Migrating doesn’t mean starting from scratch: how to make the most of your work experience in Spain
Soraya Mohamedi · Employment Area Coordinator, Ubuntu Canarias · 9 min read · Published 25 October 2026
What you learned on the job doesn’t disappear when you cross a border. What matters is knowing how to describe it, link it to job offers and prove it when needed.
When people migrate, they change country, surroundings and, very often, job market. They may need to learn a language, understand how companies work in Spain, adapt their CV or get documents that prove their qualifications.
But there is something that does not disappear when you cross a border: everything you have learned by doing your job.
Someone who has worked for years in a garage may know how to diagnose faults, repair engines and use specialised tools. Someone who has run a family business may have experience in sales, purchasing, customer service, organisation and managing expenses. A professional with experience in another country may have coordinated teams, written reports or supported people in complex situations.
However, when these people start looking for work in Spain, their experience is not always reflected in their CV. Sometimes because they do not know how to describe what they did. Other times because they do not have all their certificates, or because experience gained in another country is not easily recognised in recruitment processes.
That is why, when you prepare your job search, it is worth stopping to look at one key question: what can you do, what experience can you bring, and how can you explain it so that a company understands it?
Your job title doesn’t explain everything you can do
CVs often list job titles such as mechanic, shop assistant, administrative assistant, cook, farmer or laboratory technician. They are useful references, but they do not always show what the person actually did.
Two people can have held the same job and have different knowledge and responsibilities. It can also happen that someone carried out tasks that, in Spain, are described with other professional terms.
Think of someone who worked in a vehicle repair garage in their home country. If their CV only says “mechanic’s assistant”, a company may not know that they also did maintenance work, used specific tools, identified certain faults or helped repair engines.
The same goes for someone who has worked in a family business, looked after a farm, handled orders or coordinated other people without having a formal position of responsibility.
The job title is only part of the story. To understand it, we need to know what the person did, what knowledge they used, what responsibilities they had and in what context they worked.
The question is not only where you have worked, but what you have learned and what you can do as a result of that experience.
Having experience and being able to explain it are different things
Many people know how to do their job but find it hard to describe it in a CV or during an interview.
This can happen because they have never had to write their professional profile, because different terms were used in their country, or because they are learning Spanish and do not yet know the specific vocabulary of their sector.
It is also common for people to describe their experience in very general terms. For example:
- Customer service.
- Building maintenance.
- Work on a farm.
- Food preparation.
- Administrative support.
These phrases point to some tasks, but they do not explain how they were done or what knowledge they required.
“Building maintenance” could mean basic cleaning and checks, or it could include technical inspections, repairs and preventive maintenance. “Customer service” could mean answering questions, but also handling orders, dealing with complaints or advising on products and services.
To describe an experience properly, it helps to ask yourself a few questions:
- What tasks did I do, exactly?
- What tools, equipment or software did I use?
- What kind of people, customers or professionals did I work with?
- What responsibilities did I have?
- What problems did I have to solve?
- What knowledge did I need to do my job well?
Answering these questions turns a generic description into a more concrete explanation of your work experience.
It is not about using complicated words. It is about giving enough information for whoever reads your CV to understand the work behind it.
Not having all your documents doesn’t mean you lack experience
One of the difficulties that can come up when looking for work is not having the documents to prove your whole career.
A person may have worked for years and not have kept their contracts, certificates or references. They may also have a qualification from another country that needs a specific procedure to be recognised in Spain.
It helps to separate three different things: the experience a person has gained, the documents they have to prove it, and the requirements of the job they want.
They are not the same.
Experience can be described honestly even without all the documents. You can explain the tasks you did, the knowledge you used and the responsibilities you had. When possible, you can also provide professional references, certificates, samples of your work or any other relevant evidence.
However, some occupations require a specific qualification, a professional accreditation, a particular licence or the recognition of a foreign qualification. In those cases, describing your experience does not replace meeting the legal requirements.
That is why it is important to check what each profession requires and not to assume that all foreign qualifications go through the same procedure.
Recognising your own experience is the first step. Knowing how to prove it and what the job market requires is the next one.
Skills are shown with concrete examples
Many CVs include words like responsible, organised, punctual, good at solving problems or able to work in a team.
These qualities can be important, but writing them down does not show how they appear in your work.
If someone says they are good at organising, they should be able to explain what they organised and how. If they say they can solve problems, they can describe what kind of issues they dealt with and what their responsibility was.
Imagine a person who worked in a small family shop. They may have received goods, checked orders, served customers, arranged products and kept track of stock.
That experience can show skills in customer service, organisation, stock control and order management. If they also negotiated with suppliers or recorded income and expenses, they could give examples of other skills too.
They do not need to claim a position they never held. Nor do they need to turn their everyday tasks into great achievements.
They need to describe what they really did and explain what knowledge and responsibilities it involved.
When possible, they can add concrete evidence: the amount of work they handled, how often they did certain tasks, the teams they worked with or a situation they resolved.
Figures can be useful, but only when they are real and can be explained. Not every profession has performance indicators, and not everyone has access to them.
A well-described experience does not need invented results.
Adapting your CV doesn’t mean inventing a profile
The same career can be relevant to different jobs. The key is to choose the experience and skills that best match each job goal.
Think of a person who has worked in a car repair garage and wants to find a job in Spain.
If they apply for a mechanics job, it makes sense to highlight the maintenance, repair and tool work they have really done.
If they are looking for a job in a spare parts warehouse, they may want to give more weight to their experience with parts, identifying components, organising materials, stock control and preparing orders, as long as they have actually done those tasks.
The career does not change. What changes is the choice of information that is most relevant to the job offer.
This also applies to people who have worked in sectors different from the one they now want to explore. Some skills can be transferable: dealing with the public, organising tasks, using tools, managing documents or coordinating with others.
But there is a difference between identifying transferable skills and claiming experience in a profession you have never practised.
The aim is to show what the person can bring to the job, without exaggerating their knowledge or hiding what they still need to learn.
Before sending a CV, it is worth reading the job offer and checking which tasks are required, which of them you have done before and which requirements you still need to meet.
When your experience was gained in another country
Looking for work in a different country brings difficulties that are not always solved by improving your CV.
Language can make it harder to describe your skills and to communicate in an interview. Not having a professional network can limit access to some opportunities. Some qualifications need to be recognised, and certain occupations have specific requirements to be practised.
Prejudice related to a person’s origin, name, accent or migration history can also come into play.
That is why it would not be right to blame all difficulties in finding work on a poorly presented profile.
Improving your CV, learning professional vocabulary and preparing for interviews are useful tools. But you also need to know the resources available, the requirements to access each occupation and the ways to prove or have your qualifications recognised when necessary.
Looking for work means working on what the person can improve and, at the same time, identifying the barriers that need other solutions.
In this process, employment guidance can help you analyse your career, set a realistic job goal, identify your skills and find the steps you need to take to get closer to that goal.
Not everyone needs to take a new course. Some people need to improve their language skills; others need to get an accreditation, get used to job search tools or learn to better explain what they already know how to do.
The answer depends on each person’s career and the requirements of the job they want.
An exercise to review your work experience
Before changing your CV, spend a few minutes reviewing one of your jobs, internships, projects or volunteer roles. You can use these five questions:
1. What job did I do?
Write down the position, the sector and the country where you gained that experience. If you did not have a formal job title, describe the activity you did.
2. What tasks did I really do?
Try to use concrete verbs: repaired, served, organised, prepared, checked, sold, grew, coordinated, recorded or followed up. Include only the tasks you actually did.
3. What knowledge and responsibilities did it require?
Think about the tools you used, the procedures you knew, the people you coordinated with and the decisions you could make.
4. How can I provide evidence of my experience?
Check whether you have certificates, references, contracts, photos of your work, project samples or other relevant documents. If you do not have all of them, identify what you can explain in concrete terms and what you could try to get back.
5. What jobs could this experience be useful for?
Look for real job offers and compare their tasks with your career. Check which skills you already have, which requirements you meet and what you need to develop or prove.
When you finish, you will have a clearer picture of your professional profile. You can use it to improve your CV, prepare for an interview or decide what training you really need.
Your career deserves to be understood
Migrating can force you to reorganise many parts of your life, including your career. Sometimes you have to learn new procedures, adapt to another language or start in a different job from the one you had before.
But starting to look for work in a new country does not mean that everything you learned before stops being valuable.
The experience you have gained should be described clearly, linked to the opportunities available and proved when the job requires it. It is also important to recognise that not all skills can be transferred straight away, and that some goals require training, more experience or specific procedures.
It is not about presenting a perfect career. It is about understanding it, identifying what you can bring and knowing what steps you need to take to move forward.
Before you think you have to start from scratch, look at what you already know how to do.
You may find that you have more skills than your CV shows. And, above all, you will be able to see how to explain them, which opportunities to explore and what you need to get closer to them.
In employment guidance, helping people identify and communicate their work experience is an important part of supporting their job search.