Developing your career overseas: Going it alone
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This article continues our series on developing your career abroad. Be sure to signup to our Career Thought weekly updates and follow us one Twitter to get the next articles in the series, along with other career advice and insights.
If you’re looking to develop your career overseas the easiest and securest route is often through a multi-national company. However, many people succeed abroad with a self-driven career move – and if that’s something you’re looking to succeed with, here are a few things to bear in mind –
Making a career move abroad is more difficult and carries more risk when you go it alone, but there are people and companies out there able to help you if you are prepared to work at building relationships and strengthening your personal brand.
If you’re looking to develop your career overseas the easiest and securest route is often through a multi-national company. However, many people succeed abroad with a self-driven career move – and if that’s something you’re looking to succeed with, here are a few things to bear in mind –
- Work hard on your brand. Recruiting an international worker into a role carries more risk and takes more time than recruiting a local employee. With that in mind you need to make sure you focus on developing your personal brand to the point where the benefits outweigh the risks and costs of employing you.
- Be prepared for increased costs. Along with the obvious costs such as visas, legal advice and travel, bear in mind that you may find the local wage gives you a different level of living to which you’re used to. Additionally, make sure you have finances to get home if you need to – you don’t want to be in a situation where your visa is revoked or expires and you have to leave the country the next day with no means of paying for your flight.
- Build up your network. When it comes to moving abroad, who you know is key. Start thinking about who you know who works overseas and begin to work on ways to widen your network overseas, for example by joining internet or LinkedIn groups aimed at foreign workers and ex-patriots.
- Use recruiters and headhunters. There are recruitment companies who operate internationally and will put your CV in front of companies who are open to recruiting foreign employees. If you angle your CV to hit the target market you want to work in, these companies could be a great source of opportunities.
Making a career move abroad is more difficult and carries more risk when you go it alone, but there are people and companies out there able to help you if you are prepared to work at building relationships and strengthening your personal brand.