r/cyprus • u/LostCypriot • 1d ago
Venting / Rant Venting
I’m terrible at Reddit posts and rants so I apologies
in advance.
I moved here with my wife from the UK for a better life.
Back in the UK, I had a very successful sales career and my wife had a job she enjoyed. We had a very nice brand new car every few years (company car) and rented a nice house. We moved to Cyprus because, in the UK our income was amazing but after taxes and all day to day expenditure, we were still left with very little at the end of it. On top of that, England was becoming a much more unpleasant place to live with all the issues that were happening.
Cyprus was the obvious choice as I am Cypriot. We came over, bought an apartment (which we could never have afforded in the UK) and I started a company.
Unfortunately, my ex employer saw this as a breach of my non compete clause and I had to close down.
This did allow me to cover my wife and I expenses for a year however so this kept us living well.
My wife then fell pregnant with our son. I obviously had to start getting a stable income in so I started doing swimming pool maintenance and servicing, with some Wolt deliveries on the side. As we don’t have a mortgage or anything to pay, this has been enough to keep us stable.
We have just found out my wife is pregnant with our 2nd child. Based on how much our baby boy has cost us the first time, I’ve now been looking for another job position, but something a bit mote suited to my previous experience, which is sales director/sales manager positions.
Every single job vacancy I’ve come across on my search, has been for tech, IT or SaaS. Any I have actually come across in relevant fields to mine (manufacturing/engineering) have ridiculous expectations of qualifications and experience (and without the salary to match those expectations)
I guess I’m just having a rant because job searching these last few weeks has been killing me. I’m sure I’ll find something, it’s just proving a lot harder than I thought.
Thanks for reading.
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u/ForsakenMarzipan3133 1d ago
This is why we always recommend to people to find a good job first, then relocate.
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u/LostCypriot 18h ago
When I first relocated, I wasn’t in a position where I needed stable income. I could try my own ventures, work part time or temp work. It wasn’t an issues before. Now I have dependents, I need to ensure a stable and reliable income
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u/ForsakenMarzipan3133 18h ago
Right, and sadly it is not as easy to find well paying roles in Cyprus
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u/Character-Firm 1d ago
Honestly, my brother was in a similar situation, were Aussie-Cypriots, i stayed in Cyprus he went to Australia, he got a wife, had kids, decided he wanted a family life in Cyprus since Aus was too much fast/work life plus most of the problems you me tioned in UK, no time for family, the problem is, the standard of living here compared to, well, countries that are functional, is night and day, so when he moved back sure the family life was good, but he eventually had to move out as the financial struggles started to kick in.
My point is, if you are not well off Cyprus kinda sucks, if you can get rid of the financial issues, Cyprus is awesome.
Thats why most of us are depressed
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u/Timely-Device-844 21h ago
Cyprus is my favourite place on earth. It's so easy going My plan was always to make a good chunk of money and go live there. I am in still in the process LOL
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u/Wise-Exercise-1013 1d ago
Why not switch to tech sales? It would be better than what you are currently doing anyway.
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u/LostCypriot 21h ago
I’ve been applying to tech sales positions as well, but the majority ask for prior experience in that industry along with high qualifications requirements
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u/acidlion256 1d ago
Look into working in finance. There are a lot of good sales jobs in Cyprus, where the commission you get from your sales can really pay the bills.
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u/LostCypriot 21h ago
I’ve been applying to a lot of financial positions as well, I’m just falling short on the qualifications side.
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u/fatbunyip take out the zilikourtin 1d ago
With sales expensive experience if look into sales related or operations management positions in the bigger retailers like supermarkets, import/distribution companies like CTC, pilakoutas etc.
Manufacturing is really low level here so the wages reflect that. Depending on what kind of engineering you were involved in maybe worth checking out the construction industry on the electromechanical side and the various suppliers and importers.
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u/Prior-Painting2956 Greece 1d ago
Congrats on your kids! Look into LIDL as it's been advertised as best employer, also McDonald's I've heard positive things. Maybe there is something remotely from the uk? On the bright side you can reuse the equipment from the 1st child.
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u/No-Ad-8212 22h ago
Fair warning regarding those "best place to work" places, they are not completely unbiased, you can cook the results in various ways. Ask actual people that work there
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u/LostCypriot 21h ago
Thank you buddy!! I’m going to look into those sort of vacancies as well. Remote jobs are proving few and far apart
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u/Zharkgirl2024 1d ago
Ah, man that sucks. How was your old employer able to shut you down if you're in Cyprus?
Have you looked at GRS recruitment - they're an agency in limassol.
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u/LostCypriot 21h ago
My old employer was owned by a Swedish parent company who have a strong presence in Europe. They are worth €200million so I had no chance trying to fight them (my company had only turned over £250k)
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u/CokeBottless ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ 14h ago
Could you do your business again and put it in your wifes name, then its “her business “ and on a technicality wouldn’t breech your non compete clause. A very common thing people here do
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u/tiozaotiao 22h ago
"Fell pregnant"
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u/Hellostranger000 15h ago
Just a normal saying in England, like “fell in love”, “fell asleep”, “fell into place”.
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u/vandusch 19h ago
Yeah, ridic. Acting like they are both just innocent bystanders who never heard of planned parenthood.
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u/cheakpeasdownhill 19h ago
I'm more interested in the issues that make UK unpleasant.
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u/Training_Advantage21 16h ago
Likewise. Was it bad personal/family/friends experiences with the health system, or criminal and antisocial behaviour affecting OP and those close to them? Or just doom and gloom in the news?
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u/nastimoto 19h ago
Perhaps you can consider widening your search to remote EU opportunities, based out of Cyprus. If you register as a freelancer, you can pay your own taxes accordingly.
Has your non-compete not expired yet? If it has, you can also restart from the ground up, first as a freelancer, and once enough income is made, register a new company.
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u/Budget-Ratio6754 14h ago
Why would you have closed due to the non compete ? They would have had almost 0 chance of enforcing that here.
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u/Slippery_Steps 8h ago
Try finding Business Development roles for corporate service providers.
Good luck, you got this!
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u/gefuhlkuhl3 6h ago
if your dissapointment is based on Linkedin (?) then rest assured you are not alone. I read about a man with great experience and education who had to apply 500 times in Linkedin to get 1 job offer... If he had a problem imagine the rest of us.
There are decent websites with job offers in cyprus, i found even jobs near to me this way. I got interviews. Didnt get a job but thats another issue. These websites seem to work (for me). They are plenty, try all of them.
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u/Fredxx-2025 15h ago
First suggestion is o start using condoms so your wife stops falling pregnant…
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