June 2024 | Written by – Ariel Slaughter
María José Quirós Castillo has been with the Expat Spouses Initiative (ESI) team for more than a year. She moved from being a Talent in the Women for Women Eindhoven Edition X to working with the team. Her story is like many other internationals arriving in the region, but she has the advantage of understanding both sides of the table – talent and recruiter. María José will share her unique story as well as the top five CV mistakes she sees and how to avoid them.
From Sunny Shores to Tulip Fields
María José is a human resources professional from Costa Rica who has held many positions in the field over the years. “My background is in HR. I’ve been working in big and small companies for more than ten years now.” She started as a recruiter before eventually moving on to various other roles including talent attraction and engagement. “Later I moved to another role…in talent attraction and engagement. [The role was about] how to strategically attract more people.”
She moved to the Netherlands about two years ago when her husband took a new job.
Stronger with Talent100 and Women for Women
Keen to restart her career in the Netherlands, Maria Jose jumped at the chance to join the Talent100 Edition III. She became a Talent in the Women for Women Eindhoven Edition X in March 2023 and credits the program with helping her adjust to professional life here:
“The program gave me a sense of community and taught me that I was not alone. Rather than just providing information on how to get a job, I learned through practice how to do it. Additionally, through the Women for Women program, I was able to meet my lovely Ambassador Laurette Rutjes-Sijben, who has been my guide for many decisions that I’ve made. She has also become my friend after the program.”
With the Expat Spouses Initiative Team
Nowadays María José is part of the Expat Spouses Initiative team, continuing her work in HR but also in other areas of our organisation. “I would say I’m a connector. I’m connect, different perspectives, different thoughts, different points from business development, but also from HR, the ESI community, and communications. I am like the centre who receives a lot of information and then decides how to put it into different projects, activities or tasks.”
It still surprises María José how different human resources and recruitment is in the Netherlands versus Costa Rica:
“In my country, the whole approach is about whether or not you can do the job. They don’t care about who you are or how can you fit into the team or company culture. It’s really common, for example, to have a big CV with all your achievements and your projects and your portfolio, because you really want to demonstrate that you can do the job even if you‘re not the right fit for the company.”
Our mission at ESI is to help the international community understand the Dutch labour market and help prepare their application materials (motivational letter, CV and LinkedIn profile) to stand out from the competition and get hired. María José forges daily connections between businesses and Talents so she is well-positioned with years of experience and insider knowledge to impart sound advice for international job seekers on how to avoid the top five CV mistakes listed below.
Top Five CV Mistakes
Incorrect or Irrelevant Information
“The other day I was with a Talent, checking their CV and their LinkedIn profile link was wrong. If a recruiter opened it, it would go to another person. It seems basic, but it’s important that your contact information is accurate.” She also says to remove irrelevant information like age, nationality or marital status. “Without the right proper contact information, no one can do anything with a perfect CV.” When writing your CV, check and double-check that all the information included is 100% accurate and everything is spelled correctly. Use your word processors’ spell and grammar checks and have your CV reviewed by someone to help catch unnoticed mistakes.
A Generic CV
Whenever you apply for a position, cater your CV to match the specific requirements of the position. “If you have a generic CV, you will receive a lot of rejections. Every time you apply to a role or a company, you must personalise the information in your CV. This is because of the ATS (Applicant Tracking System). You must adjust your job experience and add keywords that mirror the job description.”
There are many different ways to help you find the right key words such as a word cloud generator, key word finder, and AI chatbots, like ChatGPT. The easiest thing to do is to use the same words present in the job description in your motivational letter and CV.
A Long CV
“Because of the six seconds rule, it’s necessary to only have a one-page CV, for a junior mid or mid-level position or two pages for senior roles. The six second rule states that a recruiter spends just six seconds reading a CV. So, if you have five-page CV, a recruiter won’t read it all.” The best way to achieve this is to include only past employment experiences that directly relate to the tasks or requirements of the new position.
Using Chronological Order
“In your job experience section, write down your information in a reversed chronological order where your most recent experience is on top. If you do it in the other way around, a recruiter will think whatever’s on top was your last experience, which could seem like you haven’t been working for a long time.” It’s okay if you have a career gap, just be prepared to talk about what you were doing while away from employment.
Not Using Metrics for Your Achievements
“More than just writing about what you did in any given role, your past work experiences should be written as achievements. You should use as many metrics or numbers as possible that can numerically highlight the quality your work had on your project, team, or organisation.” If you don’t have any metrics, think about your impact instead.
María José recommends that you use AI to help you find the achievements and key words from the job description. “I recommend people to use AI because sometimes you just have all these ideas in your mind, but it’s difficult to put it into achievements, metrics, or goals. You can ask ChatGPT and add your information to help it write the right things.”
Every country has a different approach to HR, which affects the application and interview process. Knowing how to modify your CV and motivational letter to meet the expectations of talent recruiters in the Netherlands is a key first step to get your foot into the Dutch labour market door. If you take María José’s tips on board and incorporate them into your own CV, you are guaranteed to welcome your next employment opportunity soon.
Talent100 Edition III and Women for Women Eindhoven Edition X was a collaboration between the Expat Spouses Initiative, the Living In program of the Holland Expat Center South and Huis Naar Werk to accelerate internationals towards meaningful work in the Dutch labour market.
Author Profile
A natural storyteller and aficionado of the written word, Ariel Slaughter works as a freelance writer and editor. She has a dual Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Rhetoric and Japanese Literature and Language from the University of Pittsburgh as well as a Master’s of Arts in International Relations from the International University of Japan.