I have been an ex-pat for over 30 years. There are many reasons why people become ex-pats, and many of us become long-term ex-pats. I believe that being an ex-pat at least once in your life can be a life-changing experience.
If you want to be recruited as an ex-pat, there are things that you can do to ensure a company will want to send you overseas to live and work. There are specific skills a company may look for to send someone overseas to live and work. You must ensure you understand what it means to be an ex-pat. Being an ex-pat is a great opportunity, but not everyone can handle living and working overseas long-term.
Table of Contents
- Guide To Being Recruited As A Global Expat
- Understand What Expat Life is About
- Eight Main Reasons To Become An Ex-pat
- Related Questions
Guide To Being Recruited As A Global Expat
If your goal is to become a global ex-pat, there are things that you can actively do so that you can become an ex-pat who lives and works overseas. Most companies have specific skills and things they look for when they hire an ex-pat.
Here are some of the top things you can do to help you become recruited as an Expat.
Learn Another Language
Learning another language will tell a prospective employer that you are interested in the world and are happy to live and work overseas. Most ex-pats can speak at least one, if not two, foreign languages.
Learning another language does not guarantee to get a job as an ex-pat, but it does help show that you are interested in the world.
Study International Business
Many Universities today have international business courses. Many companies will come to recruit from these courses to find entry-level employees to work in their overseas operations.
Have A Specific Skill Companies Need Overseas
Many of the jobs that are filled by ex-pats overseas are specific jobs that the company needs; many of these jobs are technically based as they can not find that technical expertise overseas.
I have seen many ex-pats with technical jobs in everything from geology to engineering to computer programing.
Work For A Company That Could Send You Overseas
Many ex-pats work overseas because their parent company has sent them overseas. They have the specific skill set that the company needs overseas, so the company has sent them overseas to live and work.
Understand What Expat Life is About
Even though I love being an ex-pat, I know it is not for everyone. Not everyone’s situation will allow them to become an ex-pat. If you want to be recruited as an ex-pat to live and work overseas, you must know what they will mean for you, your family, your partner, and your spouse.
Not Everyone Can Handle Living and Working Overseas.
Not everyone does well living overseas. I have seen many couples where one partner loves living overseas, and the other can barely get out of the house and is miserable.
In almost every case, the family had to go home, or there was a breakup or divorce. In some cases, the husband overseas for his work had to change jobs as his wife or children just could not handle life overseas.
So the first question you need to ask yourself is why you want to be an ex-pat. If you are single and going overseas alone, this question is easier for you to answer.
But, if you are married, have a family, or are in a relationship, then you must ask yourself if your partner can handle living overseas. If your partners cannot handle it, you will probably be as miserable as they are.
Also, for some children with special needs or difficulties, being overseas may not be the best place for them. It depends on where you will live and what services they offer. And other children who are in a particular sport may find that living overseas, and they cannot do the sport or activity they want to do.
I want to point this all out since even though I feel like living overseas is a great lifestyle, it may not be for everyone. Or it may be something you want to do, but it would be devastating for other members of your family or those who mean a lot to you.
If you are interested in learning more about different kinds of ex-pats, you can read our blog on What is an Expat or Expatriate? What You Need To Know by clicking here.
Eight Main Reasons To Become An Ex-pat
Having lived abroad for over three decades, I’ve come to understand the varied motivations behind choosing an expatriate life and why many opt for a prolonged expat experience. I believe spending part of one’s life as an expat can be profoundly transformative.
For those aspiring to embark on an expat journey, there are strategies to increase your attractiveness to employers considering overseas placements. Companies often look for certain skills and attributes in candidates for international assignments.
It’s crucial to comprehend what being an expat entails. While the opportunity to live and work abroad is exciting, it’s essential to recognize that not everyone is suited for the challenges of a long-term expat lifestyle.
1 – Sense of Adventure
If you love adventure and trying new things, being an ex-pat may be the perfect fit for you and your lifestyle. There is a real sense of adventure in being an ex-pat, especially if you live in a third-world or underdeveloped country.
I know for me I love this sense of adventure. Riding a canal boat to work when I lived in Thailand, and I would have to jump off the boat onto a rickety old pier—or riding my motorcycle around the streets of Hanoi. I love this sense of adventure that is part of my daily life.
2 – Experience Other Cultures
Living overseas is a great way to experience the culture of another place and people. These are usually experiences and things you would never experience otherwise. And these experiences, in turn, can change your life for good.
As I have been an ex-pat, one of the joys is learning and discovering other cultures and people. You learn to enjoy their food and traditions you would never have discovered otherwise. And you learn to take the best of their culture and incorporate that into your life.
For example, during my time in Thailand, I loved Thai food. I also appreciated how kind and gracious the Thais are.
3 – It is a Great Lifestyle
Most of the time, living as an ex-pat is a lavish lifestyle. Many companies will also give you some extra perks if they send you overseas.
If you live in a country with a reasonable salary, chances are you can afford some full-time or part-time help. This means you will have someone who can help you with things like cleaning your home and food, taking care of children, and helping care for your personal needs.
This will free up time so that you can do other things you may choose to do, such as sports or hobbies.
4 – Opens Your Eyes To the World
Living overseas will open your eyes to the world. When they live overseas, most ex-pats have many opportunities to travel either around the country or to other countries nearby. Many will also travel back to their home countries at least once a year.
If you love to travel, living overseas and being an ex-pat will give you many great opportunities to see and experience the world up close and personal. You are no longer just a person traveling to a place for a few days but living there so you can see and experience new things each day.
5 – Can Find a Great Community
In all my years overseas, I have enjoyed the community of people and like-minded friends I have met overseas. You form a bond and a community; as most of us are away from home and away from our families so many times, our friends become a surrogate kind of family.
You will keep in touch with many of these friends long after you have all left. I know of several groups of people who were overseas with someone, and they became terrific friends, so they still contact each other and check up on each other. I also have several of my ex-pat friends whom I consider to be life-long friends.
Listen To Our Podcast About Expat, Immigrant, and Refugee Explained below or by clicking here.
6 – Can Help Your Career Development
If you are going overseas for your career, there is a considerable chance that you will experience and learn things overseas that you would not be able to learn or experience any other way. You could also be given career advancement opportunities you would not get at home.
And you will experience a new way of working that you maybe did not know before. And this, in turn, will help you with your future career, especially as the world continues to get more global.
7 – Opportunities You May Not Get Otherwise
Besides career opportunities, there will be other opportunities that await you as an ex-pat. Opportunities such as being able to travel, see the world, experience a new culture, and even learn a new language.
You could get many of these opportunities at home, but it would not be the same as living overseas. Living overseas is usually filled with opportunities, especially if you look for them.
8 – It Has Become Easier to Be An Expat
It has become easier to be living overseas. Besides the time difference, with technology today, you can contact your loved ones at home on FaceTime, Skype, or an IP Phone. I have a US IP Phone called Ring Central that I call home to my parents twice a day most days. You can find out more by clicking here.
It used to be very expensive and challenging to communicate with your home country or your loved ones at home. But with technology today, it is effortless. And this makes a living overseas and staying connected at home so much easier than it used to be.
I have loved being an ex-pat and living overseas, but I also understand this lifestyle may not be for everyone. But those people considering becoming an expatriate and thinking they will enjoy it – welcome to the beautiful club of being an ex-pat and experiencing life overseas.
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