Is Being an Expat Good For Your Career?

We’ve been following a discussion on the Harvard Business Review LinkedIn page this week.  It asked the question “Have you every taken an international assignment? Refused one? Wondered if you should ask for one?”

It also links to a survey which explores the topic in more depth addressing not only career effects but also family effects of relocation.  The discussion has proved to be a very active one and, having commented followed the thread, my inbox has been buzzing with new comments - almost 300 of them so far.

We thought it would be interesting to share our thoughts on the discussion.

The first thing that has struck us is that the comments are overwhelmingly positive.  That might be because only people who feel strongly about the subject choose to comment, however, almost no one has said that the experience of living and working overseas was bad for their career.

• A large number of the people commenting on the richness of the experience speak not only of the career benefits of moving abroad but also of the personal growth that came from living and working in another country.

• Of the people who write that they had turned down an assignment the overwhelming sentiment they express is regret.  Several of those people  cite family issues as their reason.

• Very few people mention partners or families.  Many of those who do, talk about the potential difficulties – partners’ careers, the difficulties of moving with teenage children, relationship problems created by living overseas and a few attributed their marital breakdown to moving overseas.

• Mind-set is a quality that several commenters identify as being important to the success of an individual or family in benefiting from the international assignment experience.

• Several commenters mention the lack of recognition of their experiences when they are repatriated and lack of career planning for the jobs they return to.  Those people suggest that, while the international experience has been good for their careers, that career is often not with the company that sent them overseas in the first place!

• Comments about repatriation emphasise its difficulty, not just from a professional perspective but personally too.

• Many of those who have taken an international assignment are still living and working overseas.  Of those who repatriated, many say that if they had the opportunity to move overseas again they’d do it “in a heartbeat”

Whilst drawing conclusions from these comments would be speculative they reflect the some of the key concerns that we hear from expat families - specifically:

• Many, if not most, families see benefits in living internationally, and not just career benefits for the assignee;

• However, most families want to feel that the upheaval of moving internationally is worth it – it frustrates them if the international assignment ends up being a backwards step;

• Family issues, and particularly issues relating to partners are important to assignees – they want to know that their partners and children are going to be OK too;

• And if they don’t have that confidence, particularly when the partner’s career is an issue, then that’s reason enough to turn an assignment down;

• Repatriation is challenging, perhaps more difficult than moving overseas in the first place, both from a career and a personal perspective.  From a career standpoint, assignees want to know that the new experiences and skills they have gained overseas will be valued and utilised when they return home.

How do the themes from the HBR comments compare with what you see and hear from your international assignee population?

If the comments on this discussion are an indication, we think the results of this survey will make a meaningful contribution towards the current thinking on the management of international assignees and their families.  We can’t wait to see the details.