How to look for a dream job in Poland

First, let me tell you a little about myself. I have a degree in philology and studied English. However, my life was interesting and 10 years ago I got a job in Poland by accident while I was a student. I worked for three months, learned the basics of Polish and returned to Ukraine. I worked in Ukraine in the banking sector, in a store, and ran a small business. In 2015, he went back to Poland. During this time, I worked at factories, in Polish employment agencies, as a cashier, and even in the kitchen. I want to say the main thing – in Poland you can find the job you want, and it’s a pity that most Ukrainians keep in mind the conditional division into Poles and Ukrainians, prepare in advance for the worst conditions, are intimidated, and do not know their rights. I will give some essential advice.

1. To find the job you want in Poland, you need to know Polish at a conversational level. It’s a must. And to learn Polish, you should not be afraid to speak. Let it be wrong, half of the words are Ukrainian and half are Polish, but try. Do not distance yourself from Poles, do not avoid Poles and try to talk to them. I have often seen a situation where Ukrainians at factories communicate only with each other, eat in the dining room only with their own, and so on. The world is big, why limit yourself? Try it and don’t be afraid of anything. Knowing the language, you will feel differently, you will have friends who are Polish as well as Ukrainian, and you will integrate into society faster.
2. The second thing that prevents a Ukrainian from finding a dream job is being linked to an employer with a residence card, a visa, a corridor, and other paperwork and bureaucracy. But now there is a good way out – visa-free travel. Three months is enough time to understand whether you like your job and want to stay here, or whether it is better to go to Ukraine, have a little rest, do your own thing, and come back again in three months for a seasonal job or another job for three months. If you are satisfied with the job, ask your employer to issue you an invitation for a regular six-month work visa – oświadczenie o powierzeniu wykonywania pracy – a month or three weeks before departure, which the employer registers with the Labor Office at the place of work – Powiatowy Urząd Pracy. You will go home with an invitation, open a visa in a week or two (maybe a month) and return. During this time, you can already think about a residence card or a voivodeship visa.
3. Perhaps the most important point. Do what you like. In Poland, there are hundreds of times more vacancies than in Ukraine, and in different fields, so when going to work in Poland, look for a vacancy and a job that you like. I understand that it often happens that a family is waiting for you at home, you need to earn money anywhere and in a short period of time, but if you find a job in your specialty, you will have much better working conditions, salary, satisfaction and you will be appreciated. I am especially addressing young people who are building their future. After working somewhere else and earning some capital, try to look for a job in Poland that you really like.

What did I do personally?

When I came to Poland for the first time as a student in 2008, I got a job at a factory. I worked with Poles and Ukrainians, including me, and there were only two of them on my shift. I went through an agency and was promised 12 hours of work, 7 days a week. In fact, I worked 8 hours, and Saturday and Sunday were off. But it was an experience. Back then, I didn’t know how agencies “scroll” people.

The fact is that for a certain trial period, the agency receives a certain amount of money. For example, 200 zlotys. If there are, say, 10 such employees, it’s 2000 zlotys. I went for almost 4 months, and it is profitable for the agency to send us all, say, after a month of work somewhere else, to get another 2000 zlotys for us again for the trial period. The amount is approximate, but you can imagine the volume if there were 100 people like me instead of 10.

So, I was sent 500 kilometers away to another part of Poland, and even at my own expense, citing the lack of work at the factory. I ended up not at a cannery, as I was told, but in a freezer, where it was minus 20 and I had to break frozen fruit for 12 hours at a time. In addition, I was told to leave in two hours, and I spent 12 hours on the road. Of course, respecting myself, I did not leave. They put me in a dormitory with Nepalese and Indians. Knowing English, I made friends with the Nepalese, who told me that their rate was higher than mine, there were bonuses for Saturday, Sunday and overtime. I didn’t hesitate to wait for their manager to come to them and agreed with him to work for their agency. However, there was no work here, and I was sent as an assistant welder to another city, where I got a lot of “bunnies” from the welding machine.

I worked there for two weeks, it was very hard. The previous agency called and offered me a job for the same pay, plus money for food every day – building football stadiums at schools. There I worked with two Ukrainians and the rest were Poles.

I polished my language skills, the work was not hard and I earned good money. Then I returned to Ukraine, finished my studies and worked in Ukraine, but at the end of 2015 I went with my friends to Poland, where I worked at two factories, helped not to deceive 20 Ukrainians who worked with me when we were offered to sign an addendum to the contract, where instead of 11 zlotys per hour they offered 8 and an unknown bonus.

At the beginning of 2016, I found a job at a Polish labor agency, and a year later I tried my hand at another agency. Someone might think that I don’t stick to a particular job, I don’t have stability and so on. I’m just looking for something that will give me pleasure, and when I find it, I move on. So, after working in agencies, I created this website to help Ukrainians in Poland find work, to find answers to the questions that I used to search for for a long time and often to no avail myself.

So I decided last winter that I wanted to go to the mountains and try my hand at working in the kitchen, in a restaurant, as a waiter. I planned to go away for the winter and partially invest the money I earned from my hard hours in my online projects. It so happened that I came back here again for the summer because I liked the work, the team, the area, and I came back here again for the winter, and in the spring I had completely different plans.

For example, in the United States, changing jobs every three years in certain specialties, and sometimes more often, is considered a necessary condition for personal development. I’m not advocating changing jobs often, but I do wish you to find something in Poland that you will enjoy. This process can be long or short, but do not be afraid of changes and if you need to make a seemingly illogical decision at first glance, because your “feeling” tells you so, then make it, because experience shows that this is what you really need at the moment. Develop, enjoy life and be happy.