Hi guys,
I hope everyone is doing well. It’s been an unbelievably long pause.
If I did my calculations right, it’s week 7 of the spring semester. I have been MIA and there’s a reason for it. It’s been quite the roller-coaster but I feel as though I am now at a good enough place to share my thoughts and experiences since graduation, for those who are interested.
For some background, I am from a third world country, and that means I do not have easy access or the right to stay within Hungary or the EU without fulfilling the proper applications via the National Immigration office. All this will make sense in a second.
After graduation, my first priority was leaving the bubble of uni. I am sure many of you have felt this but POTE feels like its own little world and after 14 plus weeks at a time in uni, battling one course or the other, you can easily forget about the “real world”. There are many things I appreciate about that, but they are all tied to university and become unimportant postgrad.
There were two things I knew: (1) I didn’t want to go back home just yet and (2) I didn’t know what next exactly.
I shared the ECFMG process earlier last year. I think those who can put two and two together can make up that I have my eyes set on US residency. I had not made any concrete plans to dive into anything yet so it was time for me to figure it out. I have family and friends in North America and being closer to them was a main incentive for me looking at the US. I have a friend with whom I also share this goal, so we began working towards that.
What does that mean? We gathered all our study resources and started studying. If all went well, we could be matching in 2026. If you have any questions, please bear with me. I will do a whole post about that in a few days.
With regards to my residency status, I had applied for a job-seeking permit prior to graduation that would give me time to stay in Hungary to take this exam and just get myself together. It is usually issued for a maximum of nine months, but can be shorter, and it can only be applied for once, so regardless of how long you are given, you do not get to extend it. I eventually got my job-seeking permit and I was only given 3 months (until November), for reasons still unclear to me. This complicated things because based on how I was studying, the soonest I could take my exam was at the end of November or beginning of December. What next? Find a job. That was the purpose of my new permit right? So the process began while studying. I had been applying here and there but not so seriously. Now I dusted off my CV and revamped it to a much more professional one. I gave my LinkedIn profile a huge update and started putting myself out there. I can’t count how many jobs I applied to between August and November. The jobs I was looking for were jobs that would accept my medical degree and also accept my poor Hungarian, or better my English proficiency. These were jobs like Clinical Research Assistant, Medical Lab assistant, etc. I had a lot of help and connections with this and yet, I did not get a single response, not even an interview. By October, I had exhausted everything I could apply for and was seeing only the same jobs over and over again. So, I widened my pool. I would take a job as an assistant of any office, it didn’t have to be clinical. I even applied for internships. A few rejection letters, mostly no responses. Guys, some of those job listings are still out there. I wonder if they were ghost jobs. All of this sounds bleak and it is. The job market is a nightmare these days. It doesn’t mean it would be like this for you but please be prepared. In the middle of this, I was doing 8 to 10 hours a day of studying. This was putting a lot of stress on me as the days were passing by. By some miracle, I was connected to the job I now work at which changed everything for me with regards to my residency status. I wish I could talk more about it because it’s a dream fit. I have signed a non-disclosure agreement and am not at liberty to say more, however once I can I will talk about this experience.
Settling into work was not easy at all. We had a lot of things to sort out with regards to my residency status before officially commencing. Around that time, there had been a lot of rules that were changed with regards to the classification of and processes for applying for residency for employment. I could not ask friends who were already working because they were unfamiliar with the new system, so there was a lot we (my boss and I) had to figure out. I was pulling up legal papers online and trying to translate them, aggressively googling to see what could afford me the best opportunity. At a point, I was calling and emailing the Immigration Office constantly, and showing up twice a week. Somewhat reminiscent of a toxic relationship really. The officers were not much help as many of them did not really know much about this new system and the legal implications and were unable to direct me. A lawyer was involved at some point. By this time, I had put my studying to the side. I booked my flight and got ready to go home. It wasn’t the worst thing because make no mistake, I still have a loving and supportive family back home. Luckily we were able to get everything sorted in the nick of time.
This is not a period I like to think about much if I don’t have to. It was rather nightmarish but I came out of it and am happy that I have that experience to share with you.
So…where am I at now?: It’s been almost 9 months since graduation. I work a lot- this takes up the bulk of my day and with what time I have left, I study. I am constantly rotating between Anki, Notability and UWorld. Work has pushed my goal back by a lot but this is work that I believe can only contribute to my career in a positive way and ultimately, some progress > no progress. I’ve gotten back to something I love- leisure reading. I work out when I have the time. I am tired at the end of every day but I am getting things done and am extremely grateful to be where I am.
My friend…drumroll please….got her P in December and is getting ready for Step 2. I have an interview with her coming up soon so stay tuned.
I hope this will be helpful to someone, especially those graduating in June. My only advice is to be resilient and consistent. This is the winning combination, but by 6th year I’m sure you knew that already.
Alright, bye. See you shortly.
Hey,
Thank you for the update and all that you’ve shared with us. This website has been very helpful and I’m grateful for it.
I wish this article was a little more of a help. There’s no info on how u got the job, how to get a job, what ur job is even in the realm of? Is it in English? Do you have to speak Hungarian? How did you sort out your immigration stuff?
Why do you have to stay in the EU? Can’t you study back home ?
Sorry if I seem like I’m prying but a lot of us are in similar situations after graduation and so little detail can be frustrating.
Again I hope u don’t take offence to my comment I love your website.
Hello! Thank you for your comment, and no offence at all.
Yes, I realise that some details are missing. This is because I got it in a rather unconventional way and I don’t want to give unrealistic hope. I couldn’t have done it without my network. I had been quite vocal about my situation with friends, and a friend mentioned it in passing to someone else who had a company they were looking to start. It turned out I had the qualification they required for the job- a medical degree and English proficiency. I sent over my resumé and we did a trial “homework”. My interviewer, now boss was satisfied with this and we drew up all the necessary documentation and signed contracts. So really, it was one of those friend-of-a-friend situations. As I stated previously, I am not at liberty to speak on my job or the company and its cause but if I were to give my position a title, it would be medical writer. It doesn’t require that I speak Hungarian.
With regards to the immigration stuff, I ended up needing a lawyer to sort this out and I am now under the residence permit for guest self-employment.
And for your last questions: I wouldn’t say I had to stay, moreso that I wanted to. At the time, I was just ready to hunker down and study for my exams. I was stable in Hungary so why go through the hassle of moving if I can avoid it? The economic, political and social state of my country right now is a mess, so I want to avoid it for the time being as much as possible. At the back of my mind, I also thought finding a job related to my degree would be great on my resume. I don’t know what the job market in your home country looks like but I truly don’t think I could have found something similar back home. And finally, my partner is Hungarian. I was not ready for what that dynamic would look like countries apart. Staying has afforded me these three perks. I would have only had one back home.
I hope this gives more context. If you need any more info, email me at aulaconversations[at]gmail[dot]com.
This makes things much clearer thanks for your reply. Do you happen to know if your boss is still hiring for a similar position?
Wish u all the luck with your usa journey.
Currently no, as we are still in very early stages but if things change, I would definitely like to give PTE students/alum that connection so you will know about the opportunity.
Thanks again.