Broaden your travel experience: Get a job overseas

By Jennifer Merin
Tribune Media Services

(Tribune Media Services) -- Financial pundits say the economy is heading south; don't let their predictions send your travel plans in the same direction. Unless, of course, you're thinking of heading south of the border -- or beyond the equator.

And if the slowing economy provides you with an unexpected extended vacation, you can use your hiatus to realize your travel dreams. Get a job abroad.

The idea isn't as farfetched as you may at first imagine, and there are far-reaching opportunities to broaden your horizon while you satisfy an immediate need for employment.

The following questions may help narrow your job search:  • What are your financial needs?  • Do you require certain job benefits?  • What are your family obligations?  • What's your ideal destination?  • How long do you want to be away?  • How far are you willing to go?

MESSAGE BOARD Where in the world do you want to travel?

David, an audio engineer, was pressured into taking an early buyout from his high-paying union job at a radio network that was downsizing. He and his wife, augmenting the windfall with their combined savings, set out to explore Asia and hopefully find employment when they exhausted their resources.

They found jobs teaching English at a business school in Korea. The pay is sufficient, and staff housing is provided in Seoul. David says that being abroad is also giving him the opportunity to realize one of his lifelong ambitions -- to become an on-air freelance reporter for the very network that made him redundant as an engineer.

You might feel more comfortable landing a job before you move abroad. Well-paying jobs of all descriptions -- teachers, writers, medical personnel, construction workers, computer techs, bankers, sales reps, buyers, food handlers and beauticians -- are available everywhere from the Azores to Zambia.

Employment opportunities are appropriate for recent grads, mid-career workers, top management and semi-retirees. Contracts usually run from several months to a year or two, and most are renewable. Jobs may require your settling in one place, becoming familiar with and traveling in a specific region, or traveling around the world.

When pondering your overseas employment, consider your core goals. These may include financial needs, required job benefits, family obligations, ideal destination (and whether you want to find an environment similar to your home's or to experience an exotic new lifestyle), how long you want to be away and how far you're willing to go.

Also, determine whether you want the same sort of job you've had at home or to use your accumulated work skills to explore another avenue of employment, as well as the degree of change -- even risk -- you're willing and able to accept.

If you're a novice at living and working abroad, you might want your premier experience to be in a country with a large population of expatriate Americans. Top spots include Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, Germany, Philippines, Australia, Greece and Dominican Republic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs.

And unless you're bilingual, you might find life easier in an English-speaking country or one where English is widely spoken, such as the Scandinavian countries, Holland and Costa Rica. However, even if language isn't an issue, social customs differ, and you must be sensitive to and respectful of them -- especially in the workplace.

Another extremely important consideration is whether local political and social conditions make the place safe and pleasant for you and your family. In addition to tracking current events, you should contact the U.S. State Department and Centers for Disease Control for evaluations of conditions in your targeted destinations.

To begin searching for overseas job possibilities, check the business pages and employment ads in the International Herald Tribune, as well as newspapers from the countries of most interest to you and your local newspapers for ads placed by American companies recruiting overseas staff.

Ask friends and family members who have worked abroad for their advice and for contacts they may still have.

Numerous books deal with various aspects of finding employment, working and living abroad. Nancy Mueller's "Work Worldwide" (John Muir Publications, $14.95) is nuts-and-bolts excellent. Check your library and bookstore for others.

The Internet is an invaluable source of information about job openings and how to relocate to another country. Among Web sites catering to international job seekers, the following are of particular interest (and feature links to other sites):

 • Overseas Job Express features 40 categories of international jobs, listing job offers, research resources and information helpful for relocating.

 •  International Job Centers charges a $10 registration fee to access a list of more than a million overseas jobs.

 •  Jobspace lists jobs in Belgium, France, Germany and other European countries.

 •  www.employment.com.au lists job opportunities in Australia by employer.

Working overseas may fulfill your immediate needs and satisfy some travel dreams, but know from the start that it's not the same as being a tourist on vacation. As with all travel, you'll find thrills and challenges and frustrations.

But, in many ways, working abroad represents the best kind of travel -- the kind that gives you a truly intimate knowledge of a new place and people, of a culture and day-to-day reality that's different from your own, and of a new horizon of aspirations.

(C) 2001, Jennifer Merin. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

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