International Spouse Career Counselling
The International Spouse Career Counselling is a pilot project run by Work in Estonia initiative in cooperation with the Unemployment Insurance Fund. There is a specialized unit in the Unemployment Insurance Fund that will develop and provide an International career counselling service for the spouses of foreign specialists. Find more information about the project in the Work in Estonia portal.
Tips and Tricks for International Partners
- While looking for a job be socially active! Try voluneering (dogs shelter, food bank, communal clean-up campaigns) to meet local active people and to widen your network of contacts and friends.
- If you are researcher, use EURAXESS Career Development tools to map your skills (incl. transferable ones) and goals
- Have your LinkedIn profile up to date and ready to be shared
- Participate various events for ex-pats and locals e.g. ESTonishing evenings, language courses, sports, board games' evenings, accompany your spouse on events organised by the university (winter days, Christmas party etc) and similar.
Find a Job
The most common ways for finding a job in Estonia are via job search portals like cv.ee, cvkeskus.ee, workinestonia.ee and other similar. One can also register at the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund to receive recommendations through the fund. Important positsions are often announced in newspapers. Needless to say, an active job seeker is proactive and speaks to friends and colleagues because sometimes the closest people to you may recommend you to your future employer.
Job offers and useful information on employment and living conditions in Estonia can also be found at EURES – The European Job Mobility Portal. The EURES (European Employment Services) consultants in Estonia work at the labour market offices.
For further information, you can refer to the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund website or to the Estonian EURES website.
To apply for a job you generally have to present your CV and an application. In many cases you have to go through more rounds, which may include writing an essay, taking a language test or a job-suitability test.
Useful job search portals that are available in English are:
- CV-Online
- CV Market
- Europass – European Commission initiative helping people to make their skills and competences clearly understood
- Work in Estonia
If your partner is qualified you can look together for an academic position.