Introduction
My story – From Christmas to Austria
My name is Edina Kovács, the managing director of West Best Job e.U. I was born in 1986 in Szentes, Csongrád County, and I am the mother of three children. I have been living in Austria since 2013. I started working in a hotel as a maid in Karinthia, and then lived for five years in the „capital” of Tyrol, Innsbruck – my children were also born there. Life eventually brought me „back” and I now live in Vienna.
In Hungary, at the General Business College in Budapest, I studied economics and specialized in controlling. I started off with a degree, plans and ambitions. After my studies, I enthusiastically began my journey: I worked as a student, then as an employee, and finally as an entrepreneur. I settled down – both in the countryside and in Budapest.
Still, there was an unspoken tension within me. I worked, I tried, I progressed – but I just got out of paying the rent. The rent was paid, the bills were settled, and in better cases I didn’t have to resort to a bank card loan. Familiar? As a child, I didn’t dream about this. I dreamed of financial security, peace of mind, and a predictable future.
For a long time, I didn’t even think about moving abroad. I imagined my life near my family; I wanted this future for my children as well. But meanwhile, the news came in. Schoolmates and friends from England, Germany, and Austria applied. It wasn’t easy for them – they missed their families and their usual environment – but they agreed on one thing: they lived in financial security.
I stood there facing a decision: should I go or should I stay?
And at one point I said: yes, I’m going too.
But the reality wasn’t exactly rosy out there…
I made the decision and I set off. But just because I said „I’m going,” it didn’t make it any easier. I didn’t have open arms, I didn’t have a secure job, I didn’t speak German confidently, and I didn’t have anyone to hold my hand. I arrived with one suitcase, a lot of questions, and even more uncertainty.
The first period was tough. Early mornings, physically demanding work. I started as a maid in a hotel in Carinthia – I was cleaning with a diploma in my pocket. And yes, there were moments when I asked myself: did I make the right decision?
But at the end of every month, the difference was there. Not only in the salary, but also in predictability, the system, the fact that when you work, there are visible results. I learned about the Austrian work culture, the peculiarities of seasonal work, and the pitfalls of administration. I made mistakes, learned, and started over.
After Carinthia, Tyrol followed. I lived in Innsbruck for five years, where my children were born. It was there that I became truly a „Hungarian living abroad” in Austria.
And at the same time, more and more people started to contact me:
„Edina, you’re already out there… What should you do? Where is it worth applying? Is this offer realistic? What do the 13th and 14th month salaries mean? How does the Austrian administration work?”
I realized something: it’s not the hardest thing for someone to want to work. It’s the fact that they don’t know which ad is real, what to ask the employer, how the system works, and that they feel alone in the decision-making process.
I knew this loneliness. And I knew exactly how much it would help if there was someone who had already walked this path.
Thus was born West Best Job. It wasn’t a sudden business idea, but a system built from experience, mistakes and re-starts. A service that I wanted when I started out.
What I know for sure today
The question is not whether you are capable of it.
But what matters is that you start off alone, unorganized and uncertain – or with structured support.
I regret one thing: that I didn’t leave earlier.
West Best Job e.U.
info@ausztriaimunkak.eu
+43 664 264 7677
www.ausztriaimunkak.eu
2534 Alland, Babenbergergasse 83.