Summary Notes by Robb Murray
WORKING ABROAD:
This discussion concerns living and working abroad, not being a
tourist, a retiree, a supported spouse or inamorata, or an adventure traveler.
The contract is huge and must be successfully anticipated. People who
marry abroad, visit extendedly, retire or just travel abroad do not have the
same challenges that a working professional does. Those challenges are
what this talk concerns.
EXPERIENCE:
ADVICE IN BRIEF:
Decide which country you want, and then determine how you will make
money while there. Don’t attempt this as some kind of a chancy excursion.
Get set and be sure when you go. You have to prepare to be sure.
This is a major undertaking and you have to make it your full-time
pursuit.
The best way to get a job in a foreign country is to go to work for
a small or medium-sized company in the U.S. that is international, that has
offices or, better, headquarters, abroad. Wheedle your way into the
foreign offices.
The most important factor to help you succeed is to keep meeting
people and making new friends at every step.
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY:
Don’t have a lot of hang-ups and special needs. Be prepared to
kennel your dog while gone. The fewer obstacles you are offering the better.
Sell encumbering belongings and property and settle any debts before going.
And DON’T incur any big debts where you go. In some countries
(such as the U.A.E., United Arab Emirates), they jail you for non-payment of
debts
NO MAGIC CURE:
You solve nothing automatically by going to live in another
country. You are instead taking on a different set of problems and sources
of challenge. If you’re not happy here, especially chronically, you’re
unlikely to be happy there, either.
SOCIAL CHALLENGES:
Because of language and cultural differences, you will naturally
tend to be more isolated than those around you unless you make deliberate and
determined efforts not to be.
For example, Koreans are generally uncomfortable with outsiders
because they base their relationships on family and long-term
associations. Another example: the Chinese concept of friendship is more
scheming and pragmatic compared to ours, with using ones’ friends to gain
advantages being an undisguised norm.
But just because there are immigrants does not mean they mix easily
socially.
DO YOU REALIZE YOU'RE NOW AN IMMIGRANT, WITH ALL THAT
ENTAILS?
As far as social status is concerned, it’s very different in ANY
country to be an immigrant, which is what you’re considering becoming, versus
being just a tourist who offers spendable income and is animated by the fun of
adventure. There is something of a wall that has to be gotten past. Many Indians
and Latinos will tell you that they don’t have close friends here. Your
support system is vital.
Impressions you may have had as a tourist can be quickly seen as
superficial charms born of the travel industry’s success. Will visiting in
advance prepare you? Someone who comes to Disney World and the Grand Canyon and
raves about how great the U.S. is does not have a practical point of
reference.
Work-wise, it’s always ten times harder to get a job anywhere as an
immigrant as it is being a native. In the EEU you virtually have to show that no
one else in the whole EEU can do the job you are applying for to qualify. And --
once you have a position, your work may be viewed as something that has cost
locals their jobs.
COST-OF-LIVING STICKER SHOCK:
If you think your standard of living will be better abroad,
remember that salaries are down worldwide. The cost of living in London is
extortionate. The UK is about twice as expensive to live in as here. An
800-square- foot condo in London might cost a million-and-a-half dollars. Prices
are higher than in NYC.
Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong require big money, too. You also
will probably have to plan financially to make your own physical move.
Help with moving expenses by your company will likely not be as lavish as it
once was.
HIDDEN COSTS:
If you aren’t very careful, you may frequently be overcharged.
People ask where you are from to decide how much to pad their
prices.
Instead of an American, you may want to pose as a Kiwi (New
Zealander) or Aussie (Australian) for customer purposes.
ASCRIBED ELITISM:
People with higher educations may be assumed lazy. Some employers
may take the attitude that “you think you’re better than the rest of us because
of your degree and you will naturally demand more than you’re worth to us.”
MIXING AND MINGLING OUTSIDE OF WORK:
Dancing classes can be a good way to connect socially.
Meetup groups are international and may offer good contacts also.
HANDLING THE IMAGE OF AMERICANS ABROAD:
There is definitely anti-American prejudice to take into
account. The most popular word used to describe us is “arrogant” and we
are assumed to be loud and brash. The “Obama Effect” may be giving us
something of a temporary second chance, however.
As well, you may have added prejudice to overcome because of your
regional accent or because of prejudices about the area you come from or are
thought to come from (New York, California, etc.). Remember the prejudices
faced by immigrants to America you have known and just know that the shoe is now
on the other foot.
You may also be perceived as quite well off by local standards,
regardless of how you see yourself, and may be treated as though it is open
season to prey upon you for money or presents in innumerable ways.
You will have to handle your American traits and needs as best you
can. Some places to live might simply not be a match for you and never
will be. Babs, for example, is sure she could not live as a long-term
resident in China or Japan
LOCATIONS -- IN-FASHION AND OUT-OF-FASHION:
Are there fads? Yes: Argentina, Chile and Thailand are
currently popular.
Previous popular countries that were better in the past: Costa
Rica, Panama, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador.
BUREAUCRACY -- EXPECT RED TAPE:
Not only can it be hard to start a business in some foreign
countries, but just opening a bank account can be cumbersome. In Great
Britain, you need three references just to open a simple bank account because
customers draw against their accounts as a source of credit.
WHAT ABOUT ALL THAT GREAT MEDICAL CARE?
The grass may seem greener and be promoted as such by various
political voices but health care abroad, while sometimes free, is not up to
American standards. Hospitals may be quite run down and equipment not
well-maintained. In some countries, there is really a two-tiered system and if
you prefer to pay for expensive private care you can get it. Otherwise, you may
be shocked at the waiting periods and bureaucratic
inefficiencies.
Emergency or critical care is fairly good in most areas. But
in hospitals more patients may die from secondary infections than what they went
in for. You may find, to quote, that “the hospital is free but it
sucks”
Foreign medical costs are often less, though, and U.S. insurance
companies may reimburse procedures charged abroad.
WHAT ABOUT:
THE PEACE CORPS?
It’s very hard to get
into the Peace Corps now.
WORKING AT CLUB MED?
Club Med works you
seven days a week for very little pay, and your command of French needs to be
top-drawer since the company is French-owned. Club Med also wants you to
be in the 25-34 age range.
IF YOU ARE A WOMAN:
You may find some of your assumptions not true. In the Middle East,
women only have to be fully covered on the head, etc., in Iran and in Saudi
Arabia, and not elsewhere. More often than not, being pegged as an American
takes precedence over being pegged as a woman.
In Asian it will be assumed that a woman will not be comfortable
dining out by herself so people may conceal you in a sequestered part of a
restaurant out of consideration if you are eating alone.
MEN:
American men can have a positive prejudice in Asia and be treated
as gods. It is assumed you have money and you will be flirted with a
lot.
FOR ANYONE:
If you go to Brazil, you must be very careful about your personal
safety. Brazil is divided between the haves and the have-nothings. Assailants
feel they have nothing to lose. After dark people may not stop at traffic lights
for fear of getting bricked and hijacked or worse.
COMING HOME: THE SECOND IMMIGRATION:
You can surely come back home you may be surprised when that
happens at how out of step you have become. Common patois from TV and social
life will have kept moving and you might be mystified by expressions casually
dropped that seem to leave no one else out. (Example: if you were gone during
the 80s and came back in the 90s, an employer could have mentioned HMOs and PPOs
in your benefits program and you might have drawn a blank.)
But the hardest thing about moving back is that you probably have
no built-in social support anymore vs. when you left.
So be prepared to make two immigrations: one out of the country and
one back into it
Work-wise, it can be even harder to get a job once you’re back than
it was to get your out-of-the-US job. It is not easy to be an immigrant in
the U.S. and you will go through some of that struggle, even though you were
born here.
FINAL WORDS:
It CAN be done -- with a plan and a checklist. Find out who
needs what you do and be affordable to them so they can still be profitable with
your services.
To successfully expatriate, first pick the specific country where
you want to go. Find out everything you can about requirements of every
kind. And while you should definitely visit beforehand, be prepared to
fill in unexpected gaps later as needed. Make a diligent checklist of everything
required of you and others. Work through the activities necessary to make
it all happen and treat it like a full-time job search.
Put your elevator speech together just as you would for a U.S. job.
Be prepared for what you will face and above all, make sure you are going TO
something that attracts you and not just leaving FROM things that
displease you. When you approach your goal full bore and out of positive desire
rather than just being in reaction to disagreeable feelings about life here, you
can make a success of it. Expect to work at it -- and get help from
everyone you can. If this is truly your dream, you can make it
real.
CIRCULATING DURING THE MEETING:
MORE FROM BABS RYAN:
Babs Ryan is a member of the “Let’s Expatriate!"
Meetup
http://www.meetup.com/Let-s-Expatriate/members/2779376/
as well as many others, including travel groups.
She is a popular speaker
and looks for opportunities
in particular to speak
to business groups on
the subject of
talented but de-motivated producers who leave
toxic
corporate settings and what can be done to stop
this trend.
Keep her in mind!