Your Guide to Working in Poland: Tips for Foreign Job Seekers

Beata Kobucka
Hello. Welcome to our videocast, Let’s Get You Hired. Today with me, the international mobility expert, Agnieszka. Hi, Agnieszka.

Agnieszka Kaliszewska
Hi, Beata.

Beata Kobucka
Welcome to our meeting. Thank you for your time. Let’s get started.

INTRO
Let’s get you hired. We We’re talking about recruitment process at Capgemini. Rewrite your future and join us. Agnieszka, as far as I know, the recruitment process in Capgemini looks absolutely the same when it comes to Poles and the foreigners, right?

Agnieszka Kaliszewska
Yes, absolutely. Those are the same job of us. Those are the same recruitment processes, the same meetings with the recruiter, with the potential hiring manager, new manager of the candidate. The process looks absolutely the same. There is only one difference. The difference is about the possibility to work in Poland legally. Some of the foreigners, of course, if they come from European Union, they have citizenship of any European Union country, then they can legally work in Poland without any legalization, immigration documents. They can pretty quickly. The biggest difference is, I would say, for the people who do not have the citizenship of any of the European Union countries, because then there are immigration formalities that will have to be done in order for the candidate to be able to work legally in Poland and stay legally in Poland. It may depend, of course, if somebody is already in Poland, maybe they have already some immigration legalization documents that can be used. But if somebody is coming for the first time to Poland, then there will be the work permit or some type of work legalization documents that the employer, Capgemini, would need to apply for. And maybe visa, maybe some other state document. It depends on the case. We have many different cases, but we also have international mobility team, so the team that I’m leading. This team is responsible for looking into documents, looking into the case, and advising the foreigner. What exactly needs to be done in the case of this specific candidate? To make sure that everything is legal, to make sure that everything is safe and smooth as much as it’s only possible.

Beata Kobucka

Okay. As I can hear, your team is supporting each foreigner case by case.

Agnieszka Kaliszewska
Yes, definitely. We look into each case. We focus on everyone, I would say. Of course, then it depends. There are so many different factors. I don’t want to get into details here. There are so many different factors that have to be taken into account. But we do advise everyone. Then we also apply for the work permits, what I mentioned, and we help to apply for residency cards for people who base their stay in Poland on the purpose of work.

Beata Kobucka
Okay, so your team is supporting each foreigner applying for a job here in Capgemini, Poland. Sounds great. But from your experience, does the Polish job market is more open in recent years for such candidates?

Agnieszka Kaliszewska
Yes, I would say so. Definitely, the unemployment rates in Poland are very, very low. I believe we and Czech Republic, we have the lowest in European Union. It’s been that way since already a few years, so it’s a stable situation. The employers are looking for candidates and are looking for interesting, talented candidates. Especially, one of the interesting points is if you know the foreign language, it might be interesting for your employer. If you know it very well, like you’re maybe a native speaker of French or German or Swedish or any other language, then I think you have a really good asset in your pocket and you can use it when you’re searching for a job.

Beata Kobucka
Okay. Speaking about the languages, is the Polish language the main criteria for candidates for foreigners to apply for a job here in Capgemini?

Agnieszka Kaliszewska
I would say no. There might be some jobs that require the knowledge of Polish language, especially if you work with maybe labor code, when you really need to understand the specifics of the language to understand your job and your duties. But most of the time, on most of our jobs, we don’t require anyone to speak Polish language. Everyone, however, our common language of communication is English. Everyone speaks English, at least on a communicative level. When it comes to, for example, the emails that we send, the communication that we send inside the company, we do use Polish and English. Each communication is also in English so that everyone can be included and everyone can understand.

Beata Kobucka
Right. In fact, no such requirement, in effect, not for a majority of the roles. No. Okay. For the very end of our discussion, Agnieszka, what initiatives are you organizing with your team here in Capgemini to support foreigners in relocating to Poland.

Agnieszka Kaliszewska
Okay. I think that I need to mention that there are initiatives going on on the, let’s say, governmental level, not only Capgemini level, because it set up the climate, the atmosphere for everything. Also, our government is working now on the new legislation. One of the major point in the immigration strategy for Poland is to help everyone to integrate, to feel comfortable, to understand what they can do, how they can manage their things, how they can find themselves in a new situation a new culture. Also in Capgemini, we do have such initiatives because it’s very important for us that everyone can feel good. For example, we do have the community that is It includes foreigners from all over the world and also Polish people. Everyone can join, everyone can contribute. It does organize many many different interesting, I would say, events or activities during which everyone can participate and learn about different cultures, not only Polish culture, but it’s, I would say, mix and match of different cultures. It’s about the culture, I would say. It’s about everyday life. It’s about making sure that when we have a foreigner colleague in the team, we do not speak Polish. We speak the language which is understandable. It might be English, it might be French, whatever the language the team is speaking. And it’s about the mutual respect for everyone.

Beata Kobucka
Okay, okay. Sounds perfect. Agnieszka, for At the very end of our meeting, what would be the main culture difference that you would advise to take care of for our viewers when it comes to the Polish culture? The main difference.

Agnieszka Kaliszewska
I would say it’s important to know how you make friends, because a lot of time it happens that foreigners coming to Poland or to any other country would stay in the maybe group groups of foreigners, group of expats. That’s great. That’s mutual support. That’s perfect. But in the same time, it’s good to know how to make friends with the local people as well because they are the ones that can also teach you in the easiest way how to find your way through all the different formalities or aspects of everyday life. I would say that Polish people are not very emotionally expressive When it comes to emotions, showing our state, or maybe we are not really smiling at the first glance, not necessarily. But the way to make friends is to spend time together, is to share your experiences together. Maybe talk about the challenges. Maybe talk about this, how did you resolve some challenges, or maybe you didn’t. Maybe just share your life experiences. This is how you can make friends for life.

Beata Kobucka
Wow, great. Agnieszka, thank you very much. It was very interesting. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Thank you for your attendance, and feel free to join our videocast next time.