Earning Abroad – Expat Financial Freedom

In today's post-pandemic world, many people are itching to expand their horizons and travel abroad. While this is a big ambition in itself, only a subset of people are willing to go a step further and take concrete steps to extend their stay by seeking a job abroad. I was one of those people and I enjoyed a 14-year career abroad immediately after graduating. Leveraging your native language as a major skill is the best (and easiest) way to land a job abroad. While there are many ways to get a job abroad, the language(s) you already speak is a skill highly coveted by recruiters overseas. This is a differentiating factor for choosing foreign talent over native talent. It is important to know how and where to leverage your language as a skill to land a job abroad, however. Leveraging Your Language Skills in Your Job Search In the context of working abroad, your most important skill is your native language. Don't forget to highlight this on your CV (or Resume). You may think that you have to speak more than one language but that isn't the case. If you speak more than one language fluently then that is obviously an advantage. But if you only speak English, the key thing to understand is that: The language you speak is considered a foreign language somewhere else in the world. Businesses, organizations, and entities always need to communicate, interact, and transact with people who originate beyond their borders. This need is even greater today as more people are migrating and more organizations are expanding There is also a factor that many do not consider. Language is more than just words and syntax. Language is an expression and extension of a culture. For example, many organizations and entities are not looking to just hire an English speaker but rather a Westerner or an American for reasons related to cultural compatibility. This means that your language can play a role in landing you a job even in places and regions where your language is widely spoken. This is why you find many Americans working in the UK and vice versa. The first thing you need to do to land a job abroad is to let recruiters know that you are interested in working abroad. Believe it or not, you are in the minority of workers willing to job hunt abroad. There are two easy ways to look for jobs abroad: a) international Job Boards and b) recruitment agencies The following is a list of international job boards: https://www.multilingualvacancies.com/ https://www.internationaljobs.com/ https://www.globaljobs.org/ https://www.goabroad.com/ https://www.gooverseas.com/ https://www.expat.com/en/jobs/ But let's cut straight to the chase. For English speakers, the best and easiest way to land a job abroad is to teach English and the easiest way to land a gig teaching English is via Daves ESL Cafe. This is the exact method I used as a 24-year-old to land my first job aboard and it happened very quickly. Now, for a bit of background/context. I had just graduated with a degree in geography and I had no background in teaching or English literature. A friend of mine who was studying on a scholarship in a foreign country advised me to go the English teaching route to get abroad quickly. So, I took a 6-week in-person course to get qualified and the instructors advised us to get on Dave's ESL Cafe Job Board and target a country/region to work in. Two weeks later I'm talking to a recruiter in Saudi Arabia and two weeks after that I'm on a plane to Saudi. I targeted the Middle East but other hotspots that are targets include South America, Central Asia, China, South Korea, Japan, and South East Asia. The view from one of my many Trans-Atlantic flights No matter what job board you start with, narrow your search to the desired location/region you'd like to work in. Use the filters to see if companies are seeking to hire people like you (a speaker of a certain language and/or a citizen of a certain country). These should be the first opportunities you target. Also, check whether they will sponsor you (handle the visa and residency logistics) or if you have to do that yourself. Going through a recruitment agency is just as fast if not faster. As a matter of fact, many recruitment agencies scour through the same boards listed above. If you are going to go through a recruitment agency directly, here are some choices to get started: https://npaworldwide.com/for-job-seekers/ https://iscworld.com/ https://www.page.com/ The same advice applies: Target a region and get your CV/Resume in front of a decision-maker. The Easiest Jobs to Land Abroad Using Your Language Skills Certain job/career fields are more dependent on language skills than others. The easiest jobs to land abroad where language skills are essential include: Language Teacher: Schools and other institutions want native speakers to educate/train their learners. Customer Service Agent: Organizations need people to handle calls and emails from customers who speak a variety of languages. Salesperson: Businesses need salespeople to speak to AND relate to customers from all over the world. Data Entry and Research Assistant: Organizations have a demand for people to gather and collect data usually for marketing purposes. Recruiter: Ironically, those international recruitment agencies we just talked about need people to recruit on their behalf. Flight Attendant: Airlines need flight attendants willing to travel internationally. Childcare (au pair): Many families (especially expat families) are looking for someone who speaks a certain language and comes from a certain culture to care for their children and develop their children's language skills. For example, a French family living in Hong Kong would seek to hire a French nanny to care for their children. Nurse: This is especially true for hospitals and medical facilities in places where a lot of expats reside. Apply for a Transfer to Other Global Offices If you are already well established in a career and you are looking to make a lateral move then the easiest way to land a role abroad is to simply ask your current employer to transfer you to a position abroad. The vast majority of large companies today are Multi-National Corporations. They have offices around the globe with roles that open regularly. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, very few people even think about living/working abroad. Those numbers cut down even more significantly when the demographic consists of people in their mid-career. If your company doesn't have offices abroad you could research or ask about the company's future expansion options. Make your interest known up front and you may be a shoo-in when the time comes for the company to open an office abroad. Optimize Your CV for Working Abroad Before you submit your CV or resume to international job boards or international recruitment agencies you need to optimize it to increase your odds. Keep in mind that standards in your home country may be completely different from other countries abroad. I'll give you a few examples. In my home country of the United States, CVs (we call them resumes, which is the first difference!) may or may not include a headshot. Additionally, in the United States, it's generally regarded as best practice to keep your CV to one page. However, in many countries, it's expected that CVs feature a passport-sized headshot photo. In addition, CVs are longer than one page but no more than two pages long. When optimizing your CV for work abroad, always highlight your native language and any other languages in which you have learned in addition to your proficiency level in those languages. Also, tailor your CV to the country/region you want to work in. This means checking spelling against the spelling conventions (British English vs American English). You also want to look up the popular contact methods (in addition to email) used in that country/region and use them on your CV as part of your contact details. For example, in the Middle East (specifically the Gulf) everybody uses WhatsApp to communicate. When I came back to the United States, I had to adjust as everybody uses some form of SMS/Text Messaging.