What Sama Talent Looks For in Candidates: An Honest Breakdown
Most recruitment agencies will tell you they are “looking for great candidates” and leave it at that. We are going to be more useful than that. This article sets out exactly what Sama Talent looks for when we shortlist candidates for trade, driver, professional, and remote roles. It is written for two audiences: candidates considering whether to apply, and candidates who have already applied and want to understand why they were or were not shortlisted.
The criteria below are real. They are the same criteria our recruiters in Manila, Johannesburg, Dhaka, and elsewhere apply to every CV and every interview. If your background and approach match what we describe, you are in a strong position. If they do not, this guide will tell you what to work on or whether to look elsewhere.
What we look for, in order of importance
1. Real experience in the role you are applying for.
This is the single most important factor in every Sama Talent shortlist. If you are applying as a panel beater, you have worked as a panel beater. If you are applying as a Class 1 driver, you have driven Class 1 trucks. If you are applying as a bookkeeper, you have done bookkeeping in a previous job.
We do not place candidates into roles they have never done. This is not a judgement on people who want to change careers. It is a basic safety and quality issue. An employer is paying Sama Talent to deliver a competent worker on day one. A welder who has never welded structural steel is going to fail at structural steel welding regardless of their willingness to learn.
What “real experience” means in practice:
- For trades: Two to three years minimum in the trade, with verifiable employment history. We will speak to previous employers as part of background checks.
- For drivers: A current, valid licence in the relevant class, with documented driving history. New licence holders with no commercial driving experience are not placed.
- For professionals (remote roles): Two years minimum in the role type, with measurable outputs (sales numbers, ledgers managed, customer satisfaction scores, etc.).
If you are early in your career and your experience does not yet meet this bar, the honest advice is to build more time in the role before applying for international placement. The roles that pay €40,000 in Ireland or £43,000 in the UK exist precisely because the employer needs someone who can hit the ground running.
2. English at the level the role requires.
For trades and driver roles in Ireland or the UK, you need working spoken English. You need to be able to:
- Take instructions safely on site
- Communicate with colleagues during shifts
- Speak with customers where the role involves customer contact
- Handle emergency situations
The formal requirement varies by visa route. The General Employment Permit and Critical Skills Employment Permit in Ireland accept several recognised English tests at varying levels. The UK Skilled Worker visa requires B1 English on the CEFR scale, evidenced by IELTS or one of several accepted alternatives.
For remote office-based roles with US employers, the bar is higher. We require C1 level English in both spoken and written form. Calls, emails, and team meetings with US colleagues happen every day. Conversational fluency is not enough; you need to communicate clearly, professionally, and at speed.
We assess English early in the process so that there are no surprises later. If your English is below the level required for your target role, we will tell you. Self-paced study (Duolingo, BBC Learning English, IELTS preparation materials) and online conversation practice can lift your English by a CEFR level in 6 to 12 months of consistent work.
3. The right qualifications and documentation.
For trades roles, you need a recognised qualification appropriate to the country you come from: TESDA in the Philippines, an apprenticeship or NQF qualification in South Africa, equivalent qualifications in Bangladesh, Colombia, India, or the UAE.
For drivers, you need a current valid licence in the appropriate class. Philippine, South African, Bangladeshi, Colombian, and other licences are typically convertible to Irish or UK licences through defined processes, but this conversion takes time and we will explain how it works for your specific case.
For all candidates, you need:
- A valid passport with at least 18 months remaining before expiry
- A police clearance certificate from your country of residence
- Documentary evidence of your employment history (employment certificates, payslips, contracts)
- Educational and professional certifications
Documentation matters more than candidates often realise. A single missing document — a payslip, an unsigned declaration, an expired passport copy, an incorrect company registration number — results in the entire visa application being returned. Every return adds 3 to 4 weeks. This is the number one cause of delays by a significant margin. Candidates who are organised about documents move through the process faster than candidates with the same qualifications who are not. great
4. The right attitude for international work.
This is harder to define but no less important. The candidates who succeed in Ireland or the UK share several characteristics:
- Self-reliance. You will need to manage your accommodation, your transport, your finances, and your life away from your existing support network. We support you, but the day-to-day is on you.
- Adaptability. Irish and UK workplace culture is different from Filipino, South African, Bangladeshi, or Colombian culture. You will encounter different expectations around timekeeping, communication style, supervisor relationships, and break culture. You need to be willing to learn and adjust.
- Patience. The visa process takes months. Your first three months in a new country are emotionally and practically difficult. Candidates who can stay grounded through the slow parts of the process succeed. Candidates who panic, give up, or become hostile to the agency or employer when things take time often do not.
- Honest self-assessment. If you cannot do part of the job, say so. If you have a family situation that affects your readiness to move, tell us. If your English is weaker than your CV suggests, do not hide it. We work with what is real, not what is presented.
5. Right to work or eligibility for the visa route.
Practical and unavoidable: you need to be eligible for the visa route the role requires.
For Irish General Employment Permits, this means you are a citizen of a non-EEA country and the role is not on the Ineligible Occupations List.
For UK Skilled Worker visas, this means you are a citizen of a non-UK country, the role is on the eligible occupations list, the salary meets the threshold, and the employer holds a valid Sponsor Licence.
For remote US roles, this means you live in a country we currently work with (Philippines, South Africa, Bangladesh, Colombia) and you have legal right to take up remote contractor work from where you live.
If you are unsure whether you qualify for a specific visa route, we will check this for you at the application stage. It is faster for us to confirm eligibility than to discover three months in that the route does not work.
What we do not look for
It is also worth being clear about what we do not weight heavily in our decisions, because some candidates over-invest in things we do not actually care about.
Polish on the CV. A clear, factual CV is enough. We do not weight beautifully designed CVs more highly than plain ones. We care what is in the CV, not the formatting.
Where you went to school. For trades roles, your apprenticeship and experience matter. We do not weight one TESDA centre over another or one apprenticeship provider over another.
Cover letters. A short note about why you are applying is helpful. A three-page cover letter is not. Spend the time on your CV instead.
Family connections to Ireland or the UK. It is sometimes assumed that having a relative already in Ireland or the UK improves your chances. It does not, in our decisions. It may help you settle once you arrive. It does not influence shortlisting.
Religion, ethnicity, or marital status. These are not factors. It is illegal for us to use them as factors. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misleading you.
What happens if we cannot place you right now
We do not place every candidate who applies, and we are honest about why.
The most common reasons we cannot place a candidate immediately are:
- Experience does not yet meet the bar for the roles currently open
- English is below the level the visa route requires
- The roles currently open do not match the candidate’s skill set
- Documentation is incomplete or unclear
In each of these cases, we tell candidates directly what the gap is and what they can do about it. We keep registered candidates active in our database for 12 months from last contact. If a role matching your profile opens during that period, we will reach out. If your situation improves (you complete a qualification, your English moves up a level, you gain a year of experience), tell us and we will reassess.
Ready to apply?
If you have read this far and the criteria above match your situation, you are exactly the kind of candidate we want to hear from. Visit samatalent.com/jobs to see open roles. Email jobs@samatalent.com to register your interest if no current role matches.
We will tell you straight where you stand. We will not waste your time. And we will never charge you a fee for the privilege.
About this article: Sama Talent is a regulated Irish employment agency, EA 5649, placing skilled trades and professionals into roles across Ireland, the UK, and Europe, with operations in the Philippines, South Africa, and Bangladesh.
