What If You Can’t Work In Your Host Country?

Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Working Abroad
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Have you been reading this month’s posts wistfully, wishing that it was at all possible for you to work in your host country?

You may be “unemployable” for a score of reasons. Your spousal visa doesn’t allow you to work. Recruiters won’t consider you because of your age, gender or skin colour. You have disabilities or other special needs that local employers cannot or won’t accommodate.

Oh sure, there are definite perks to not working: you have plenty of free time to explore your new city and socialise with other expats. Job-related stress, burnout and office politics are but a distant memory. You spend a lot more time with your children, you go to the gym regularly and you’re – finally – getting around to finishing the must-read best seller of 2005 (better late than never!)

That’s great, and you should enjoy it for as long as you can. Once the novelty wears off, though, long-term unemployment becomes much less fun, especially if you used to have an interesting job and a rewarding career.

OK, so you miss working. Now what?

Are you feeling increasingly restless, bored, and lacking purpose? Don’t ignore these warning signs that something is off-balance in your life. Going shopping, exercising frenetically, or having another cocktail at the expat bar is not going to fill the void, and you know it as well as I do.

In order to restore balance in a sound and lasting manner, the first thing you need to do is identify exactly what makes working important to you. Here is a little exercise to help you do just that:

Self-assessment exercise: fill in the blanks

- Write down the follwing statement 20 times:
1. When I have a job, I feel…
2. When I have a job, I feel…
3. When I have a job, I feel…
…
all the way down to
…
20. When I have a job, I feel…

- Fill in the blanks quickly, without thinking too much. I know it may seem hard to come up with 20 answers, but that’s precisely why you’re writing so many: by the time you run out of conventional answers, maybe you’ll let yourself be completely honest and express what you really feel.

- Now repeat the same exercise, with this new statement: “Without a job, I feel…” 20 times. Remember to work quickly, without self-censuring your thoughts.

- Once you’re done, go over your list of 40 statements and look for themes – answers that seem to belong together, or to be linked in one way or another.

Below, I’m giving you a list of the most common themes I’ve encountered while working with expats, as well as some suggestions for each situation.

Why work is such a big deal, and what to do about it

If your answers revolve around…

- Responsibilities: You like being in charge and being trusted. You love feeling competent and efficient. If you let yourself admit it, you enjoy feeling important and recognised.

Volunteering sounds like it would be right up your alley, provided that you find a position that puts your professional skills to good use – think sitting on an advisory board rather than stuffing envelopes for a charity drive. If you cannot volunteer for a local organisation without a work permit, consider seeking a position within your local expat club or cultural association: treasurer, convenor, or committee chair.

- Contribution: You like having a clear sense of purpose and feeling useful. You want to directly contribute your skills, time and energy to make a difference in your community.

Volunteering for a charity you support or a cause close to your heart would be a perfect fit. You could also consider teaching a skill or hobby that you’re passionate about – sharing your knowledge and your enthusiasm is a wonderful way to give back!

- Structure: You miss having a reason to get up in the morning. You don’t really know what to do with your time. You can’t stand being idle and aimless.

What you need is to recreate a routine that will give your life more structure. Many non-working expats start their day by meeting their exercise buddies at the gym every morning without fail. If treadmills are not your thing, why not meet friends for breakfast first thing in the morning, rather than for coffee at 11:00 am or for lunch?

Sign up for a class or join a club that meets several times a week. Have your meals at the same time every day. Set “house rules” and stick to them: for example, Wednesday is laundry night, and Thursday is blogging day. It may sound silly, especially if you’re on your own, but this will prevent one day from blending into the next.

- Growth and intellectual stimulation: When you were working, you were always learning something new, be it a new technology or how to handle difficult coworkers. You love expanding your horizons, feeling engaged and growing as a person.

Now would be the perfect time to enroll in an online course, intensive language training, or any other type of class. Have you always been fascinated by an obscure field of study, but dismissed it because of poor job prospects? I would go for it! (My own dream is to enroll in an online degree in Egyptology – I hear that Manchester and Chicago have excellent programmes…)

- Status: If what you miss the most is working for a prestigious company, having an impressive-sounding title or a shiny company car, it may be a sign that your identity is too wrapped up in your social status, or that you rely too much on external factors – like your job – to define yourself.

However, having said that, I completely understand that if you’ve given up a successful career to follow your husband overseas, going from ambitious, driven professional to “So-and-so’s wife” is a difficult transition. It’s legitimate to feel a bit lost, because you have to rearrange a significant part of your identity. But you cannot afford to become bitter and resentful.

Try to put your finger on what it is exactly that makes the transition hard for you, and like we just did, brainstorm solutions and new avenues through which you can express your identity, your personality and your skills. Or drop me a line and we’ll do a few brainstorming sessions together to help you come up with new ideas.

Was this post helpful? Do you need more personalized advice? Contact me to schedule a one-on-one consultation.

Emmanuelle

Images by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid (top) and jonjk (bottom), all via Flickr Creative Commons