Tag Archives: Career Coaching
Eight Major Barriers to Expat Spouse Employment

We thought we should pull together the main reasons according to our experience that hinder Expat Spouse employment in the host country. This is a non-scientific analysis based on opinions and experience. We identify eight major barriers to expat spouse employment and hope to help you overcome those.
Our Top Ten Tips of Landing a Job as a Foreigner in Switzerland

If you’re looking for a job in Switzerland as a foreigner, there are a few things you should know to help make your job search easier. Here are our top ten tips: Understand the job market: Research the industries and companies that interest you, as well as the current job market trends. Switzerland is home to a strong economy with a variety of industries, including finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology. Develop a Strategy: Define the Top 20 Companies you will focus your search on and check if you have connections in those companies. Run expert interviews to understand more about the pain points and corporate culture before you craft your cover letter. Focus on lesser-known brands: Switzerland is home to the […]
Giving Feedback Across Cultures
Dr. Jens Schmidt, A German Executive in Shanghai Dr. Jens Schmidt is an expat. The company’s corporate headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, assigned him to improve efficiency at the company’s manufacturing plant in Shangai, China. During his first 90 days he came up with a list of quality issues and he shared this list with three of his direct reports (Mr. Zhu, Mr. Cao and Mrs. Ping). He asked them for input on how to mitigate the issues within the next 90 days and what the “low hanging fruit” were. He emailed them on Friday evening and asked them to respond by Monday morning, enough time to review over the weekend. While Dr. Jens Schmidt was sorting out his moving goods […]
Do you have the Holiday Blues?

The holidays are over and you are probably already getting back-to-work blues. That’s alright, most of us experience a form of adjustment and maybe even feel a little overwhelmed at the change of pace. I thought I could ease myself in slowly by starting on Thursday already and then it hit me like a snowball. Friday, I was working away in a frenzy and did about four loads of washing at the same time. (I know, multitasking is not good for the brain, but every machine run is a bit like a smoking break – not that I smoke…but you get the gist.) Since a long time I haven’t written a to-do-list other than the ones, I write to structure […]