Success Tips for Expat & International Careers

Ask The Expat & International Career Coach: How Do I Make Sure I Get a Fair Relocation Package?

This is the next post in my "ASK THE EXPAT CAREER COACH" blog series that I started in 2009. You can read my very first post in the series: "Why Work Abroad?".

Today's question is another very common question I get when expatriates are trying to cost out whether or not taking a job abroad is right for them and their family.

"HOW DO I MAKE SURE I GET A FAIR RELOCATION PACKAGE?"

Despite the global economic crisis, the demand for highly skilled professionals still exists. Many companies realize that they must must still pay their professionals well if they want to stay ahead in the war for good talent.  If you are clear on your unique value (or personal brand) and have communicated it effectively to the decision-makers, then you should feel confident about negotiating for a relocation package from a position of strength.

However a recent study in International Journal of Human Resource Management reports that companies globally are not recognizing the importance of compensation to in expat retention.  To reduce mobility costs, some companies have been moving to localize their expats or provide local plus packages (traditional expatriate compensation package with reduced benefits).  This has often created the drive or the need for the expat to look for higher paying employment elsewhere.

Expat Careers & Businesses: Latest Issue of Personal Branding Magazine is Out (Download Sample Too!)

I've received an advance copy of Volume 4, Issue 3 of the Personal Branding Magazine from Dan Schawbel and his team at the magazine. Once again it does not fail to disappoint.

As many of you know, the focus of my work is helping expats leverage their unique value or personal brand and online identity to help the build a successful career or business abroad. Hence I consider learning more about personal branding a must do whether you are building or managing your expat career or portable business.

This issue is focused on teaching you how to build a strong online reputation through video, social networking, and blogging. Dan and his team have collected stories from the most well-known internet superstars to teach you how to do it. They spoke with Julia Allison, co-creator of NonSociety.com, Judson Laipply, creator of the "Evolution of Dance" viral video hit, and Mr. Chocolate Rain himself, Tay Zonday. Gracing the cover is Chamillionaire, who is a Grammy award winning musician, and someone who has pioneers the use of social technologies in the music industry. 

Additional interviews include Brian Solis, author of Engage!, Amy Martin, Shaquille O'Neal's social media consultant and Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger Media.

The fully paid version has 22 articles, but there is a sample issue with 10 articles. You can download your free sample here: Personal Branding Magazine Sample.

EXPAT CAREER & BUSINESS SUCCESS TIP: Download the Personal Branding Magazine Sample and learn more about the power of video, social networking and blogging in building your personal brand online.

I've been supporting expats and writing on the topics of personal branding and online identity since 2006. I encourage you to click on my blog category (or this link) "Personal Branding For Expats" or the category (or this link) "Expat Online Identity & Networking" to read other articles I've written on how personal branding and strengthening your online identity can help you build a career or business to support your life abroad.

Expat & International Careers: Strong Personal Brands Differentiate - Not Imitate

Everyone is unique.

Each of us have unique skills, strengths and qualities that make us who we are and what we offer unlike any other professional or business.

When we do the work to uncover that uniqueness and let it drive our actions and choices, we create a monopoly on what we offer because no one else offers what we do in quite the way we do it. 

 

IDENTIFYING & COMMUNICATING YOUR UNIQUENESS

The process of uncovering one's unique value is rarely quick and easy. It takes asking yourself the right questions, using the right tools and most often getting support from those trained to help guide you through that journey. If attaining that clarity were that simple I suspect there would be many more self-realized and professionally satisfied people roaming around in the world.   

Given a recent statistic that 87% of Americans hate their jobs and will be looking for new ones in 2011, it's clear that in at least a few parts of the world some people do not realize or do not know how to identify their unique value and let it drive their career choices. If they do, they aren't communicating it in a way that allows others to fully recognize it and hence are being passed over for job or business opportunities that are a great fit for them. 

Expat & International Careers: Things Every Expat Job Seeker Should Think About in 2011

I am a member of the Career Collective - a group of career professionals who blog monthly on a designated topic for careerists and job seekers. Today’s topic is "Things For Job Seekers To Think About in 2011". Our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.

With the ever-changing employment and economic climates worldwide, it is important that job seekers stay current about what is going on in their target country, target markets and target organizations. 

With the Internet the flow of information between people and across borders is so rapid that we must also be able to react and respond quickly when opportunities present themselves.

In order to stay informed and promptly react in the global marketplace in 2011, every job seeker must also understand and have a handle on these critical elements of a successful job search:

• Understanding and Communicating Your Unique Value - It is no longer enough to say what you can do and what results you have created. If you want to be taken seriously and not overlooked in a sea of qualified candidates you must convey the value you can bring to an employer in a form and language with which they can relate.
• Branded Career Marketing Materials - One of the critical ways of communicating your value is through cover letters, resumes, CVs, leadership addendums and other career collateral on and offline that effectively conveys your compelling, differentiating assets and competitive edge in an efficient, powerful AND culturally relevant way.
• Social media - It is critical in developing your network authentically and strategically, accessing job opportunities and "getting found" by those who need what you offer most.
• Your Online Reputation - Many employers will consider what is said about you online almost as important as what your resume or CV communicates. Care must taken to insure you are not unknowingly hurting your chances for the perfect job because of 'digital dirt'.

Expat Careers & Businesses Your Most Important Asset in the Pursuit of Success

If you are an expat professional or expat entrepreneur, you have likely spent a great deal of time acquiring and developing assets that will make you attractive to your target employer or audience. Assets that most agree are critical to your success.

As an expat professional you've pursued education and training, work experience (at home and abroad) and credentials to attract and impress your prospective employers. You've developed strategic relationships, language and cross cultural communication skills as well as highly differentiating career marketing materials on and offline to help you stand out and get noticed in the global marketplace.

As an expat entrepreneur, in addition to doing all of the above, you'll have developed a compelling and differentiated set of products and/or services to meet the needs of your target market. You'll very likely have sought out opportunities on and offline for visibility so that those who need what you offer will be aware of who you are and the value you provide.

Most of us will have spent months and often years developing and enhancing these assets in the interest of having satisfying and successful professional life. We may have worked long hours and sacrificed time with friends and family to position ourselves as the perfect choice for that perfect job or client.

Unfortunately often we focus so much on the assets we feel we have to secure that we forget about the assets we already have. We forget to prioritize and nurture our most important asset while in pursuit of all of these others - our health.