Lessons from living and working in the heart of Europe – the good, the tricky, and the unexpected

September in Brussels is a funny month. The heart of Europe doesn’t just get busier – it gets younger, more eager, and slightly overdressed. Traineeships start, new jobs kick off, and suddenly the streets fill with people juggling maps, badges, and big expectations.

But Brussels has a way of humbling even the most ambitious newcomers. You arrive with a career plan, and the city just smirks, tossing you into an unplanned bootcamp of patience, adaptability, and figuring out what actually matters.

A survival guide disguised as personal reflections

Here are some lessons I learned along the way – the ones that no induction call, welcome pack, or onboarding game can prepare you for.

1.      Treat the recruitment process as free education

Everyone hates interviews. The prep, the nerves, the waiting. But in Brussels, the process itself is a crash course in a new sector. Preparing for a job interview here means diving into an organization’s mission, members, and policy files – sometimes in industries you didn’t even know existed. From aviation to animal welfare, renewable energy to digital policy, you end up learning far more than just how to answer “What’s your biggest strength?” The research alone broadens your horizon, and even when you don’t get the job, you’ve gained something valuable.

2.      Learn what you don’t want

Interviews aren’t just about convincing them – you’re also learning about workplace culture. You can pick up a lot before you even sit down: a receptionist’s stress level, an office atmosphere, the way an interviewer reacts to your questions. And if the same organization posts the same vacancy three times in six months? That’s a red flag in neon. Every small detail leaves you with sharper instincts for the next round.

3.      Stop chasing titles, start chasing impact

Brussels can make you title-obsessed. Policy Officer. Senior Associate. Director of Something Impressively Vague. It’s tempting to treat your LinkedIn headline as your biggest achievement. But here’s the truth: nobody remembers what is printed on your business card. They remember the impact.

Did you move a project forward? Did you create something that actually mattered? Did you make life better – even a little – for a community, a colleague, or a cause? That’s what lasts. Redefine “success” not as a line on a CV but as a legacy that can’t be erased with the next restructuring.

4.      Careers are jungle gyms, not ladders

Forget climbing in a straight line. In Brussels, careers zigzag. My advice? Don’t dismiss “smaller” roles in admin or events. Handling logistics gives you a front-row seat to how organizations actually run. You’ll learn their past by digging through archives, contracts, or mailing lists that have been around for decades, and glimpse their future by helping with launches, board meetings, or strategy events.

But you’ll also discover hidden Art Nouveau halls while scouting venues. You’ll sip champagne at receptions you organized. You’ll learn to manage budgets (and stretch them), negotiate with grumpy venue managers, and coordinate caterers, photographers, and last-minute VIPs.

And those skills? They’re gold when you move on.

5.      Don’t confuse the Bubble with the world

It’s dangerously easy to think “everyone” works in EU affairs because that’s what you’re surrounded by. Personally, I’ll never say this enough: I only realized how Eurocentric my outlook had become when I joined an international trade association. But Brussels is bigger than the Bubble. There’s tech, art, finance, academia, startups. Keeping perspective matters: if you step outside the usual networking circles, you’ll find fresh ideas, opportunities, and people who don’t start conversations with, “So, what do you do at the Commission?”

6.      Don’t walk alone, join a tribe

In Brussels, it’s not always your closest friends who help you take the next step. It’s the acquaintance you met at a rooftop drinks, the person you chatted with at a conference coffee break, the friend-of-a-friend who remembers your name.

And if you don’t know where to begin, start by joining an association. Whether it’s an alumni network, a young expats group from your country, or a professional platform, plugging into one (or a few) of these communities gives you both a safety net and a launchpad.

This article was written by Martina Cilia, communications manager at CropLife International and co-chair at Brussels New Generation. Original article published at LinkedIn.