Position Yourself In The Market With Meaning

You have years of professional experience. You've managed projects, solved complex problems, worked with international teams and built valuable expertise. Yet when you start looking for work in the Netherlands, something unexpected happens.

You apply for positions that seem like a good match, but receive rejections or no response at all.

You begin to wonder: Is my experience relevant here? Do I need another qualification? Am I applying for the wrong jobs?

Sometimes there are genuine barriers, including language requirements, competition and differences between job markets. But there's another challenge I frequently see when working with international professionals:

They have valuable experience, but they're not always communicating that value in a way Dutch employers can immediately understand.

• Your experience may be clear to you, but not to an employer. 

When you've spent years working in a particular field, you know what your job involves. You know the complexity of the projects you've managed, the decisions you've made and the problems you've solved. But someone reading your CV doesn't have that context.

A job title that is familiar in one country or organisation may mean something completely different elsewhere. That's why simply listing responsibilities isn't always enough. Instead of writing: "Responsible for managing international projects and stakeholders." Consider explaining what you actually contributed: "Coordinated cross-functional teams across multiple countries to deliver complex projects, resolve operational challenges and improve collaboration."

The second version gives the reader a clearer picture of your contribution. And wherever possible, include concrete results to demonstrate the impact of your work.

The goal isn't to make your experience sound more impressive. It's to make its value easier to understand. 

• Too much experience can make it harder to explain what you offer. 

This may sound surprising, but having a broad professional background can sometimes become a challenge. Perhaps you've worked in different industries, held several types of roles or developed a wide range of skills. You can do many things. But which ones should you highlight? 

During my recent Position Yourself for the Dutch Job Market workshops with Leiden International Centre, this was one of the challenges we explored. Experienced professionals sometimes find it difficult to decide which parts of their background matter most for their next career move. And when everything seems relevant, their professional message can become unclear.

A useful starting point is to ask yourself:

• What kinds of problems am I particularly good at solving?
• Which achievements best demonstrate my strengths?
• What experience is most relevant to the roles I want next?
• What value could I bring to a future employer? 

You don't need to tell your entire career story every time you introduce yourself. You need to tell the part of your story that helps someone understand why you're relevant. 

• Don't assume employers will automatically recognise your transferable skills. 

Perhaps you're moving from academia into industry. Or changing sectors after years of working in one field. Or trying to build a career in the Netherlands using experience gained abroad. It's easy to focus on what you haven't done.

"I don't have experience in this industry."

"I've never had that exact job title."

"Maybe I need another qualification."

Sometimes additional training really is necessary. But before deciding that you're missing something, take a closer look at the skills you already have.

Have you managed complex projects? Worked with different stakeholders? Analyzed information to support decisions? Improved processes? Led teams through change?

These capabilities may be valuable in different industries, even when the job titles are unfamiliar.

The important step is to connect your previous experience to the problems your future employer needs to solve. Don't leave the employer to make that connection alone.

• Your professional introduction matters more than you think. 

Imagine meeting someone at a networking event who asks:"So, what do you do?" How would you answer?

Many professionals begin with their current or previous job title. But a title doesn't always communicate what you're good at or where you want to go next. Let's look at an example.

Before - a general introduction:

"I'm a project manager with 10 years of experience in international companies. I've worked on different projects and I'm currently looking for new opportunities in the Netherlands."

There's nothing wrong with this introduction, but it doesn't tell the listener much about the person's strengths or the value they could bring.

After - a clearer, more targeted introduction:

"I'm a project manager with 10 years of experience improving operations and delivering projects across international teams. I'm particularly good at bringing people from different departments together, solving operational challenges and making processes more efficient. I'm now looking to use these strengths to help a sustainability-focused company improve the way it operates."

Notice the difference?

The second introduction tells us:

• Who the person is: An experienced international project manager.

• What they're good at: Bringing teams together, solving operational problems and improving processes.

• Where they want to go: Applying those strengths in a sustainability-focused organization.

It's much easier for someone to understand their value and potentially connect them with a relevant opportunity. And you don't need to memorize a perfect elevator pitch. Start by asking yourself: Who am I professionally? What am I particularly good at? And where do I want to use those strengths next?

• Before applying for more jobs, review how you're positioning yourself.

When applications aren't producing results, the natural reaction is often to apply more. But sometimes it's worth stopping to examine your approach. Look at your CV, LinkedIn profile and the way you introduce yourself.

Are they telling a consistent story? Is it clear what you're good at? Can someone quickly understand the value you bring? And most importantly, is that value relevant to the opportunities you're pursuing?

After 17 years working in HR and now supporting professionals through career transitions, I've learnt that being capable of doing a job and communicating that capability effectively are two different things.

Your experience matters. But helping others recognize its relevance matters too. And sometimes, a small shift in how you present yourself can make a meaningful difference.

Before sending your next application, ask yourself:

If I were the employer reading my CV for the first time, would I understand why this person could be valuable to my organization?

That question is worth spending some time on.

About the author 

Aneta Kantarowska is a certified Career Clarity Coach and founder of Kanta Clarity Coaching. Drawing on 17 years of experience in HR and Investor Relations, she helps mid-career professionals, including internationals in the Netherlands, gain clarity about their career direction, recognize their strengths and position themselves confidently for new opportunities.

She also delivers interactive career-development workshops for international communities and organisations, including Leiden International Centre.

Visit the Website.