A Job Interview Abroad, on Your Own
The offer had felt like luck. Sofia had moved abroad three months earlier for a relationship that ended faster than the lease, and she needed work. The message came through a jobs site: a good role, a quick reply, an interview arranged for Thursday afternoon. She'd dressed carefully and practised her answers on the tram.
The address was the first thing that didn't fit. The listing had said "central office"; the pin dropped her outside a residential block, buzzers instead of a company sign, a lobby that smelled of someone else's cooking. She stood on the step and read the message again. Fourth floor, the man had written. Come up.
She was new here. She wanted the job. It would have been so easy to tell herself she was being dramatic — that offices come in all shapes, that her nerves were just nerves. But she was about to go alone into an apartment in a building she didn't know, in a city where almost no one knew her, to meet a person she'd only ever typed to.
So before she pressed the buzzer, she pressed something else. SilentCall, once, in her coat pocket. It started to record — the address she read aloud "just to confirm," the buzzer panel, the time — and sent it to her friend back home and her cousin two cities away. Then she typed a quick message to the contact: Running a little behind — my friend's meeting me nearby straight after, so I'll need to keep it to 30 minutes. True enough in spirit. Someone, now, was expecting her.
Upstairs, the "office" was a flat with a sofa and a laptop and a man who seemed annoyed she'd mentioned a friend. The questions wandered somewhere she didn't like. She didn't argue and she didn't stay to be polite. She said the thing she'd decided to say on the stairs — that she'd be in touch — and she left, unhurried, down four flights and out into the ordinary afternoon.
Her cousin called before she reached the tram stop. They talked it through together: the wrong address, the flat, the feeling. Sofia reported the listing. Maybe it was a badly run company. Maybe it was something worse. Either way, she'd walked in with someone already holding the door open behind her, and she'd walked out to a phone already ringing.
A month later she took a different job — real office, front desk, her name on a visitor badge. She still remembers standing on that step, and being glad she'd trusted the small voice over the big hope.
What made the difference: she let someone she trusted into the room before she walked in, and she gave herself permission to leave the moment it felt wrong — no proof required.
Staying safe at an interview or a meeting with someone new
A first meeting with someone you've only spoken to online — for a job, a flat, a sale — deserves the same care anywhere in the world, and doubly so when you're new to a place. Meet in public where you can, tell someone where you're going and when you'll check in, and treat a wrong address or a private location as a reason to pause, not to push on.
When you can't openly call, a silent option keeps you covered: SilentCall records the situation and alerts people you trust with one press, on any phone. Learn the local emergency number wherever you are — 112 across the EU — and how to reach it if you can't speak.
FAQ
How do I stay safe at a job interview with a company I don't know? Verify the company, meet in a real, public workplace, tell someone where you'll be and when you'll check in, and leave if the location or questions feel wrong. Keep a quiet way to call for help ready.
What are warning signs of an unsafe or fake interview? A private or residential address instead of an office, pressure to come alone, vagueness about the company, and questions that have nothing to do with the role.
How can I call for help abroad if I can't speak? Use a silent service like SilentCall to alert trusted contacts, and learn the local emergency number (112 across the EU) and its silent options in advance.
Read more: How to reduce your risk of being attacked · 112: Europe's emergency number
Carry a quiet way out — get SilentCall.
SilentCall is a personal-safety service, not a replacement for emergency services. In a life-threatening emergency, always contact your local emergency number if you can safely do so.