Should I accept the company's offer which apparently leads nowhere?

Flatfacedcat

Thank you for your time and attention.

In the last few years I have been working in customer service in the travel industry. I am 40+ years old. Since almost an year I have been trying to relocate to Porto, Portugal. I have successfully completed several interviews at various multinational corporations that have a branch also in Porto, for customer service roles in entry positions, and all the offers I received were insufficient to be able to pay the rent of a small apartment in Porto and live there, based on my mathematical calculations, so I rejected all of them. In numbers, the current monthly rent of a small 50 sq meters apartment in Porto - bills excluded - is around 800-900 EUR, while the salary offered was around 1100 EUR net per month.

Two or three of the corporations I had interviews with, offered also a relocation package which consists in a room in a bigger shared apartment with other employees, for a even lower monthly salary - around 700 EUR net per month - as the rent is supposed to be deducted from the salary. The impression I perceived from such offers was that of an enslaving system which leaves no space for any possible opportunity of moving out of the company's shared apartment after few months and live fully independently.

I also attempted to negociate senior positions, given that I already have plenty of professional experience in this job. It revealed not possible because in Portugal most of the corporations unfortunately hire through work agencies, so the first stages of the interviews are with recruiters of the agencies, and to my statement "I am interested in a senior position because I already have extensive experience in this job." their answer each time was a version of "This job opening is an entry level, this is what the company told us to search for them so this is the offer, we cannot negociate anything."

Now, after about an year of doing these interviews almost constantly and observing that there seems to be no way of finding a company willing to pay a minimum required by the current situation for a foreigner to relocate and live there independently (around 1350 EUR net per month according to my calculations), I am unsure if I should retake into consideration those offers that include the shared apartment hoping that once I will be physically in Porto I can maybe explore its surroundings in my free time to find an apartment at a reasonable monthly rent. In internet it seems that the apartment rents in Porto and in its surroundings are the same. I have no more ideas about how I can make this wish of mine come true. And this is why I thought to ask your opinion.

Also, looking on Google Maps at the reviews for those corporations that offer a shared apartment as relocation package, many employees who accepted to live in such shared apartments say that their company claimed ownership of their personal objects (laptop computers, tablets) left in their rooms when the employees wanted to end the contract and leave the company. Not company's objects. Their personal ones. This doesn't sound good to me at all. These corporations seem horrible places to work at if in their employment contract include such statements that give them the right to claim ownership of their employees' personal goods if these decide to leave.

So I am really in doubt and confused about all this. What should I do in your opinion? Given the situation, what is the wisest decision to make in order to be able to relocate in Porto?

Voyager2002

Welcome to Portugal! It is a sad fact that salaries in Portugal (and also in Spain) are not enough to cover the cost of accommodation. Many people continue to live with their parents until they have climbed the corporate ladder to senior positions.

If you are willing to live in a shared apartment, you might find a room independently so at least you are not dependent on your employer when at home. You should certainly find out what renting like this actually costs, so that you can assess how good are the offers of jobs that include accommodation.

Your comments about agencies and your search for senior positions does not make much sense. It does sound as if the agencies really do have such vacancies, but think that you do not meet the person-specifications and so are trying to fit you into junior positions. Maybe you need to do a job at that level in the UK before changing country?

All I can suggest is that you have some extended face-to-face conversations with relevant recruitment agencies, both in the UK and in Portugal. They might simply suggest ways to present yourselves for senior positions, or they might outline areas of experience and skills that you lack but could acquire before changing countries.

Marcon

Flatfacedcat said:

Thank you for your time and attention.

In the last few years I have been working in customer service in the travel industry. I am 40+ years old. Since almost an year I have been trying to relocate to Porto, Portugal. I have successfully completed several interviews at various multinational corporations that have a branch also in Porto, for customer service roles in entry positions, and all the offers I received were insufficient to be able to pay the rent of a small apartment in Porto and live there, based on my mathematical calculations, so I rejected all of them. In numbers, the current monthly rent of a small 50 sq meters apartment in Porto - bills excluded - is around 800-900 EUR, while the salary offered was around 1100 EUR net per month.

Two or three of the corporations I had interviews with, offered also a relocation package which consists in a room in a bigger shared apartment with other employees, for a even lower monthly salary - around 700 EUR net per month - as the rent is supposed to be deducted from the salary. The impression I perceived from such offers was that of an enslaving system which leaves no space for any possible opportunity of moving out of the company's shared apartment after few months and live fully independently.

I also attempted to negociate senior positions, given that I already have plenty of professional experience in this job. It revealed not possible because in Portugal most of the corporations unfortunately hire through work agencies, so the first stages of the interviews are with recruiters of the agencies, and to my statement "I am interested in a senior position because I already have extensive experience in this job." their answer each time was a version of "This job opening is an entry level, this is what the company told us to search for them so this is the offer, we cannot negociate anything."

Now, after about an year of doing these interviews almost constantly and observing that there seems to be no way of finding a company willing to pay a minimum required by the current situation for a foreigner to relocate and live there independently (around 1350 EUR net per month according to my calculations), I am unsure if I should retake into consideration those offers that include the shared apartment hoping that once I will be physically in Porto I can maybe explore its surroundings in my free time to find an apartment at a reasonable monthly rent. In internet it seems that the apartment rents in Porto and in its surroundings are the same. I have no more ideas about how I can make this wish of mine come true. And this is why I thought to ask your opinion.

Also, looking on Google Maps at the reviews for those corporations that offer a shared apartment as relocation package, many employees who accepted to live in such shared apartments say that their company claimed ownership of their personal objects (laptop computers, tablets) left in their rooms when the employees wanted to end the contract and leave the company. Not company's objects. Their personal ones. This doesn't sound good to me at all. These corporations seem horrible places to work at if in their employment contract include such statements that give them the right to claim ownership of their employees' personal goods if these decide to leave.

So I am really in doubt and confused about all this. What should I do in your opinion? Given the situation, what is the wisest decision to make in order to be able to relocate in Porto?

Surely you need to ask another question first: is there any realistic chance of your being able to take any decision which will enable you to relocate as you would like? Sometimes things are lost causes, and there's nothing in your post which suggests otherwise.

I'd love to be wrong...

Voyager2002

Marcon said:

Surely you need to ask another question first: is there any realistic chance of your being able to take any decision which will enable you to relocate as you would like? Sometimes things are lost causes, and there's nothing in your post which suggests otherwise.

I'd love to be wrong...

I don't think this is an entirely lost cause...

If the OP could actually get a senior position in this country, it would then be realistic to aim to move to a similar position in Portugal. What is really not realistic is to move up the career ladder at the same time as changing countries.

Other possibilities include working remotely for a British employer.

SiliconChip

Voyager2002 said:

Marcon said:

Surely you need to ask another question first: is there any realistic chance of your being able to take any decision which will enable you to relocate as you would like? Sometimes things are lost causes, and there's nothing in your post which suggests otherwise.

I'd love to be wrong...

Other possibilities include working remotely for a British employer.

This might be possible, a friend's son took his family to Portugal for 2 months last year as an extended holiday for them and he continued to work remotely (as he does in the UK) while he was there. However, I wonder whether Portugal would be prepared to offer the necessary residence/working visa (thanks Brexit!) when the employer is not based in Portugal?

Mands

SiliconChip said:

Voyager2002 said:

Marcon said:

Surely you need to ask another question first: is there any realistic chance of your being able to take any decision which will enable you to relocate as you would like? Sometimes things are lost causes, and there's nothing in your post which suggests otherwise.

I'd love to be wrong...

Other possibilities include working remotely for a British employer.

This might be possible, a friend's son took his family to Portugal for 2 months last year as an extended holiday for them and he continued to work remotely (as he does in the UK) while he was there. However, I wonder whether Portugal would be prepared to offer the necessary residence/working visa (thanks Brexit!) when the employer is not based in Portugal?

Portugal have a well publicised digital nomad visa. But you need to show an income of around 3.5k per month plus savings of 10k or so. 

Flatfacedcat

Though I do not consider it relevant, here are some more details about me:
* ethnically and culturally, I am European, born and raised
* politically, I am European Union and Schengen citizen (not British nor UK, if this makes any difference at all to whoever thinks that this forum is populated only by British or UK people)
* professionally, have worked and am working within European Union space and interested in continuing in the same industry (so is not a matter of skills or experience, I already have both)
* as relocating experience in my life so far I have already relocated to other two countries within EU through relocation packages offered by previous corporations at which I worked and the salary I was offered was enough to live decently in a small 50 sq meters apartment all by myself in those countries, so I know how things work concerning relocating in the corporate world

None of these are representing any sort of problem in this process for me; my only problem in this case consists in this: while in the countries to which I previously relocated the salaries I was offered were enough to pay all the bills and rent for a 50 sq meters apartment and live decently (which is also my current situation in the country in which I am currently living, so my goal is to maintain the same level of life quality but live in another part of the continent) in Portugal I see that the salaries are not proportional to the cost of living. For my role (customer service with foreign languages in the travel industry) in many of the EU countries I would receive a salary above average which would allow me to relocate without any problem and live decently in those countries. But Portugal is not like this because in Portugal - as comes out from the research - the salaries are not proportional to the cost of the apartment rents.

So, given all these details, the bottom line in my case is: an EU citizen moving from an EU country to another EU country doing the same job in a different company.

Mands

Why Porto?

You've not mentioned family or a romantic partner there. It's an oddly specific location and it doesn't seem to suit you in terms of career progress or financial reward. 

What is the attraction? Obviously there is no obligation to share, but it feels like a missing part of a puzzle. What is the driver to move to this very precise location where your skills are not being recognised? 

Savvy_Sue

I'm also wondering if you're comparing current salaries vs cost of living for wherever you used to live, when it was possible to pay for acceptable accommodation on that salary.

I have no direct experience, but I've heard that across Europe - and in the UK - accommodation costs are a real issue for people who would have been OK a few years ago.

Elliott.T123

Flatfacedcat said:

Though I do not consider it relevant, here are some more details about me:
* ethnically and culturally, I am European, born and raised
* politically, I am European Union and Schengen citizen (not British nor UK, if this makes any difference at all to whoever thinks that this forum is populated only by British or UK people)
* professionally, have worked and am working within European Union space and interested in continuing in the same industry (so is not a matter of skills or experience, I already have both)
* as relocating experience in my life so far I have already relocated to other two countries within EU through relocation packages offered by previous corporations at which I worked and the salary I was offered was enough to live decently in a small 50 sq meters apartment all by myself in those countries, so I know how things work concerning relocating in the corporate world

None of these are representing any sort of problem in this process for me; my only problem in this case consists in this: while in the countries to which I previously relocated the salaries I was offered were enough to pay all the bills and rent for a 50 sq meters apartment and live decently (which is also my current situation in the country in which I am currently living, so my goal is to maintain the same level of life quality but live in another part of the continent) in Portugal I see that the salaries are not proportional to the cost of living. For my role (customer service with foreign languages in the travel industry) in many of the EU countries I would receive a salary above average which would allow me to relocate without any problem and live decently in those countries. But Portugal is not like this because in Portugal - as comes out from the research - the salaries are not proportional to the cost of the apartment rents.

So, given all these details, the bottom line in my case is: an EU citizen moving from an EU country to another EU country doing the same job in a different company.

Reading this message it looks like you have answered the question for yourself. For whatever reason, be it the job you do isn't valued in Portugal or there are an oversupply of people qualified to do it etc the salaries are lower than you need to comfortably live.

No one can tell you what to do, the choice is yours but personally my view is why are you thinking of moving to a country that you are not going to be able to have a comfortable standard of life?

FlyMeSomewhere79

For me I would be nervous of a shared home situation because you don't know who you are going to end up sharing with, it could be someone overbearing, someone disruptive, someone whose personality you just clash with. You don't make a massive move to another country and quickly find out you regret it, as you said yourself it'll be that shared house or nothing!