Finding a Job in Malta- My Work History!

I get asked all kinds of questions about Malta and life here, but something that's been cropping up a lot recently is variations of 'do you work?'. For all of you who are interested- yes, I do work. I thought I'd do a post to satisfy all you nosy parkers but also to give a little more of my personal experience with finding a job in Malta, in the hope that it might be useful to others.

All I ask, is that if you contact anyone I've linked in this post, please let them know I recommended you- maybe even copy me into the mail (movingonupaway@gmail.com). You are not entitled to of course but it looks really good for me when companies know people are acting on my recommendations and I'd be hugely thankful!

The places linked in this post are all ones I have used personally and the opinions expressed are from my own experience and absolutely truthful, honest and all that jazz.

Job #1 in UK

In the UK I worked in gaming. I started off as a cashier in a betting shop at 18- having no prior betting or gambling experience- and loved it. I was initially working part time in a supermarket but needed something less mind numbing and better paid. I lived in a small town and just happened to see a job listing in the window of a high-street bookmaker, so just went in and asked for an interview.

I thrived at this job and soon became full time, then deputy manager and finally a store manager. It was only a small, quiet shop but it was a big responsibility and I often moved around to other, bigger and busier shops covering sick and holidays.

I worked for the betting company for around 2 years however, due to the fact mine was a small shop, in a small town, with many other bookmakers, the decision was taken to close it down. I was kept on and continued full time as a manager doing relief work all around the area, also helping to organise and maximise other shops to make them more efficient but I eventually got tired of constant 12 hour working days with long commutes each morning and night.

Job #2 in UK

I left the high-street bookmakers to work as customer support for a gaming website- my first step into 'iGaming'. I dealt with the sportsbook side of things (no poker or casino queries) and dealt with customer queries via email and telephone. It was pretty gruelling- the customers were horrible, the shifts were crappy and the wage wasn't great. I worked 6 days on, 3 days off and of those 6 days on, 3 were 'early shifts' and 3 were 'late shifts'. It was great experience though and I gained extra knowledge in lots of other areas of gaming such as KYC (verifications), fraud, payments, dealing with Key Account customers and occasionally acted as a 'team leader' dealing with escalated calls, all of which is valuable.

It was whilst there that I met Joe and we decided to move to Malta (why Malta?). Malta is full of gaming companies and as we had experience we figured we'd find something when we got here.

Finding a job in Malta

- Research

We googled which gaming companies were in Malta and directly contacted those we thought we'd like to work with and Joe actually got his first job here this way. This is great as it gets you on the radar of companies who might not actually be advertising roles, why limit yourself to those just posting adverts? If you have a great attitude and experience, a company who don't realise they need someone might see it and go- damn, we want to meet this person! They will also keep it on file, so if a position does come up, they'll remember you. Plus, if you go direct, you're 'free' and the company doesn't have to pay any agency finders fee.

- Recruitment Sites

As well as research, we sent our CVs to a few recruitment agencies. The one that introduced me to my first job was Quad Consultancy. The guy I spoke with was entirely mad but really helpful and spent a lot of time with me practising interview question, giving me tips on how to structure my answers. He doesn't work there any more but they're always the first site I go to when I'm looking for jobs (for myself, or for others) as they have a great range of high and lower level jobs, from lots of industries and are a pleasure to deal with.

I had two interviews and was offered the position.

Job #1 in Malta

The company created an affiliate program software used by gaming companies. So although I wasn't working for a gaming company, it was still very much related and I learnt so much about affiliation at this job. My title was 'Account Executive' but the role was that of an Account Manager- we each had dedicated clients (the gaming companies) and we answered their questions about the software, helped them set up their affiliate program effectively, did reviews on their setup to make sure it was correct and suggest improvements, sold them add-ons that were relevant to their system and so on.

I really enjoyed this job and met my best friends on the island there, but I didn't have much love for the company. They didn't treat us all that well, we had zero perks, getting holiday approved was a nightmare and to ask for a pay rise was about the worst thing you could do. Ambition was frowned upon and treated as greed.

Finding a job in Malta

- Recruitment Sites

After around 6 months in my first job here, I signed my updated CV up to a few recruiters and was contacted by Hyperion, saying they had a job I might be interested in. I don't actually remember signing up to Hyperion, but they had my details and emailed me with the job so I must have done at some point. They're not based in Malta so all our conversations were via telephone and email but they were efficient and helpful. The didn't offer the extensive assistance that Quad did but by this point I didn't really need interview coaching.

They kept in touch with me frequently and I never had to chase them for updates, which is a very rare thing when looking for a job in Malta!

Job #2 in Malta

I had a phone interview, had a physical interview in Sweden and was offered a job. Again, outside of iGaming but linked- this was for a payment provider which is very popular on online gaming websites but is also available in e-com.

I started here as corporate support, answering emails from our gaming company clients,  but as the company was very new and only just opening in Malta, I was able to bend and mould the job roles to suit me. I started consulting with merchants- meeting them to gather feedback on our product and suggested improvements, providing training on our back office to new and existing clients, providing faster support (response in 3 hours rather than 24!) and other bits and bobs. Very quickly I became much more than 'just' support and was building relationships with clients, meeting them regularly and offering extra services to our clients that our competitors could not.

After a while I was promoted to an Account Manager but, for one thing, at this company, an Account Manager doesn't have the necessary authority to be an effective Account Manager and for another, it just isn't the role for me.

The future in Malta

I am actually in the process of leaving this company (this is the huge change I've been hinting at for ages now!) but I've had a great 3 and a half years here. It's just not where I want to spend the next 3 and a half years of my life.

I have a wealth of experience and know myself a lot better than I did when I first moved here; I know what I want to do, what I'm good at and where I want to be. Sadly the company can't (or wont) offer me the role that fits, so the time has come to say 'Thank you, but good night!". I met some wonderful people here who I will keep in contact with so it's all on very good terms.

There is room for progression there, as long as it's where they want to put you, which means I'd be stuck in a role that I don't particularly enjoy and am not especially good at- which is bad for my confidence and moral and also bad for the company. However much you like your employer, however loyal you feel to them, it's not worth dreading your day at work each morning just to keep them happy. You need to be happy and what's what I've decided I'm going to be.

I will talk about my next chapter in another post once things have settled down, once I'm settled in and I know exactly what I'm doing, but for now, I hope this has satiated your curiosity and maybe helped a few of you who might be job hunting in Malta!