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Alexandra Talty Contributor

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PERSONAL FINANCE 9/13/2013 @ 11:00AM 513,649 views

Seven Simple Steps To Finding A Job

Abroad
When I decided to move to Lebanon, I took the
millennial approach and Googled every possible
piece of advice on the internet about how to find a
job abroad. Most of the articles I found gave
blanket advice that could be applied to any
situation like “Use Social Media to Connect with
New People You Don’t Know” or “Make a Video
Resume to Get Hired Abroad” or my, personal
favorite “Make Sure Your Passport is Valid.” 
While these articles meant well, they obviously
weren’t giving me the lay of the land I needed.
Outside of a handful of helpful sites and articles –
Nomadic Matt’s website, The US State
Department’s website for working abroad  and
Matador Network - there is not a lot of concrete
information available on the internet.

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Seven Simple Steps To Finding A Job Abroad https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2013/09/13/seven-simpl...
This could be you on the way to your next adventure. Photo Credit:
Alexandra Talty.

Now that I’ve made it to Beirut and have pieced

together gainful employment, I’ve decided to
share the wealth and interviewed four millenials
who worked or are working abroad in one capacity
or another – teaching English, working for NGOs
in developing countries or pursuing business
opportunities in emerging markets. A follow-up to
my first article on “How To Prepare for a Move
Overseas”,  here are seven simple steps to finding
a job abroad.

1. Don’t Stress

If you are interested in living abroad, commit fully

to the idea. Don’t worry about opportunities you
might be missing at home. Everyone I spoke to
who moved abroad after college said that they
would do it again in a heartbeat. Even if they did
not find their ideal career, they valued the
experiences they acquired and insight they
gained.

“Eating Korean food every day sounded pretty

great,” said Alex Prokop, a greater New York City
native who, when he realized he had never lived
more 25 miles from where he was born, decided to
teach English in South Korea for a year and a half.
“I had some success with teaching in the past, so I
decided to give it a try.”

From his work teaching English to Korean

middle-schoolers, he landed a job writing ESL
textbooks for an elementary school in South
Korea. He then spent the next 7 months traveling
around Asia until he decided to move back to the
States to see how “technology impacts educational
outcomes.” Now, he is in San Francisco studying
web design and engineering, while working on
various side projects.

2. Spread the Word

Do your research, both online and ‘in real

life.’ When you decide on a place, tell friends,
family, co-workers, neighbors – everyone in your
network. Chances are they will know someone
who knows someone. Take that person out to
coffee and find out the nitty-gritty, go beyond the
guidebooks. Ask for names of people who are still
living in the region who might be accessible when
you arrive, using email to connect with them.

When I began building my Lebanese network, I

only had one friend who was Lebanese and she
was leaving the country shortly after I arrived. By
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the time I left New York, I had networked my way
Seven Simple Steps To Finding A Job Abroad https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2013/09/13/seven-simpl...

to a group of twenty people who had either lived

in Lebanon, spent significant time there or had
close relatives/friends in Lebanon. From those
twenty people, a handful gave me important,
pertinent advice.  You will be surprised by the
information you can get from the people you
already know.

3. Build Language Skills

Interested in moving to Rio De Janeiro? Start

taking Portuguese. Not only will you be building a
marketable skill that will give you an advantage
when applying for jobs, but you will be meeting
other people with a similar interest. They might
have family in Brazil or once lived there
themselves and can give you insight into what to
expect.

If you are interested working for an NGO in the

developing world, language proficiency also has
the added benefit of helping dictate where you
might land. It can also give you a competitive
edge.

“If you speak French for example, usually you will

spend a lot of time in West Africa,” says Martha
Reggiori Wilkes, a British millennial who
currently works for an international aid
organization in Lebanon. Prior to working in
Lebanon, she worked in South Sudan which led
her to decide to study Arabic and move to
Lebanon.

“Now that I am speaking Arabic, I will find it

easier to get jobs in the Middle East because I’ve
got that skill,” says Reggiori Wilkes.

Language skills are even more important if you

are interested in a business-related field as you
will have to conduct meetings in a foreign
language.

Jonathan Fein, a Canadian who has worked in

investment banking and private equity in
Singapore and China, recalls a meeting in
Shanghai when he had to meet with a CEO of a
company that made a specialized tool for the oil
and gas industry. The 25 year old studied Chinese
for years but noted “even in advanced Chinese
classes, they don’t teach you how to say things like
‘polystyrene’.”

If you are interested in working in emerging

markets, Fein emphasizes the importance of
studying language while at university. Then when
you are living in the region, you can take the
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vocabulary and move your language skills to the

next level.

“Most of what you learn in the other courses –

Intro to Logic, Managerial Accounting, Marketing
– will soon be forgotten, but language is an asset
that you will use again and again,” says Fein.

4. The Immersion Experience

Provided that you have the financial resources,

taking a few months to study a language
intensively can help you land a better job down
the line.

Richard Kent, a British millennial who spent 16

months working and living in South America,
speedily picked up Spanish due to a homestay
with a family in Peru and then traveling alone in
the Peruvian Amazon. He advises avoiding big
cities and “go off to some rural areas, find
somewhere you can volunteer, stay for awhile.”

Although he thinks homestays can be a good

immersion experience, it is always a gamble that
you will get along with the family. Make sure you
research the homestay program and if possible,
the potential family.

5. Chutzpah

Depending on your financial resources, where you

are in your career path and where you want to go,
it might make sense to just pick up and try to find
a job when you arrive. It is more daring, but some
people have found it easier to find jobs once they
are physically in the country.

“It was word of mouth, how I found my first job,”

says Kent.  Although he “reeled off emails to every
language institute in Bogotá before arriving, all
three companies I ended up working for were all
word of mouth from friends [in Colombia].”

This strategy can be used for aid work as well.

“I do think it is a good idea to just go to a

developing country and just try to find work,” says
Reggiori Wilkes. “Someone is always more likely
to recruit you if you are available in the country
willing to work than if you are in the head office in
London.”

That being said, Reggiori Wilkes emphasizes that

while this strategy might work for some
developing countries, others might be too
dangerous.
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“There are certain countries that you should never
Seven Simple Steps To Finding A Job Abroad https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2013/09/13/seven-simpl...

go to if you are not under the protection of an

organization because you don’t know what is
going on in that country,” she says, listing South
Sudan, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of
Congo, parts of Pakistan and Niger as “countries
that are too dangerous for most people to just go
to without a safety net.”

For those interested in aid work in the developing

world, she recommends that good places to move
and look for work would be Lebanon, parts of Sri
Lanka and Kenya.

6. Pick a Company

Interested in a business hub like London,

Shanghai or Singapore? It might be easier to try to
get transferred there through your work. If you
are a recent college graduate and want to work in
a field like marketing, advertising or finance, look
for employment opportunities with international
companies that have programs that send
employees to other countries. Companies like
Deloitte, Edelman and UBS  all have exchange
programs that send employees to their
international offices.  However, the opportunity to
move abroad usually takes a few years to work up
to, so be prepared to be patient.

7. Reap the Rewards

The actual experience of living abroad is

invaluable in terms of self-reliance, exposure to
different cultures and general
‘lifehacking’. Jonathan Fein credits his time in
Asia, particularly in Indonesia and China, as the
reason why he was able to found his former-
startup, Rickshaw.

“I was working with employees or partners in

China, Malaysia, India, Australia, New Zealand,
the US, Canada, Finland and elsewhere,” says
Fein.  “For me, this is already natural, but for
others, it may be a bit much.”

While these career trajectories might not be

considered normal, in the end all of the
interviewees found something more fulfilling than
an uninteresting desk job. It might not seem easy
right now but after a few more Google searches, a
language class or two under your belt and some
good old fashioned networking, you too could be
sipping Mai Tais in Singapore after a day at the
office.

Interested in this topic? Here are some

more posts on finding jobs abroad:
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Seven Simple Steps To Finding A Job Abroad https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2013/09/13/seven-simpl...

How To Find A Job Teaching English, All

Over The World

Seven Tips for Becoming an International

Aid Worker

Alexandra Talty is a columnist and writer, with a

tendency for nomadism. The founding Editor-in-
Chief of StepFeed in the Middle East, she is also
on Twitter.

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