Going on an international assignment is often a relationship challenge. Even if you have already been married for a long time moving abroad can bring out the best and worst in the relationship with your spouse and/or life partner.
Gone are the days of the “expat wife” sitting in the expat country club, playing tennis or painting her fingernails at the pool while an armada of the staff was taking care of the driving, children, household, and cooking. Today, life partners and spouses are of all backgrounds and all colors.
My observation is that more and more male spouses are joining female expats. We also see more same-sex couples going on assignments together. Some couples plan to have a family while on assignment, while others have children living in boarding schools in different countries. My advice here is mainly for dual-career couples. If you have children, you might face other challenges, but usually, there is more support around finding schooling by companies than helping with spouse adjustment.
Here are five principles you can use to help your spouse adjust to the host country faster.
1) Make sure you understand all legal obligations when applying for a residence and work permit.
Make sure you have understood the legal obligations in case you are not legally married. Is your life partner allowed to reside in the country? How hard or easy is it to receive a work permit? Did you consider adequate health, accident, and life insurance coverage? Work permit legislation can be tricky, even for married couples. Make sure you understand the implications of your work permit type for your spouse/life partner.
2) Help your spouse with the job search by building your network in the host country fast.
Try to find out how to build up a network in the host location fast. Speak to agencies and headhunters about job opportunities. Understand the role of agencies/headhunters in the process before you contact them. Build on- and offline networks to find a job. Help others too, so that you will be considered when it is your spouse’s turn to look for a job.
3) Get intercultural training to understand cultural differences.
Understand the cultural differences in how to write an application and how a resume typically looks for the host country. What are the usual ways of getting a job? How important are personal introductions? Who should sponsor your spouse? Getting a social life and making friends together will help in the transition into the new culture. Try to make time for events so that your spouse feels that you are on this adventure together.
4) Utilize support offered by your company.
Utilize the resources of the company you work for. Request for help. Some companies offer spouse career coaching or job coaching. f you have a chance get coaching for your spouse. The transition into a new country is stressful. Sitting at home without a real task can trigger depression or a feeling of loneliness.
5) Discuss a fallback option with your spouse.
In case your spouse cannot find a job in the host location, come up with a fallback option and value work even if it does not generate family income. Examples include volunteer work, social engagement, university degrees, freelance work, or building up a company. Sometimes I have observed that expatriates are so busy with starting a new job and a new life that they forget to listen to and support their partners. This might be more important than anything else. I have seen couples who agree that they take turns in advancing their career. After this assignment, your spouse should be able to pick the next role or location first.
I find it critical for a couple to live together (or close to each other) during an international assignment. Commuting creates separation and your life will diverge. Also consider that even though your career step might be important, it does not mean your life. So once in a while, you might be better off, turning down an international assignment to save the relationship.
If you would like to discuss your or your spouse’s situation with me, kindly reply or book an appointment via Calendly.
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We are excited to announce our upcoming online workshop series, designed to prepare you for the HireMeExpress program.
Workshop 1: Partnering Masters – Building Effective Relationships
Friday, 14 April 2023 from 12:00 PM CET till 1:00 PM CET
Workshop 2: Powerful Missions – Having a Voice in a Sea of Noise
Friday, 21 April 2023 from 12:00 PM CET till 1:00 PM CET
Workshop 3: Persisting Mindsets – Designing Work to Support a Global Lifestyle
Friday, 28 April 2023 from 12:00 PM CET till 1:00 PM CET
If you’re interested in learning more, we invite you to sign up for further updates on the next free workshop series, which will be starting shortly.
During these three workshops, you’ll have the opportunity to get to know Angie Weinberger and learn more about her unique approach to working with participants in the HireMeExpress program. In addition, when you sign up, you’ll receive free tips such as our 21 FRESH RESUME CHECKPOINTS, which can help you make your resume stand out from the crowd.
We believe that these workshops will be an excellent opportunity for you to gain valuable insights and prepare for success in the HireMeExpress program.
Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to seeing you at the workshops!
Best regards,
Angie Weinberger
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 headquarters of many small and medium-sized companies. They offer a great scope of learning opportunities and you will have better chances to be visible to the HR Recruiter.
- Bring back the Human Touch: Identify companies that recruit in a human way without too many technical interfaces. Build a friendly relationship to recruiters and HR Managers. Connect with everyone you meet in the process via LinkedIn. Be personable and open about your learning from past failures.
- Show your Work Permit and Certificates: Mention that you have a work and residence permit and how long it is valid in your resume.
- Build an Amazing Professional Network: Networking is key in Switzerland, both in-person and online to land a job. Join industry-specific groups on LinkedIn, attend networking events, and connect with recruiters to expand your professional network. Ask people to meet in person and invest in relationships.
- Study the local language: While English is widely spoken in Switzerland, studying the local language (German, French, or Italian depending on the region) will give you a significant advantage when applying for jobs.
- Submit a complete application file: Often you will need to provide all work certificates right away and you need to have complete documents to be taken seriously.
- Be patient: The Swiss hiring process can be tedious because it is a very democratic process and many decision-makers are booked weeks in advance. Before applying speak to the recruiter and find out if you are a good fit for the role. Only follow up after submitting your application if you do not hear anything for two weeks or more. Be patient as the hiring process unfolds. Ask what the next steps are and when you can expect an answer.
- Stay humble: Many foreigners come across as overly confident and that puts recruiters and HR Managers off. Be realistic about your achievements, know your market value and stay humble in the interviews.
You will find more help if you go through the Global Career Workbook. If you found those tips about finding a job in Switzerland helpful and informative, then you don’t want to miss our HireMeExpress program. This program is designed to provide you with even more in-depth guidance and support. Within HireMeExpress, you’ll learn valuable tips and strategies for succeeding in the Swiss job market. We’ll cover everything from building a professional network from scratch and branding yourself in a suitable and modest way to improving storytelling for job interviews.
Angie Weinberger will provide you with personalized guidance tailored to your specific needs and career goals. Whether you’re new to the Swiss job market or looking to take the next step in your career, this program is a great opportunity to gain valuable insights and connect with other job seekers.
👉 Sign up here to receive updates and invites to our upcoming free lunch workshops in the fall. We also share free videos on Youtube via this channel.
You are Jason Bourne, you wake up in a hotel room in a Middle Eastern country. It’s too hot in your room. You sweat and you just woke up from a nightmare. You are not sure if this nightmare is a memory because you cannot remember who you are.
How will it be possible for you to connect with anyone? How will you trust others if you do not even know who you are? What if you have changed your identity so often that you cannot even clearly pronounce your name?
This is a challenge and you are probably shaking your head. “This is a movie, it’s not real.”.
Yes, but there is a truth in this movie that is relevant to your job search in a new country. It might even be true if you are looking for a new job in your own country.
In professional life, we want to hire people we can trust. We want to hire a competent professional who can show us that they managed a similar challenge before. We want to work with people who will be self-starters and won’t need a year to be up to speed in the role.
You need a professional identity before you can enter the circle of trust. Trust starts with you trusting yourself, your knowledge, attitudes, skills, and experiences, and how you acquire and store them in your brain. You need to be aware of how you relax, how focus, and center yourself when you are in a critical and stressful complex matrix environment.
I often notice when you come to see me, that you are not aware of most of your competencies. You take them for granted and assume that a recruiter, computer, or line manager will already know everything about you when they scan your resume because they are mind-readers and miracle workers.
For them, it is as obvious as all the three-letter acronyms you have been using on your résumé because English is their native language and they are working in a similar field, profession, and industry.
What your personal brand should say about you
When we speak about the personal brand it is something unique to you, something that makes people remember your name, that sticks with people and that keeps you top-of-mind when they are looking for someone with your profile. This brand is not just a marketing factor. Putting three labels (professional designations) on your résumé will help a reader to categorize you and put you in the right mental box.
Ideally, you keep reminding this reader of you so that the box is not closed but open, and so that the avatar in the box shines like a Swarovski crystal. Oh, look, here’s Jason Bourne again. Matt Damon is associated with this movie role. He will never be able to play any other role without us thinking: “Oh, that’s Jason Bourne!”.
When I saw “Hidden Figures” and when Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory appeared, I had to laugh. Then, I always waited for him to act like the Sheldon that he is BUT he was playing another role and did that really well. It was hard for me to accept though, because for me Jim Parsons is not an identity. For me this guy IS Sheldon.
Imagine you are trying to re-brand yourself. It’s very difficult. Your former career image sticks to your face and to your online trail. I can tell a few CEOs who won’t find a job anymore because they are burnt.
What is your personal brand?
Your personal brand is not only your name, headshot, Insta handle, trademark, signature product, or the funny pink hat. It’s also how you make others feel. It’s what you express with your seven work principles. People should identify you with how you work and how you relate to others.
They should be happy to refer you to others by saying:
“She is really competent and helped me on several occasions when I was stuck. She has been my greatest cheerleader.”
“He is true to his values and always seems to follow the correct move. He has never let me down.”
How to connect your personal brand with your seven work principles?
We recommend that you develop your seven work principles in alignment with your personal values. An example would be: “I prioritize my clients over my prospects.”. If your personal brand is aligned with your work principles, then your clients would say about you that you always take their concerns seriously and that you get back to them in an appropriate timeframe.
If you want this behavior to show, you could ask previous clients to endorse you for this behavior in their personal references and on LinkedIn. You could also try to write a special reference or recommendation about a person in your professional network, without expecting them to endorse you back.
Please tell me how you will review your work principles this week and how you will align them to your personal brand. Then take a break and watch a movie. It’s inspiring.
