Develop Your Career as the Partner of an Expatriate

As the partner of someone living overseas for work, you have amazing opportunities for travel, language and cultural immersion. At the same time, you have additional stressors that come from living in a different culture and maybe a different language. From moving to setting up your family in a new place, the challenges abound.

Perhaps the most stressful part of all is having to change, pause or give up your career entirely. Although more companies today are embracing remote work, this change is not happening quickly, as many tax and legal implications remain complex and unclear. A lot of companies support remote work if you've worked for a time in their offices and have proven yourself, but this is not always an option.

[See: 10 Ways to Perfect Your Personal Brand.]

Whether you are currently the partner of an expat or may become one in the future, there are ways you can turn career challenges into opportunities. At the inaugural Tandem Nomads' Expat Spouses, Career and Entrepreneurship conference in New York City on November 29, successful expat partners discussed these issues and how to turn them into personal and professional advantages.

Step 1: Get your partner on the same page. Trying to figure out how to maintain your career when you're uprooted to a new country is daunting. Communicate openly with your partner about what your new career might look like and what's possible from a financial and logistical standpoint. Making sure they understand your challenges and support you is paramount. Years ago, it was common for a partner in this situation to accept that they just couldn't work, but times have changed.

[See: The 8 Stages of a Winning Job Search.]

Step 2: Take time to design your career journey. You want to start figuring out what you might be able to do as an expat partner before you move. Whether you have that luxury or not, do not rush into finding a job. Take some time to think about your journey. For example, do you want to spend some time not working at first so you can explore the new city and culture into which you've plunged? It can take a good six months to a year (or more) to feel truly settled in a new place, so give yourself time to figure it out.

Step 3: Invest in yourself. If you're finding it difficult or impossible to work -- e.g., your visa doesn't allow you to work -- you can use that time to develop skills and invest in your professional development. There are a plethora of online courses and certifications you can take, or you may choose to enroll in an online degree program. If you're not sure what you want to study or even if you know, take time to learn online tools that you might need as a freelancer, entrepreneur or for remote work. Technology enables expat partners to work from anywhere and it's vital that you prepare for remote work by spending time and resources learning how to use tools that will facilitate it.

Step 4: Enhance your resume. When you take courses or teach yourself new technologies, add them to your resume! Revamp it and keep it updated so it's ready when you are prepared to work again. You may also decide to volunteer or take an internship. Try to volunteer or intern somewhere that either supports your skills and career goals or helps develop new ones. It doesn't matter if it's not paid: include your volunteer or internship work on your resume and expand upon what you are doing and the skills you've built.

[See: 8 Things That Are More Productive Than Staring at a Job Board.]

Step 5: Get unstuck. If you begin to feel at a loss about all of it and what you should and could be doing, talk to professionals. There are career and life coaches who can help you figure out options for what you want to do in the short and long term. And if you're finding that regulations work against you as far as retirement, visa or work permit issues go, be proactive. Gather people who have experienced the same issues and raise it with the institutions that can do something about it.

Though it usually requires a lot of time and effort, a career as an expat partner can turn out to be more interesting than a traditional career in your home country. You can create your own job instead of waiting for one to come to you. One way to do that is by starting a portable business and becoming an entrepreneur, as it offers partners a way to pursue a career while having flexibility. While entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, freelance and remote opportunities are abundant today. And even when it seems nothing is going your way, remember that you cannot always change your environment, but you can change the way you decide to deal with it. Stay open to opportunity and you may be surprised by what you find.