How To Find Opportunities Overseas

Gandhi said, Be the change you wish to see.

As an English teacher, I might query his grammar. However, language is changing all the time and the leaders such as royalty and presidents and prime ministers set the trend, so I'll let that pass. The important thing is that you understand the message, that you could and should make the changes you would like to see made. Many of them are within your power. I recently asked a friend at Toastmasters, "Could you be the Toastmasters of the Day for a contest? Have you done it before?"

She replied, "I haven't done it before - but I can find out how to do it."

If you go to a new place, a new country, nobody knows you and you know nobody. Make or break. Rise or fall. It doesn't matter. 

1 They will make allowances for the fact that you are new to the country and the job and help you without expecting you to know all the answers. 

2 If you make a mistake you can move on. If you don't have family or friends or property or a business nearby, you can simply start again. 

3 Your first job can be your apprentice job. Apply for jobs even if you cannot do them or don't have a work permit. Sometimes the company can get you a work permit. I found when I applied tor a job in a school, teaching English, all that was needed was for the head of the school to type out a one line letter to the local permit place. 

I had an interview, even though I was on the point of going on holiday. 

I was given the job to start a week later, the day after I returned on a night flight. The permit request letter said, in effect, 'We have a job for this teacher of English. We need a teacher immediately. This teacher is a native speaker and has a university degree. Please grant her a work permit.' 

By that time, I had asked my family in the UK to courier overnight my original of my degree certificate from the UK.

My son could not find it. I said, "Keep looking. It has to be in a frame somewhere in the house. Maybe it is half covered by something else."

He protested, "Mum - you have a hundred frames!"

I replied, "It won't fit in any of the tiny ones. So you have about fifty. I am away seven days. You are sitting at home for at least an hour each day. Just go through them methodically. When you have tried them all,  if you don't find it, you have to write to the university department which is closed in the university holidays and pay for a replacement. I might miss out on my job opportunity."

He started going through all the frames which were large enough to hold a certificate. Fifteen minutes later I got a reply from him:

"Mum - I found your certificate!"

"Wonderful. I will buy you a lovely dinner next time I am home. How many frames did you have to open?"

"Not many. Actually, only three."

When you are job-hunting, don't postpone interviews because you are on the point of going home to the UK, USA or Australia. That could be all to the good. You might need to pick up documents from home such as the original of your certificate showing your qualification for teacher training or music or anything else.

You might also get another job in the company if you get to meet HR. In the UK I left university and had no job. My arts degree was not a qualification for any kind of business. I want for a low-paid job just to do typing in an advertising agency just to say I had a job and to have a little money coming in. Personnel immediately offered me a job as personal assistant to the head of copywriting, Eric Webster, who was the author of a book called How To Win The Business Battle.  

Later, I was offered a low paid job teaching English in a foreign country. I had not taught English. I did not have a work permit. I said I could be a stand-in teacher for a week or two whilst they looked for somebody else or until I got a permit.

I was paid a pittance. However, the alternative was spending my time shopping, money going out instead of coming in.

A chance to get to know other teachers, where you applied for a work permit, the text books, the standard of English of the locals.

I had a conversation starter at parties. 




In the UK as young married we had a home with a back garden (which Americans call a yard) containing apple trees.

We also shared houses in the USA. 

Students And Teachers
I remember when I was a student in London, England, during the holidays another girl asked to move out of her larger room into a smaller one just for the summer holiday of six weeks.

Painting A Room White
 She had asked for white paint and painted the first room white. She asked again and was given white paint to fix up the second room. In the end she had painted three rooms in the building.  

Her skill, her interest in life, was decorating, painting, improving the place, for herself, then for others. She was intent on doing it the day she moved in. 

For some of us it takes longer. We don't do it until we see someone else do it. 

Cleaning A Communal Kitchen
Cooking In the same student building when I moved in the kitchen was filthy. I took one look and decided never to touch it. 

Cleaning Later another girl moved in. She instantly cleaned the entire kitchen and started cooking. She made food for everybody in the building as a housewarming. 

Housewarming And Making Friends
In the Netherlands, you are expected to invite the neighbours in and offer food on arrival in a new neighbourhood. If you do, you instandly have friends. If you don't, nobody will speak to you. Simple. One of my friends in Singapore whose husband worked for an oil company was given instructions by the company on the etiquette of the country they were moving to. 

You could do the same in every country. Make friends of your neighbours.

My son took a series of low paid jobs. One was in a phone exchange in the evening. Just the two of them.

A couple of years later I was on the phone to a company late at night. My son was in the room. I said to my son, "I'm getting nowhere. I have asked to speak to the manager."

My son laughed and told me, "If there are only two people on duty at night, when you ask to speak to the manager, he just hands the phone over to the other phone operator."

So, even the lowest paid job can teach you how the world works. All his lowly paid jobs taught him how the businesses operated. Whether he goes into an electronics shop or a shop selling. 

Gandhi
Sometimes we can copy other. Sometimes we finally are overcome by the urge to do it ourselves. As Gandhi said, 'Be the change you wish to see.'

Jack Ma

Don't be discouraged. Remember the story of Jack Ma. He was turned down more than twenty times even for lowly paid job. Without a job, he started his own business, was co-founder of Alibaba selling on the internet in China and became a multi-millionaire.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on making marmalade

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