Building an Exciting Career Internationally

Whether you want to reinvent yourself or to have an experience abroad, to build an international career can be fun and exciting, but it can also be challenging. The rewards in pursuing an international career can be quite promising and gratifying. Then you may ask: "How do I do that?"

After spending over a decade travelling the world and reinventing myself, I am no stranger to building an international career in foreign land. If your dream is to expand your career in the global market, I encourage you to take a look at these 5 easy tips when launching your International Career:

Tip #1: Research – Assess your skill-sets, areas of interest, and countries that might seem appealing to you. Talk to people who have travelled abroad, but focus on the ones who have lived abroad for at least a few years. It takes at least a couple of years to adapt and to have a good grasp on the culture and opportunities pertaining to that environment. Make a list with all pros and cons for each country and area, and analyze it carefully. It is important to choose thriving economies over just beautiful sceneries for better career opportunities. As much I would love to travel to Egypt and visit the pyramids, I wouldn’t necessarily choose Egypt to build my career internationally. Be rational and don’t overlook the facts that you find in your research. If you want to be adventurous, book a backpacking trip and enjoy the vacation! When thinking about building your career in a foreign territory, be rational and mindful of current events. Watch the news reguraly and read about demand and supply. Look for safe and thriving places where you can grow and use your skill-sets. If reinventing yourself, search for careers in demand, you may find something interesting. Lastly, search for multinational companies.

Tip #2: Know what you want – As a Career Coach, I often ask my clients what do they want. I know, it seems like a no-brainer for most, but it is not enough to know that you want to make lots money, to become a CEO of a multinational company, or to travel the world. To launch your career internationally, you will need to have more details, meaning that you will need to have a very good acknowledgment and understanding of your strengths and weakness in the desired context. To know what you want, in details, means that you have a clear vision of what you want for your future. Without a clear goal in mind, you won’t get far. If having an international career is what you want, then you to need visualize it first. If spending the weekends with your friends is highly important to you, then sacrificing that aspect of your life may not be what you want. To know what drives you everyday is crucial in planning any career, especially abroad. To know your skills-set and to know how you would like to utilize them is crucial when launching a career internationally.

Tip #3: Know why you want it – equally as important as knowing what you want, you need to why you want it. If you already had some experience abroad, you know how challenging it can be. Even when traveling within the same continent, you are still in foreign grounds. Most likely, not only is the language different, but the cultural differences will quickly reveal its challenges to the Fob (Fresh off the boat). Keep in mind that when starting this initiative, you start from the bottom. All of a sudden, your reputation, credibility, and knowledge are questioned, and you need to prove yourself. If you don’t know why you want to pursue a career internationally, maybe you should take some time to ask yourself that question. When looking at successful people who have launched their careers internationally, we see drive and purpose as a common denominator. Don’t think that just because it is looks cool, you now have a reason to embark on this journey. To endure the hardship in trading the comfort of your environment to the unknown, you have to know ‘why’, otherwise, it wont be long before you book your return ticket. While it may be worth the experience, will it be worth leaving your current job/status and spending all that money? While most people are keen on ‘trying’ as means to making things work, success does not happen because you try it, it happens because you believe in it.

Tip #4: Create a plan – Ok, now that you have done your research, you know what you want and why it is important to you, now it’s time to plan for your take off!

•  Define your budget and start saving your money. You need to evaluate how much money you will need. To do that, you need to calculate basic expenses such as flights, visa expenses, and health insurance. In addition, I highly suggest travelling with enough money to cover for your first 3-months of living expenses: transportation, accommodation, food, phone, internet, utilities, spending money, and random fees such as obtaining a driver’s license or ID card, opening a bank account, rent deposit if renting, and pocket money. 
• If your plan is to go to China, you will probably need to learn Chinese. Invest in a language course and dedicate time in learning everything about that language and culture. The more you know about the country and language, the easier it will be for you.
• Build on your network. Use your social channels to connect and meet people. It is important to be cautious when meeting people you don’t know, especially in a different country, so leverage on your existing contacts. Ask for recommendations from your circle of friends and work associates. You will be surprised to know many new connections may come your way!
• Join international groups and associations. Through volunteer opportunities and group meetings at international non-profits, you will be able to expand your connections and perhaps, even connect with members from different countries.
• Make sure to do your homework and get a few certifications under your belt. Global certifications might be essential to achieving your goal. If having a TOEFL certification is important, then go ahead and take the exam in your home country. If you are pursuing a career in the IT industry, make sure to have the required programming language certification  – whether it is SAS, R, Python, Jupyter, or any that relates to your field. Having global certification on your resume will make you more marketable and credible to foreign organizations.
• Build a strong resume, bio, and cover letter. Focus on building a marketable ‘self’ to the world. Your resume should always be in English and reflect your skills-set, abilities, and experiences. Make your resume talk. Consider hiring a professional, if you don’t feel confident in building your own. Or, watch Youtube videos and search for online resumes at job-searching websites and look for ideas on how to write a professional resume. There are plenty of resources on the web.
• Be mindful of comments and posts in your social media accounts. The world is watching you! Be professional, and show that you have goals and aspirations beyond ‘likes’ at party pictures. Be creative and use social media to market yourself as a professional. LinkedIn is an excellent tool for that purpose. Invest time in creating a good LinkedIn account and connecting to other professionals. Search for connections in your area of interest. Network with multinational organizations.

Tip #5: Execute – A good plan without proper execution is nothing more than just a plan. To make a plan a reality, you need to have an execution strategy. Discipline, persistence, resilience, and good time and budget management are necessary skills to turn a plan into reality. Most people fail to execute their plan when things don’t go their way. They get discourage and abandon their dreams when it gets too hard. If launching an international career is your goal, then prioritize it and don’t allow distractions to blur your vision. Be focused, be calm, but be honest and realistic with yourself. Don’t stress if things don’t go as planned. Expect a few delays and be open to new ways of doing things. Open your mind to new horizons and embrace the challenge. Only you have the power to make this journey fun and enjoyable, or stressful and painful. The choice is yours to make. To know and to accept the fact that you will face challenges is the very first step in your execution plan. The second step is to determine how you are going to deal with adversity. Remember, you are in charge of your choices and decisions, and that includes your perception and mindset. So go and have fun! Everyday, thousands of people leave their home countries to look for better opportunities, safety, freedom, or new challenges. Whatever your purpose might be, make sure to commit 100% to your plan and execution strategy. Stick to it! Keep your eyes on the bigger picture and don’t get discouraged. Remember the ‘whys’ and don’t deviate from the ‘how’. Your future depends on your present!

As a lifelong professional globetrotter and International Career Coach, everyday I help people achieve their career goals and dreams. Whether your goal is to reinvent yourself, or to have an experience abroad, it is important to start by researching all areas and countries that interest you. Once you have a few good ideas, ask yourself “What do I want” and then “Why do I want it”. If you can answer these two questions, it means you are ready to embark on this journey! Create a plan and execute it! It won’t be long before you are launching your Career Internationally!

Sources

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0503/build_an_international_employment_profile.shtml
http://www.careersinternational.com