Stories from Hamburg, Hong Kong, Berlin, and Uganda

Here are some of my favorite articles and podcasts about working overseas in Hamburg, Hong Kong, Berlin, and Uganda. I see some common themes in these four pieces, which match my own experiences in China.

- Being an outsider makes you a "big fish in a small pond" (or at least a bigger one than you'd be if you'd stayed home!)
- Living in a place with a low cost of living gives you much more flexibility in terms of work.
- As a foreigner, you have more responsibility than a local would at the same level. This can help you to build a wide range of skills.
- Being far from home connects you to people incredibly quickly. It's amazing how well I've gotten to know new friends in our first or second meeting. I think this is also true in a professional context.

OK, I'll let the pieces speak for themselves.

1. Allie Osmar writes a blog called The Creative Career, which gives advice for young people entering public relations and marketing. She has two podcasts about overseas opportunities.

- Finding Opportunities to Work Abroad is a 9-minute podcast interview with Justin Sikora, who works in public relations for Edelman in Chicago. He began in Edelman's Chicago office, and then a year later was transferred to Hamburg, Germany, for a year. It was his first experience on overseas soil. He recommends learning the language, finding a company that fosters an atmosphere of growth, and both asking for and earning this opportunity.

- Fast-Track Your Career Success by Going Abroad is an excellent 15-minute podcast interview with Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, one of the authors of the book Get Ahead By Going Abroad. She worked in marketing communications in Hong Kong for three years, and then interviewed 200 other women about their experiences working abroad for her book. She explains how working globally can skyrocket a woman's career. Allie has posted detailed notes from this interview here.

2. On the New York Times' fabulous but now-defunct Shifting Careers blog, recent Harvard graduate Rachel Nolan wrote a vivid and persuasive post about how moving to Berlin helped launch her journalism career. It begins:

A lot of my friends thought I was crazy when I moved to Berlin after graduating from college last year to try to make my way as a freelance journalist. They had teaching gigs, spots in graduate school or banking contracts with the likes of Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. Some of these jobs turned out to be secure. But if nothing else, the financial crisis provides yet another reason for young people to move abroad. We have less to lose.

At the time, I had a few contacts and German language skills that were not quite good enough to conduct an interview. If I failed to publish a single story, I reasoned, I’d find another way to support myself, enjoy the non-career-related benefits of living abroad and come home after a year. But now I have a portfolio of professional clips, solid German, a chance to travel — and a fairly good idea that moving to Berlin sped up the process of becoming a journalist.

Click here to read the rest.

3. Jacob Elster wrote a somewhat similar post on Change.org's Social Entrepreneurship blog. Jacob is the founder of Crop to Cup, a Fair Trade coffee company which uses technology to reduce the distance between coffee farmers and consumers. His story begins:

You've done sixteen years of school, your ACT, your SAT, your etc.; you have been preparing your whole life for this one question.......good thing it's multiple choice.

• Q 1] What are you going to do when you graduate?
  • Option one, get a job.
  • Option two, go back to school.

So what's it going to be? Well, let's think about it.

He then explains how he decided against both of those options and...

As such, after graduation I founded a technology and leadership capacity building nonprofit. Called DevelopNET Iganga, this nonprofit led me to live and work in Africa where I saw how something as free as information can help to bridge the logistical barriers keep small farmers isolated from the market and stuck in a cycle of poverty. I took this lesson with me when I began working with coffee farmers, and now, five years later, I help Crop to Cup Coffee Company to source coffee, and information, directly from the farmers themselves.

I'm not sure what this story's worth, as I'm not sure how it will end. However, I did find it refreshing to know that one can put their confidence in themselves, and themselves in a position where life can happen, and that the rest sort of follows.

I highly recommend that you read the whole thing. It's part of a series called Entrepreneurs on the Verge.