Finding Construction Jobs Abroad

If you are looking for overseas jobs in construction, where should you look? A quick Google search will leave you quickly overwhelmed, endlessly scrolling through pages of unsuitable vacancies. And that’s if you can find jobs in construction abroad, as search engines are becoming more location focused, often filtering out results outside of your country. So, what’s a jobseeker to do? Here’s our quick guide to searching for jobs in construction abroad.

Job Vacancy Aggregators

Websites such as Indeed.com advertise a wide range of vacancies, and you can customise your search for the location that you are interested in. Even LinkedIn is aggregating jobs from outside sources now, providing a one-stop shop for jobseekers. They have their pitfalls though, as many of these large websites provide random, badly selected, and old or out of date jobs. And if you are looking for construction jobs abroad, the available vacancies can be few and far between.

Company Websites

Larger companies will have their own careers pages where you may be able to find construction jobs abroad. By going direct you’ll know exactly who you are applying to work for and can see their specialties, projects and locations. However, often the application process is outdated and clunky, especially for overseas companies. And after many years of companies expanding their global reach, there has been a shift to fewer UK companies working internationally, making it harder to find overseas jobs in construction with reputable businesses.

League Tables

League tables of consultancies and contractors are typically published by various industry sources annually, such as Barbour or ICE. They are useful for seeing how busy companies are, or for statistics such as how many employees a company has or what its turnover is. For overseas jobs in construction, league tables are best used as a quick and basic check on the health of a company. Few will give details about the types and locations of projects they work on, or recent contract awards in the area you are looking for.

Specialist Recruitment Consultants

Recruitment consultants, especially those that specialise in finding construction jobs abroad, give you all the benefits of a job search engine (a wide range of vacancies) but with the local knowledge that you need in order to find the best projects and companies to work for. Often, they will know about upcoming projects in the area you are interested in and can keep you updated on when would be suitable to apply. They also save you time and do most of the hard work of job hunting for you.

When using a recruitment consultant, its worth spending the time to prepare in high-quality CV that helps sell your skills. It’s also worth having an in-depth conversation with your consultant, so that they have a clearer picture about who you are, what experience you have, and what role you are after. The job hunting and selection process is all about relationships, and good recruitment consultants will have built these with reputable employers and know the kind of person they are looking for. In addition, they may well know when an employer is looking for someone who can grow into a role, if they have the right character.

Next Steps

While job aggregators, LinkedIn, or even Google have their place in the job hunting process, the best recruitment consultants will outperform all of these tools because they’ll take the time to understand your needs and find the best fit for you. If you are looking for overseas jobs in construction, our Vacancies page has all the jobs we are currently recruiting for abroad. And if you don’t see a vacancy that matches what you are looking for, you can send us your CV and let us help you find the perfect project where you want to work.

About the Author

Steve Thomas
Construction Recruitment Director, UK & Canada
I am responsible for the Maxim Recruitment office in the UK where our team of recruitment consultants specialise in the recruitment of quantity surveyors, commercial managers, delay, dispute and claims consultants for civil engineering and building contractors and specialist construction consultancies.  I am also responsible for growing our recruitment operation in Canada and the USA where we are increasingly busy.  I have over 20 years’ experience in construction recruitment and enjoy working on both contingency and search/headhunting assignments for our repeat clients.
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Email: steve@maximrecruitment.com