensure the employer completes all legal steps for work authorization. If you hear “we’ll sort it out later,” run as fast as possible.
- Your employer isn’t your friend; their goal is to extract the maximum knowledge and skills from you for their own purposes. Don’t be fooled by smiles and empty promises.
- In most places, a week in a hotel can cover a month’s rent. Find livable apartments before arriving, and secure a lease as soon as you land.
- Start working.
- Try to keep expenses minimal for the first month until payday. Save old frustrations for later.
- At night, before sleeping, ask yourself: “What on earth did I just do?”
Forward: arazgray.com/how-to-migrate.ink