From Brazil to Ireland: how Luís secured a software engineering role in three months

Luís was an experienced software engineer living in Brazil with his wife and children. His goal was to continue his career in Europe and create a better future for his family.

However, choosing where to move was not a simple decision. Different European countries offered different opportunities, immigration pathways, living costs and prospects for his family.

Luís did not want to move first and hope that things would work out later. He wanted to understand where his experience would be valued and build a realistic strategy before making such an important decision. That is where his journey with HULA began.

At HULA, we did not begin by rewriting Luís's CV. We started by looking at the bigger picture.

Using HULA Career Intelligence, our AI-powered career analysis system, together with personalised guidance from a HULA career specialist, we evaluated:

• Professional background and technical experience
• Career goals and target positions
• English-language skills
• Family circumstances and priorities
• Relocation requirements
• Opportunities across different European markets
• Long-term career prospects

The analysis indicated that Ireland offered the strongest combination of opportunities for his software engineering background and the needs of his family. Instead of applying randomly across several countries, Luís could now focus his time and energy on one market with a clear direction.

The next step was to develop a personalised career plan. We examined Luís's strengths, development areas and opportunities within the Irish technology market, and identified the types of positions and employers where his experience would be most relevant.

• Priority software engineering roles
• The technical strengths he needed to emphasise
• Areas that could be strengthened
• The most relevant achievements from his career in Brazil
• The types of companies he should target
• A structured application strategy
• A LinkedIn networking plan
• Preparation for the Irish recruitment process

This gave Luís more than a list of job titles. It gave him a roadmap for approaching the market with purpose.

Luís had solid experience, but his original CV had not been created for European recruiters or modern Applicant Tracking Systems. We rebuilt it around the value he could bring to an employer.

Instead of simply listing responsibilities, the new CV communicated his technical expertise, the projects he had contributed to, the problems he had solved and the impact of his work. We also adapted the language, structure and positioning for the Irish market, making it easier for recruiters and hiring managers to understand his experience quickly.

Our LinkedIn work went far beyond translating Luís's profile into English. We assessed his profile using the HULA LinkedIn Visibility Score to identify areas that could affect his discoverability and credibility with recruiters. We then:

• Repositioned his headline and About section
• Strengthened the presentation of his experience
• Added relevant skills and search terms
• Improved his profile's overall completeness
• Identified recruiters, engineering leaders and professionals to connect with
• Created a plan for networking and meaningful LinkedIn activity

The objective was not simply to make his profile look better. It was to help the right people find him and understand what he could offer.

While Luís was applying for roles, we worked with him through personalised 1:1 training covering:

• How to stand out in a competitive European job market
• How to find suitable opportunities
• How to evaluate whether a role was genuinely a good match
• How to tailor his CV to each position
• How to use AI without producing generic applications
• How to approach recruiters and hiring managers
• How to build a professional network in Ireland
• How and when to follow up after applying

Rather than sending as many applications as possible, Luís learned how to submit stronger, more relevant applications.

The job search was not treated as a fixed plan.

Every week, we reviewed Luís's applications, the vacancies he was targeting and the responses he received. This allowed us to identify what was working, where he was losing opportunities and what needed to change. If a particular approach was not producing results, we adjusted it.

This continuous feedback loop is an important part of the HULA process. We do not simply deliver a CV and leave the client to manage the rest alone. We help them understand the market, use their new materials and improve their strategy throughout the journey.

After a few weeks, Luís began receiving interview invitations. This was an important breakthrough, but it also revealed a new challenge. Although Luís was confident in his technical abilities, he was not familiar with the structure and expectations of interviews in Europe.

He needed to communicate his experience clearly in English, provide stronger examples and demonstrate his value beyond his technical knowledge, so we shifted the focus of his programme towards interview preparation.

Luís received 1:1 interview coaching and participated in realistic mock interviews with a native English speaker. We helped him practise how to:

• Introduce himself confidently
• Explain complex technical projects clearly
• Structure examples from his experience
• Answer competency-based questions
• Communicate his individual contribution
• Discuss his motivation for moving to Ireland
• Ask thoughtful questions at the end of an interview

Each mock interview was followed by clear, practical feedback so that he knew exactly what to improve before the next opportunity.

Three months after starting his journey with HULA, Luís received an offer to work as a software engineer in Ireland. What began as a broad ambition to find a job somewhere in Europe became a focused and achievable plan.

Luís did not only receive a new CV. He gained clarity about where to build his career, a strategy for entering the Irish market, stronger professional positioning and the confidence to succeed during the interview process.

Most importantly, the offer allowed Luís and his family to begin the next chapter of their lives in Ireland.

Luís's success did not come from one isolated change. It came from connecting every part of his job search:

• Career and country analysis
• A personalised career plan
• An Irish-market CV
• Stronger LinkedIn positioning
• Targeted applications
• Strategic networking
• Weekly performance reviews
• Interview coaching
• Mock interviews with a native English speaker
• Continuous 1:1 support

This is what makes the HULA approach different. We combine career intelligence and AI-powered analysis with personal guidance from experienced career specialists. Technology helps us understand the market and identify opportunities. Human coaching turns those insights into a strategy that fits the individual behind the CV.