Gaby Fresnedo, a Cuban resident in Spain who is awaiting the recognition of her medical degree while working as a social media manager, posted a reel on Instagram in which she honestly describes what it means to search for a job as an immigrant: hours of filling out forms, ignored resumes, and the burden of accepting jobs that one does not want in order to pay for rent and food.
This is the third time that Gaby is facing this process in just eight months since arriving in Spain, although she clarifies that in practice she has never stopped working. Her testimony struck a chord: the video accumulated thousands of views and reactions, with dozens of Cuban and Latin American immigrants identifying with every word.
"That process of tailoring resumes to the job, sending them out, going door to door to businesses, spending hours on applications filling out surveys and forms that often freeze and force you to start over is overwhelming," she wrote alongside the video.
The Cuban describes a routine that many immigrants are all too familiar with: opening apps, sending applications, overcoming the embarrassment of showing up in person to businesses, and then facing the silence. "There are days when you wake up and it's 10:00 p.m., and you feel like you haven't accomplished anything," she admits.
Even when she got further in the process, the outcome was the same. For marketing and content creation positions, she recorded videos and prepared idea proposals, invested her time, and then, in her words, "I never heard anything back."
Faced with the need to cover immediate expenses, Gaby acknowledges that she must return to the hospitality industry, the sector that provides the quickest response for newcomers. "Hospitality is not a dishonorable job; on the contrary, it is hard work and very demanding, but often the conditions, the pace, and the physical and mental strain end up taking a toll on you," she points out in the video.
His central reflection resonated strongly among his followers: "In ANYTHING, one only works when they have the noose around their neck." Everyone claims they will accept any job, but in practice, each person has their limits, and those limits only vanish when economic pressure leaves no other way out.
Meanwhile, Gaby does not abandon her goals. "I continue to wait for my medical certification, I keep studying digital marketing, I keep creating and applying for opportunities that bring me closer to where I want to be, but in the meantime, I have to pay rent, buy food, and keep moving forward," she wrote. She uses Maslow's hierarchy to explain her strategy: first the basic needs, while keeping an eye on the next level.
Gaby's experience reflects a documented structural reality. Spain has the highest rate of overqualification among foreign workers in the entire European Union: 54% of immigrants with a university degree hold positions that do not require that qualification, compared to 33% of Spaniards in the same situation, according to data from the Real Instituto Elcano. Furthermore, 45% of employment in the hospitality sector is filled by immigrants.
For Cuban doctors, the process of title homologation in Spain is particularly lengthy: although the legal timeframe is six months, in practice it can extend from one to seven years, with massive delays in applications reported since September 2023.
In the comments, other immigrants shared their own survival strategies: registering with the SEPE even while working in hospitality, applying directly to companies to avoid talent intermediaries, and relying on word of mouth. "In Spain, everything is based on connections; still, go for it, my girl, good luck in your process," wrote a follower.
"Here we keep moving forward little by little, with the certainty that when a door closes, you eventually find a window you didn't even see," Gaby concluded her video.
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