Being an expat is a promising new start where you get to carve out your life and career abroad, in a brand new place with brand new experiences. How amazing!
Did I mention it’s terrifying, too? Maybe your “uh oh” moment came once you got on the plane or a few weeks after you relocated, but it comes for all of us. At this point in uncharted waters, we crave a guided path and end up falling into the stereotypes or status quo of other expats we know – or what we “think” an expat should be. This leaves us with a structure, sure, but since it’s not our own unique way of doing things, it can result in a serious lack of fulfillment – and even worse, an identity crisis. Unfulfilled, we lull in our profession and home life.
Here’s the kicker: Relocation is not the graveyard of your professional aspirations, so long as you treat it like an opportunity.
Taking charge of your career and making it what YOU need lets you stay in the game. You get to write your own career narrative abroad – and trust me, it’s more fun and successful than anything run-of-the-mill.
1. Understand what career you want
Before you took your big step, how did you envision the best possible outcome? Did you see many diverse projects and fun new cultural experiences with your colleagues or clients? Or did you image being able to spend quality time with your family, network with other expats like yourself, or actually having time to discover your new area? Whatever your vision was, you may have veered off course due to money problems, long working hours, or any other number of influences which made you take a left when you should’ve taken a right.
Go back to that original vision – what will it take to accomplish that? If you never defined it to begin with, reimagine the goal and then break it down into actionable needs, which will have actionable results. Want less time in the office? Then take steps to work remotely. Want more wacky and interesting cultural experiences? Diversify your clients, or find a side job that you enjoy. Need time with your family? Then consider scaling back your hours or taking on different kinds of work that will pay the bills but give you free time.
You’re in charge of your own story, so know what your story is going to be.
2. Use your skills, determine what’s transferrable
Who says a career has to match the cookie-cutter? You get to develop your career abroad into whatever you want, and since you’ve already stepped out of the box by becoming an expat, you’re in a better position to break outside the mold than you’ve ever been.
Take a look at the skills you have – all of them. Evaluate your strengths, from your ability to multitask to your skill at playing an instrument to your talent with numbers. Anything you think makes you unique. Often, you’ve developed tons of unpaid skills from volunteer work, moving, managing change, problem solving, socializing, or from a hobby. Dig into your skills arsenal, and transfer them into other parts of your life. Apply them to your career, and you’ll watch as it expands and shapes into something unique, fascinating – and satisfying.
3. Make your goals action-oriented
It feels like a lot to swallow at once, but the key to writing or rewriting your career narrative abroad comes in outlining. To start with, envision your ultimate goal having been achieved. What does your career look like in a perfect world? What are you gaining from all of it? What do other parts of your life look like? Feel free to get detailed and get creative so that your final vision is something you believe you could be truly happy with.
Now that you have this vision, hang on to it – write it down so it’s set in ink and you don’t forget the intricate details. Then it’s time to retro-plan. Decide what action comes immediately before achieving that vision. Do you finally make that one social connection that opens the door to your dream? Do you gain the all work experience to qualify? Are there clients keeping your work thriving? Whatever this second-to-last step is, write it down, and then move to the second-to second-to-last step.
Avoid vague notions such as “find more time in my schedule” or “reach out to a group,” but instead be more specific and determine what needs to be done or who you need to meet. These actionable goals will allow you to spot potential roadblocks before they ever come, and even spark new ideas to advance your roadmap’s progress.
Keep up this system until you’ve inched your way back to your original vision, and then narrow it down to the first important step to reaching your goal.
4. Think outside the box
No one likes a book that’s full of clichés – we want something new, exciting, and just a little out of the norm. When writing your career narrative, focus on thinking outside the box and following your own unique path rather than trying to replicate someone else’s. What can you do to shape your career that no one else has?
This could be taking up freelancing rather than sticking with a structured job or doing remote work; taking up an internship; working a side-gig; or searching out new online opportunities such as starting a blog or a YouTube series. When writing your career narrative, throw in some plot twists and surprise developments, and this won’t only keep your vision fresh and progressive, but could turn into new opportunities you never expected to arrive.
Living someone else’s story is boring and unfulfilling – but the beauty of being an expat is, you’re already writing your own narrative. You’ve stepped out of the mold, and now you get to use that freedom to create something exciting, unique and exclusively yours.
Hi Kristal,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, of course there are various obstacles and challenges (bureaucratic and otherwise), BUT you are never going to get there unless you know where you are going!
The post is aimed at different expat women (trailing spouses, military wives, love expats or curious global nomads moving on their own), urging them to dive deep and DECIDE who they want to become and then navigate their way there.
I like the positive and upbeat nature of this post but I’m not sure who the target audience is. At first it reads like someone with a job overseas already. Then veers into the flexibility that comes with being the ‘trailing spouse’ who gave up a job/career to move. I do like the idea re-writing the narrative: been doing it for 25 yrs – over and over again (with different degrees of success)- but there are serious challenges: work permits, language requirements, etc just to name the obvious.