During our work life, we encounter different problems, they could emerge from bad decisions, unexpected events etc. This is how life is, with ups and downs. Like everyone, I had difficult times in my work life, but this time I want to speak about it, to raise awareness, especially because as an immigrant-expat I am concerned about the rights of people like me. Some people suggested that it is better not to write about it because Linked-In is a happy-we-all-enjoy-and-celebrate social network and it could be bad for my reputation for my future work life. I think we need to value freedom of speech in our lives and continue keeping it as a value, at least Western culture should not be ashamed of it!!
It was October 2021 that I got an offer to work in Accruent and I moved in December from Portugal to the Netherlands.
Before becoming Accruent, the company was named BlueCielo (Still in Nederland legal terms it is BlueCielo) and then it was acquired by Accruent. Accruent is an American company which also belongs to a bigger firm. When I was applying for them, I emphasized that I am Iranian and I need visa sponsorship. They asked me to go through a comprehensive background check.
I arrived in the Netherlands in December 2021, living in a shared place on Airbnb, paid a lot of money for moving and also hired an agent to find me an apartment (A very difficult step to do in the Netherlands). I was waiting for my access (Code repo, deployment etc.) to be created to start my job, but days passed and It was not created. It was the 22nd of December, a dark cold day and I got a call from the HR manager of the Netherlands office. He told me there are some legal issues with your nationality, not from the Dutch authority’s point of view, but from the US headquarters. It was a shocking moment for me. I have heard from many of my compatriots that this has caused a lot of trouble for them. The HR manager was not happy with what happened and apologized, however asked me to join an online meeting with another manager in the US to clear some questions.
I could understand that it was not the intention of the HR manager in the Nederland office for things to go in this direction. It was a tough meeting for me. I do not want to get into details, but if I want to describe it, you can picture it as a polite interrogation session. Keep in mind that before coming to Nederland, my background was already checked. It really hurt me, but I had more important goals and I had to make a tradeoff. I chose to stay and closed my eyes to what happened. My Dutch colleagues apologized for what happened and they even sent me a small gift. The HR manager in the Nederland office left the company some months later.
The most ridiculous thing was that after I joined, as a newcomer I had to enrol for some organisational culture courses, one of them was about “avoiding discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and nationality”. Yes … Practice what you preach!
During the time I was working there, I made lots of improvements, which I do not want to go into details about now, but I will share part of the performance review I received from my manager in Feb 2023, for my work in 2022:
I got promoted in April 2023 and was happy and despite that, I knew people with my expertise and skills may earn more in other companies, I wanted to grow in Accruent and I explained my path and ambitions to my managers.
It was May 2023 and I decided to buy an apartment. After spending a lot of time and money, hiring an advisor, etc., I found an apartment but 9 days before signing the purchase agreement, I asked HR to send me the “Werkgeversverklaring” or “employer’s declaration”. Days passed and I did not receive a response. I thought it was because they recently laid off a HR employee and they are busy. I contacted them to remind them but they only sent me an invitation for a meeting.
I had signed the purchase agreement because I had an indefinite contract with the company and from talking to everybody who has gone through the apartment buying process in the Netherlands, I have never heard that you should ask for the “employer’s declaration” before taking any step. The day I had the meeting with the new HR manager and one other person in HR in NL, they told me due to some uncertainties about the company (if it is going to restructure or something), we can not provide the document. They never answered in writing about my request, which is still a big question for me. I had to cancel the apartment purchase agreement but had to pay a considerable amount of damage because I had hired an advisor and the apartment technical inspection was done.
This was the second time that this company hurt me. Whomever Dutch or non-Dutch person I talked to, was surprised by the HR decision. Even one of my colleagues told me “I only requested the document when we were in the stage of asking for a mortgage request”.
I followed up on this with my direct manager so at least the company would compensate for the damage. The HR or any other person in higher hierarchies decided to impose this damage on me, only based on “maybe s”. Realistically even if they decide to close the office today, it will take at least one year to shut down the product. Even my direct manager, who was shocked by the HR decision, told me you would definitely not be on the list for layoff. However, the company preferred to have a good face in front of the mortgage companies than their employees (This is what the new HR manager told me). This is their choice.
The trust can not be broken multiple times, it is bidirectional and If there is a third time they cause a problem for me, then I am guilty. So I decided to resign, even though I would like to stay there, continue contributing etc. I still have respect for my team members in Nederland.
Finding a new Job
But let me share my experiences with finding a new job. From the first of June 2023, I started to apply for new jobs and I changed my status on Linked In. Some recruiters contacted me, most of them were reasonable and polite. However, I strongly suggest that you apply directly to companies and put third-party recruiters as the second priority. There is a huge gap of communication, when third-party recruiters come into play, let alone that each company has its definition of senior role (the position I was applying for).
For me, the approach of some companies for the hiring process was also an indicator of how each company sees or values your skills. Some companies do not even go through your CV to see your open-source projects, blog posts etc. They only want senior coders! Even that is debatable.
Some companies never gave feedback for the assignment they sent to you, for one of them I spent time travelling to their office and never heard back from them.
Another case was a ridiculous recruiter who called me on the phone and said “Can you ask your friends to delete a LinkedIn post about you being open for a new role !” The most surprising thing I have ever heard about the job-seeking process! That recruiter only had an intro conversation with me and there was no offer yet on the table!
Last but not least, I would take this moment and say thank you to all the people who supported me in finding a new job, my previous colleagues, Paolo, Tiago, and Ines from Portugal and Jaroon from Nederland.
Babak Fakhriloo 