u/Visual_Angle

Hi. I graduated with a Bachelors degree back in 2024. I took an orientation year, struggled, worked in hospitality, went back home for a few months and continued on a partner visa.

After this I continued working in a freelance role (nothing to do with my study) which I really loved but the pay was too unstable, so I had to leave that after 6 months. Now what am I working in? An unrelated corporate role with a 1.5 hour commute away from Amsterdam. I’m genuinely so confused how insanely difficult it seems to be to get a job that is relevant to my interests and experience? I have been applying to marketing, social media, content creation, operations, project management roles on and off for a ridiculous period of time. I have proven experience in marketing, about 3.5-4 years across internships and working on my own channels - a whole portfolio showcasing everything from content to analytics. In operations and project management I don’t have direct experience but through all my corporate roles I’ve learned the staple softwares and have a very good understanding of how it works - so an entry level position would absolutely suit me. It’s especially miserable because I truly enjoy both marketing and project management so much and for the life of me I cannot understand what I’m doing wrong.

I’m literally depressed at this point, don’t know how to keep fixing and changing my resume and portfolio and what is missing, the commute to my current role means I already have about 11-12 hours of my day gone on that. I spend mornings, evenings and weekends doing this and it’s gotten to the point where I’m burnt out because I never stop working on my actual 9-5 or desperately doing these stupid applications just to get an auto rejection email the next morning. I live in the centre of Amsterdam and I’m commuting on a bus to the middle of nowhere and it’s really making me question my self esteem and skills at this point. I know I’m good at marketing, what the hell am I doing wrong? After 1.5 months of straight applying, I don’t have a single interview. A couple of companies were initially interested and hired others before I even got to the interview stage. Is it a lack of certifications? Is it the language? Plenty of these roles are English-only and junior meaning they require even less experience than I have. I send the recruiters connects on LinkedIn and they don’t accept. I send an extra email after the application for roles I specifically think fit well, explaining I’m highly keen and why it fits my skills well. These were all ignored btw. I know Dutch is required for most roles and I’m currently in classes, I apply to all of the English roles and even to the ones that specify Dutch because sometimes they could be flexible on it. I don’t apply if Dutch is mandatory. But I know SO MANY EXPATS working in marketing here speaking only English with just a Bachelors degree. I ask for feedback after some applications are rejected, if it seems like I’m speaking with a human and not a bot. No specific feedback so far.

What’s making me more miserable is thinking every person I know from university who is currently working at a big corporate graduated into that role from an internship. I couldn’t afford another internship post graduation, and it’s making me wonder if that screwed my whole career trajectory.

I know if I go back to my home country I would be able to find an excellent job at a big corporate within a matter of months. But I need to stick it out until I have the passport at least, because mine is shit. Is this common in marketing? Are extra certifications just a standard that everyone has? I used to do a cover letter in PDF for every application and I’ve stopped doing that now because it takes 3x the time - is that why? Literally what is going on and I would really appreciate any other expats or locals insight on this specifically for marketing, content creation, operations and PM. I’m at the end of my tether.

Update - so as I suspected, the problem is not me, it’s the industry. Because if we’re expected to go do a Masters degree, go home and work on certification courses, then a few hours additional learning Dutch on top of that - all to get paid the same as a barista at Joe & The Juice for an entry level role in marketing - they’ve truly lost their minds.