5 Reasons Employees Seek International Jobs
Have you ever wondered why employees seek out and go on international assignments? Why they take on all those hardships and challenges? Today I’m sharing with you both personal and professional reasons people relocate internationally for global jobs within their companies.
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Here are some of the most common reasons employees go on international assignments:
Curiosity
This was the main reason I was interested in moving abroad. For some reason, I was always curious about how other cultures lived. When I was young, my grandparents went to Japan and sent me a postcard. From then on, I was always thinking about traveling and living abroad.
I think a lot of employees seek out international assignments because they are curious too. They’re interested in other cultures and wonder if they can live in a new country. They’re interested in learning new customs and taking on the challenges of assimilating. They’ve probably always wondered what it would be like to live in London. And when they see a job open up, they go for it.
Curiosity is so important because even when things get hard in your expat location, being curious will keep you interested in staying abroad and sticking it out. Your desire to learn new things each day will keep your life interesting and will keep you from getting bored while working and living overseas.
Are you curious about another country? Have you always wondered what it would be like to live abroad and learn new customs? Then searching for an international assignment sounds like it would be right up your alley!
Career Progression
For many large multinational companies, working abroad may be considered a requirement for advancement into upper management.
When a company has offices in several global locations, upper management is expected to be able to work with people from all backgrounds and cultures. And there’s no better way to get practice with that than to live abroad for an extended amount of time.
Expat employees get plenty of experience working with different cultures while also managing the stresses of assimilating themselves and their families to a new country.
And not only are expat employees working within the culture they’re living in (Angola, for example) but they’re also working with other expat employees from all over the world!
While living and working in Angola, I met so many people from all corners of the world. And in doing so, I learned new things about how life was lived in those other countries. And I hadn’t even set foot in any of their home countries!
When an employee works abroad, the exposure they’re getting to the work in that overseas location and the diversity of people they’re working with will be extremely beneficial in their career progression when they return to headquarters.
Financial Incentives
I’m aware money can be a difficult topic, but I think it’s important to discuss.
When companies send their employees on an international assignment, an attractive compensation package is usually included to help ease the burden of moving to a new country.
Part of that compensation package can include an “uplift” or “bonus” that is paid to the expat monthly or yearly. The amount will directly correlate to how difficult it is to live in your new work location, or the hardship the expat is taking on. For more about expat benefits, check out this article I wrote.
For example, if you move to an African country, you can usually expect to receive a larger bonus than if you move to a European country. Broadly speaking, most people will find it more difficult to live in Africa than in Europe. Thus, they will be paid more for their extra effort.
Quite honestly, some companies may find it hard to find employees willing to relocate their entire lives and family to a new country for a few years. Large compensation packages are a tool companies can leverage to attract and retain high level talent in overseas locations.
I personally don’t think money should be the sole reason an employee seeks out an expatriate assignment. If you’re chasing the money then you’ll likely find yourself in a difficult expat location. And when things get tough and you aren’t there for the right reasons, you may find yourself wanting to leave when the money doesn’t feel like “enough” motivation.
Don’t let this happen to you. I believe money is a great tool for goodness within your family and for the world. But remember that it will not fulfill you or make a hard overseas location “worth it”.
Travel
This was the second biggest reason I wanted to move abroad. I got a taste of travel in my 20’s and I wanted more! But travelling the world from Texas is hard. So many countries are far away and travel time alone can take 1 or 2 days.
One of the best parts of living in a new country is the ability to use your new country as a launching pad to explore a new region of the world.
When we lived in Angola, we were able to easily travel to many African countries that would have been really hard to get to from the USA. But living in Angola, they were only a 3 hour plane ride away. The same goes for our time living in Buenos Aires. We were easily able to explore all over South America.
Not only is the travel a lot quicker because you don’t have to travel as far, but it’s also a lot cheaper. The cost difference in an international flight versus a regional flight can be over one thousand dollars!
Even if employees aren’t considering the travel benefits when they accept an international assignment, they will likely quickly see all the possibilities available to them in their new overseas location.
When we lived abroad, most conversations with other expats revolved around everyone’s travel plans. And you would get new travel ideas from your friends' plans. For example, I didn’t even know about gorilla trekking in Rwanda before we moved to Luanda. But once I heard about it, I knew we had to go!
Plus, talking about and planning travel is a great way to connect and make expatriate friends abroad.
Lifestyle Change
I’ve learned that many people aren’t interested in living the same way for their entire life. And this speaks to me as well. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of moving and trying a “new life” for a few years. This is also what makes the expat lifestyle hard and frustrating at times. But for most expatriates, the ability to try a new life out and see how it feels is exciting and worth the sacrifices.
One of the other best aspects of expat life is that you can take parts of living in that new culture that you like and incorporate them into your everyday life in your new country. And leave the parts you didn’t like behind when you move on.
Considering a lifestyle change appeals to a lot of people out there, especially after 2020. I think a lot of company expats sought out an international job posting because they wanted to switch up their life. Maybe their lives were feeling stagnant and a lifestyle change was in order.
And believe me, there is no better way to switch up your life for a while than to move abroad.
These are a few of the common reasons an employee looks for an international assignment. If you’re looking for a challenge and have always wondered what it would be like to live overseas then an expat assignment sounds like it could be something you would thrive at.
Do you find yourself in any of these examples? Let me know in the comments.
Ready to go on an international assignment? Be sure to download my overseas packing checklist to ensure you pack everything you need to make your new country feel like home.
