Three Ways to Find a Job Overseas

I believe that there are three basic ways to find a job overseas.

1. Convince your home-country-based company to transfer you.

• In China, I've found that this is most common for senior managers. These people come to China to begin a new division, mentor Chinese employees, or manage manufacturing processes.
  
• One of my good friends works for a multinational public relations firm and successfully convinced her company to transfer her from San Francisco to London. She had been with the company for approximately two years (first as a summer intern, and then as a full-time employee) and had to be very persistent to convince her managers to allow this.
• I have one friend who works for a huge multinational engineering company. In Spain he worked in an internal communications role. The company ended that contract and then re-hired him for a similar role in China.
• This article, from LindsayOlson.com, describes how this process could work within an international PR firm.

2. Use an agency or personal connections to find an overseas gig.

• I came to China with an organization called CIEE, which placed me in an English teaching job at Jiaxing University. The personal references, visa assistance, and orientation were quite helpful for me. I paid a fee to CIEE, and then earned a salary for my work.
• Many of my friends in Shanghai found internships and traineeships through AIESEC, the world's largest student organization. AIESEC partners with a wide variety of companies to provide these opportunities. It is a strong international network of incredibly bright and motivated young people.
• Personal connections, called guanxi in China and pitutos in Chile, truly make the world go round! A friend of a friend can be your greatest resource. I find that these second-degree connections are most useful if you can articulate your goals and value in a way that can be easily passed along via email.
• Note that these jobs offer much more in terms of experience than financial compensation. I think that young people will have many more options if they are willing to accept local, salaries for their work. This may limit your eating and drinking and traveling options a bit, but I think that it's worth the short-term financial sacrifice for this type of unusual experience!

3. Move there first then look for work.

• David Dayton of Silk Road International explains this very well in an article for China Success Stories:

First, if you want to work in China, you need to be in China.

I’ve heard that finding a new job is a full time job in and of itself. I agree. And how effective is working in China from the US? Less effective, right. So if you’re looking for work here you need to be here.

If you’re here you can talk with people that own companies, that are doing projects, that are employed by the companies you want to talk with—you see these people at church, at Starbucks, at the supermarkets, at the schools, at local pick-up ball games, etc. You don’t meet these people at home in the US.

Click here to read the rest of his article. I whole-heartedly agree!

• You're probably thinking, "What will my friends and family say if I move across the world without a job?" I have an answer for that. How about enrolling in a short-term language program? Speaking the local language is pretty crucial for getting things done, in any culture. And that will give you a good explanation, as well as the time to follow David Dayton's advice.
  

Good luck! I look forward to hearing your comments and stories.