As soon as I was on my way to the Czech Republic, I started to search for any work opportunities as a photographer. There were two difficulties related to my profession I needed to solve. First of all, photography is a job based on your connections. When you come to a new country and don’t know anyone, setting up shootings quickly is extremely difficult. Secondly, if you want to work as a photographer, you need to register as a freelancer. Due to the large amount of refugees coming to the Czech Republic, I realized that things wouldn’t go as fast as I would have imagined.
So, I did some brainstorming, and I concluded that finding a job as a social media marketing manager would be easier. I started to search through many different social media groups, websites and Telegram channels offering help to Ukrainians in Prague. After some hours spent in front of the screen, I found a website called Creative Shelter, which offered job opportunities to Ukrainian refugees from creative industries. That’s how I got in touch with Pavel Trnka (Managing Director / Strategy Director in C3 Prague).
What’s the Creative Shelter?
This website contains a list of people and companies from the creative industry which want to help Ukrainians find a job. As for now, the website collects offers from Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Slovakia and Italy. You just need to send an e-mail or call the people from the list to find out more about the job offers.
I wrote an email to Pavel and asked about the possible vacancies in the agency. After that, we decided which job would fit me best and be helpful for the company at the same time. I sent a CV to Pavel and we arranged a call with the Account Director Magda to discuss the next steps regarding my work. After all the details were set, formalities had to be solved – like getting a health check by two different doctors.
One of them was a general practitioner that conducted the overall examination. There is one strict condition for Ukrainians who want to work in a Czech company – a lung X-ray. So I went through that too. The second doctor was provided by the company for another check-up. Everything went quickly so after visiting all the doctors, I went to the office to sign a contract. By that time, I had already opened a Czech bank account for the salary.
Overall, it took me three weeks from finding a job to actually starting to work. In case of some of the EU businesses, it may take longer – it all depends on the companies’ employment procedure.
Don’t be afraid to take your chances! I have a job in a Czech company now, even though three months ago, I was working as a freelancer in Ukraine. You can do that too, for sure. Prepare a good CV and start applying for the vacancies. Fingers crossed!
