Did you go to a party last night and ask Karen, the other Expat Spouse across from you, how she managed her transition to Switzerland? And did Karen say: “Just reinvent yourself!”.
This is a dreadful sentence to tell any newbie in a new place.
This sentence is advice you often hear when you lose your work or are still looking for a new job in Switzerland.
You are a New York, London, Frankfurt, or Mumbai professional. You have a career stamped on yourself. Telling you to reinvent yourself is like saying, “Why don’t you just run a marathon after recovering from COVID-19.” People make it sound so simple; it makes you feel guilty and shameful because it seems to them it’s something that you can or should do.
Not only is reinventing yourself a considerable challenge (on top of the extra obstacles you will face in a new and less well-known environment), but doing so often means letting go of your dreams. And accepting that is a big challenge in itself when you are sacrificing your goals so that your partner can follow theirs.
At parties, you say, “I’m a Senior Consultant / Director / Lawyer / Doctor / Scientist.” Then, you talk about the pleasure of long-distance travel in times of terrorism, or you mention that your partner is away too often and that the kids know the nanny better than their parents, or you explain that you never go to the city because you feel that childcare is too expensive. You rather stay at home than trust your kids to another person.
Your professional reputation has fueled your ego, and you did everything to improve it. You attended courses, webinars, conferences, and networking events and read everything you could about the topic while commuting to work. Not to mention that you routinely ensured that your social media profiles reflected your success only, and you confirmed your name was published at least once a year.
Then out of the blue (or even because you were following a long-term idea), your spouse gets a job offer in Basel, Switzerland, or your job is outsourced to Pune, India. After the initial excitement or shock, you start to consider what a career change means for you right now. You can consult blogs and books on the matter. From one day to the next, you worry about your branding as a professional. And you might even notice that you don’t know what you want.
Finding out what you want is difficult, so I recommend you work with a career coach to develop a vision of your next role and a long-term career vision. What I found even more challenging, though, is to let go of my old career.
I had acquired a status in HR, and in my new role, I felt like a beginner again. In our cultural context here in Switzerland, we say, “Schuster bleib bei Deinen Leisten!” (Cobbler, stick to your last!). We are encouraged to change our chosen career paths.
Let’s hang with the cobbler analogy for a while. I might not have told you yet that my grandpa was a shoe repairer in post-war Germany, and my grandma ran a shoe shop for the longest time, so I have a particular fondness for shoes, and the smell of leather and glue always brings me back to their workshop.
We know well that a shoe we have worn for a while is comfortable. New shoes often feel too tight or too big for us to fill. Imagine getting out of your patent leather shoes and into hiking boots. That would be comparable to the change you are going through.
It would help if you broke your new career boot in. You might know already consciously that the hiking boot is more practical, fits better to your personality, and has more value on icy mountain grounds, but you still feel the burden of a heavier shoe.
It would be best to throw your old patent leather shoe into the mental “Altkleidercontainer” (the recycling bank for old clothes and shoes). Here are seven ideas on how you can do that.
- Advantaging: Write down all the advantages of the hiking boot. Think of every aspect of your new career and how it looks and feels. Run meticulous research. Interview industry experts and speak to friends who work in this area.
- Wearing: Work in your hiking boot at least one or two days a week by volunteering or finding a cause in this profession worth supporting. Get a consulting project before you commit full-time.
- Pretending: Pretend you are already experienced in walking with the hiking boot, attend seminars and networking events wearing a badge with your new role, and have business cards printed.
- Updating: Update all your biographies, social media profiles, and websites and show that you are wearing the boot already. Mention your new role and functional title. Be the career you want to be.
- Noting: Leave post-its in your office, bathroom, and home with a visual anchor. For example, if you want to become a scientist working in the pharma industry, you could jot down a company logo that you find attractive or a picture of you with security glasses.
- Spacing: Develop a space that signifies “productive work” in your new career. It could be an office or an area on your kitchen table. This area is reserved for work in your new job only.
- Storytelling: Write down your ideal client’s story, someone who will depend on the results or fruits of your new labor. Who is that person, what is essential to that person, and how does this person live?
These are seven ideas for letting go of your old career and reinventing yourself. There you have it. Do let us know how you are handling it, and if you need help progressing, you can always email me.
The HireMeExpress program is now closed for sale. We would still love to have you as a reader and Club Member here
https://globalpeopletransitions.com/become-a-reader-of-the-global-people-club-sandwich/
Are you one of those settled professionals who suddenly had to get out of the last job? Did you love to write as a high school senior but figured a career in journalism would take too many years of crafting the art?
Maybe this is the time in your life when you want to get back into the habit. Perhaps this is really the time when you want to consider starting a writing career in Switzerland.
Seven Reasons to Start a Writing Career in Switzerland
1) You cannot handle frustrating meetings any longer
2) You don’t want to conform to the typical 8 AM to 5 PM working day
3) You’ve decided that you finally want to feed your passion and earn an income out of it
4) You’ve always been good at telling stories and want to do it more consistently
5) Your values constantly clash with your company’s values
6) Parenthood completely overwhelmed you
7) Your partner got a wonderful –it-was-always-my-dream-to-move-to Switzerland-Singapore-Santa Barbara-kind of job offer and you are in a new country without a professional network.
How many of these points can you tick? If you can relate to at least one of them, I encourage you to keep reading what comes next.
Four Signs You Feel the Urge to Develop Your Creative Side
1) You neglected writing in order to earn a living but you always journal during your holidays.
2) You did not know you were more creative than others until a psychologist told you.
3) You are bored and need to do more than painting your nails, cooking and washing clothes to satisfy your creativity.
4) You are going through a transition and that triggers the urge to WRITE, PAINT, SING, PLAY AN INSTRUMENT…
Your writing could become a new source of income for you. You will probably not land a bestseller overnight but even publishing a book has become rather easy in the age of kindle desktop publishing.
It is important that you have the skill of language composition and you know your grammar well. Unless you wish to become a literary fiction writer,I don’t think you need a diploma in writing though.
Three Tips to Start a Writing Career in Switzerland
#1 Guest Blog
You could guest blog for “Hello Switzerland” for starters or submit your articles to www.ezinearticles.com. They also have good writing tips there.
http://blog.ezinearticles.com/
http://www.helloswitzerland.ch/
https://serp.co/content/what-is-content-marketing/
You can also check the categories on our website to see if you would be a good fit as guest blogger for Global People Transitions. We’d be happy to read your content! Write to angela@globalpeopletransitions.com if you’re interested.
#2 Join a Community of Writers
As a large and international expat hub, Zurich has a great community of writers and independent authors and there is a lot to learn.
https://zurichwritersworkshop.com/
http://www.dicconbewes.com/category/writing/
http://triskelebooks.blogspot.ch/2013/11/tis-season.html
#3 Educate Yourself with a Good Mentor
If you need a kick in the b… I recommend you read Jeff Goins’ blog. He is a motivator for aspiring writers and authors.
What’s your experience with blogging and writing?
Please share with your best friend. You can also leave us a comment below if you feel like sharing with our Club Sandwich readers.
Join us for #RockMeRetreat2019.
Do you sometimes wonder when you update a spreadsheet, database or presentation, why you went to university in the first place? Do you sometimes feel in meetings that your potential is not fully utilized? Or when you run a team, are you the Chief Entertainer? Are you the parent cleaning up the toys after the kids, trying to stop them from fighting about the electronic devices, the projects and the recognition (i.e. bonus)?
Do you regularly try to calm the storm when one of your colleagues thinks she is right and the other one says that she started picking on him for no reason?
Companies and organizations often feel like kindergarten. As a leader you spend a large part of your day solving problems, easing difficult relationships, convincing colleagues to collaborate and cleaning up sloppy data entries from unmotivated service providers. They should be motivated by the fact that they charge you for their services but their staff lost touch to the end client. For them, it feels as if they are working in a data factory.
It’s a sad reality that shows in employee surveys and Gallup reports across the globe.
In my view, we need to deconstruct global careers and build a new concept for a fulfilled professional life for our expats, their spouses, and our #GlobalMobility teams. Last week, we started to discuss the future of work and how it will affect your “career”. We encouraged you to think like an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs have a purpose in their life. They know why they roll up a stone every day, they have an aim for their daily efforts. Being an entrepreneur for me has been the most challenging and most rewarding professional experience of my career. Not that I did not like my work earlier but I love the diversity and self-actualization opportunity that this kind of “portfolio” career allows a “multi-potentialite” with many interests like myself.
Here are five questions for you to reflect on:
1) What if you wanted or had to become an entrepreneur early next year?
2) What would be your three main goals for 2019?
3) Which knowledge can you build on?
4) Which critical skills do you want to develop further?
5) Which attitude would you need and which beliefs would you have to let go of?
If you would like to record your answers in our #RockMeApp or if you wish to join our #RockMeRetreat19 sign up here. #RockMeRetreat2019
Kind regards
Angie Weinberger
We recommend you also listen to and read this:
Podcast by Sundae Bean on Expat Life Upgrade
“The future of work is a complex thing” featuring Luke Skywalker and Buffy by the Libby.
Kai Beckmann’s take on the future of work Are we Curious Enough for the Future of Work?
Join the discussion on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter with #FoW.
For about a year now we have followed the discussion around “Future of Work (#FoW)” and we asked you what you would need to learn if you wanted to be more successful and happier.
You probably know that health and time are your most important assets. You would, therefore, ensure that you exercise, relax and watch your nutrition. You would also guard your time and try to be helpful at the same time. Most importantly, you would celebrate your close friends and family. They will probably stand by you when the going gets rough or when the rent doesn’t get paid.
You are not able to hide behind a manager and let her do the tough jobs only so you can complain that she never lets you do anything exciting. As an entrepreneur, you will stand in the limelight and you will need to perform all of your billable time.
What I have learned over the last few years is that “learning new stuff” took a new dimension for me when I started my business because, in the beginning, you have zero help. You can source support but it is usually too expensive so you will do a lot of tasks yourself that were done by other people in the corporate world. You might have been used to a team and never had to change the paper in the printer. You had a PA who would claim your expenses. Maybe you had a business development professional who would spice up your proposals. You certainly did not have to raise invoices and chase their payments.
On a skill level, we can always improve or learn something. We even need to practice in order not to forget.
If you feel you already know everything, you could write a book or learn Mandarin or Arabic. This will probably humble you.
Stop perfectionism. Start Creation.
Give room for creation.
When you are satisfied with your work because you have a strong purpose, the amount of time you put in is not really that relevant. Your creative process needs a different space than a factory-style task. Deep satisfaction comes from creation, not from the routine and administration. I also believe you can only monetize creation. Routine can be automated and outsourced.
We created the RockMe! App to increase stress for you. No joke. You will probably feel under pressure to achieve when you work with a coach. You might experience though that your energy is more targeted. You will achieve what is important to you and you will do it with pleasure. I advise you to write your three major goals for 2018 in present tense as if you had already achieved them. If you are a visual person try to find an image or photo for every one of the three future states you would like to achieve.
As soon as you start working with the app one of our coaches will check in with you on a regular basis to see how you are getting ahead. Will this cost you anything? Yes. You will need to give us feedback. If you find our work helpful, we assume that you will recommend GPT and the RockMe! App to all your contacts and friends. That’s all.
I wish you a productive week.
Kind regards,
Angie Weinberger
P.S.: Don’t forget to check out Lucie’s post on Expat children and Identity Crisis.
Plus, read this article if you are interested in 12 tips for working virtually in a multicultural team.
