Job Discussion Forums

[missing]

What do I want?

Last night, a thought occurred to me: What if I spend my whole life figuring out what I don't want? What if life is just a long process of elimination?

What if I spend too much time thinking?

Clown, I long to be where you are. Did it take you two years to adjust to being back?

[medusa]

Hello Missing and everyone else,

You've been given some good advice so far, so I don 't want to repeat the same good points, but to give you a "case study" if you like.

In '98 I was in a similar situation to you. I had just returned from a year out teaching English in India, and my only thought was to get away as soon as possible. However, I decided to continue my studies in England but jumped at the first opportunity to continue my studies abroad. Since '99 I have been living in france, and after finishing my studies I found work here (ESL among other jobs). I can't imagine going back to living in the UK, I love my native country but my life is and as far as I can tell, will always be elsewhere. Wherever you are, you'll start to get itchy feet at some point if it's in your nature. I'm leaving my ESL job here for a new opportunity in India, working for a French company (to return to france after completion). It's only a 9 month contract but I felt I needed that foreign experience despite the fact that I now call France home.

Since moving to France, I've never earned over 1000� per month and have struggled to pay bils etc, but I've had a quality of life that my friends back in the UK envy. It's a question of choice, quality of life versus wealth. Personally, my wealth IS my quality of life and not my bank balance.
At 28 years, I have to consider providing for a family in the near future too, but as an earlier post points out, you can climb the ladder. If you start out as the conversation assistant teacher on minimum wage, nothing stops you working your way up to a higher position in management within a teaching structure.

Society pressures us into thinking we need to get one of "those" jobs in our home country. Life's too short to worry about what society want's us to do. If your feet itch - scratch them!!!!
Victoria

[Jizzo T. Clown]

missing--

I came very close to heading back to Japan about a year ago, before my uni offered me a full-time position. I'd been offered a job by ALS and actually had to turn them down.

Recently I was considering going to Korea because I felt the urge to go abroad again. Then I asked myself: What will I gain by doing this? I guess it depends on what your ultimate goals are.

Even now, if for some reason my current job fell through, I'd just head off to Korea...in a way, going abroad is my fail-safe.

[naturegirl321]

[naturegirl321]

[Venti]

[MikeySaid]

[medusa]

I agree with Mikey said, while abroad you must use your experience to it's full potential. That means that in order to make youself more employable in your native country try to do the following:

- learn as much of the local language as possible
-join any business/ex pat associations in your area
-Use these contacts to learn about their business
-learn about the countries relations with your home country, special ties, historical links
-Find a list of all foreign companies (all domains) within the area and introduce youself

These will all be vital selling points for jobs in your home country and you could even find a job before you get home. So many multi-nationals search for staff who have language skills, knowledge of their suppliers/partners etc, their country and their culture.
You will open prospects to many import/export companies as well as all other branches who go international. The extra bonus with these type of jobs is that you work in your country but you often get to travel for business to your 'fetish' country!!