Foreign postings beckon to the young

[Marc]

From the International Herald Tribune:

In February, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hosted its 10th annual European Career Fair on its campus just outside of Boston. Photos of the event show eager young students from America's elite universities talking to equally eager representatives of multinational companies based in Europe.

Started by a group of European students at MIT, the fair is by any measure a roaring success, with participation growing annually by an average of 35 percent. Organizers of this year's event collected almost 5,000 resumes from candidates wanting to work overseas.

Distant lands have long called to the young and unencumbered. In the 1960s and 1970s, recent college graduates shouldered backpacks, shoved rail passes in their pockets and, armed with youth-fare tickets, headed off to open their minds to new experiences. Their destinations read like an itinerary of self-discovery: the capitals of Europe, the islands of Greece, the mountains of Nepal.

Today, a shrinking world with better communications has propelled a new wave of young people abroad - this time with laptops instead of bedrolls.

For this new generation of expats, career advancement, not cultural exposure, is the bottom line. And the corporate world is welcoming them, finding in this new demographic group a cheap, skilled, flexible work force with no family strings attached.

"We are seeing a new younger work force, more mobile, with more of an international mindset than 10 years ago," says Nino DiVito, head of human capital at Ernst & Young U.K. "They are better prepared for international life."

While there are as yet no firm statistics on the number of single professionals between the ages of 20 and 40 choosing to work abroad, international human resources executives are unanimous that the number is steadily increasing, especially in the information technology and business management sectors.

One reason, experts in global mobility say, seems to be a well-documented move toward short-term and project assignments and away from the traditional long-term expatriate assignment, which is usually held by a middle-aged manager sent abroad with family on a full benefits package for two years or more.

According to the 2004 GMAC survey, Global Relocation Trends, the number of overseas assignments lasting less than one year jumped from an average of 13 percent to 70 percent in 2003. Almost all of the companies surveyed cited cost concerns as the reason for shorter assignments.

Although senior managers still make up the majority of overseas assignees, young, single employees are poised to benefit from the trend toward shorter postings, according to Lisa Johnson, director of consulting services at Cendent Mobility, relocation consultants in New York.

Not only are singles cheaper to send overseas, she said, they can usually be ready to take up their assignments on shorter notice.

"Young people are at an advantage over the general pool of people, dual career couples or people who have elderly parents to care for," Johnson said. "They are much more flexible."

The relative advantages of experience over youth are narrowing, experts said, since advanced communications means that young managers can be in close contact with headquarters. Senior managers, therefore, feel more comfortable sending young employees further afield.

Young graduates are also benefiting from the trend towards localization, which has been building in the global business community. Young people from across the globe are now being tapped for positions at headquarters with the understanding that the youngsters will then return to their home countries and work on a local salary.

Young workers, for their part, are quick to snap up these opportunities. With companies increasingly going global, international experience is increasingly valued at all levels of management.

The competition to get international work experience is "fierce," said Margaret Malewski, 30, the author of "GenXpat: the Young Professional's Guide to Making a Successful Life Abroad."

Born to Polish immigrants to Canada, Malewski grew up in Montreal and returned to Poland to study, then worked in Switzerland and Israel before moving to Vancouver.

"Nowadays, people at all levels of a company interact with international colleagues and customers," she said. "International competence is required at all levels, including young recruits."

Some young professionals seek work abroad because that is where they are most comfortable. The children of expatriates who have relocated numerous times, they have come to crave the excitement of changing cultures. After graduating from university in their home countries, they head abroad again at the first opportunity.

"I have no wife, no house. All my stuff fits into a garage at home," said Dan Tompkins, 27, an American engineer who came to Berlin just over a year ago to work in the jet engine division of Rolls Royce. "There's no better time in my life to do this."

But while people of all ages are often lured by the prospect of jetting between foreign capitals, the reality of living abroad "unaccompanied" may be less glamorous than it appears at first, Malewski said.

Young singles may be free of family complications, but they also lack the support system that family brings. Learning a new job, setting up house in an unfamiliar land and learning to navigate a new culture entirely on their own can broadside young professionals, she said.

In her book, Malewski describes her first days as a marketing manager for Procter & Gamble in Geneva, returning to an empty fridge after 12 hours at the office.

"I went straight to bed and slept until morning," she writes. "This scenario repeated almost daily for well over a month."

Not surprisingly, loneliness and burnout can become the companions of young overseas workers, especially those who spend most of their time on the road. Those engaged in project work might move as often as four times a year, Johnson of Cendent Mobility said, with little time to explore the culture around them or form social networks.

"Unaccompanied expats on short-term assignments tend to work longer hours with no social network to support them," Johnson said. "We tend to see higher levels of stress and illness" in this group.

Albert Lin, 30, a public relations executive with BenQ, an electronics company based in Taipei, concurred.

"People work a 12-hour day without a blink of an eye," said Lin, who travels one week out of four. "The stress is definitely there. When it comes time to settle down, this lifestyle won't work for some people."

Besides getting ahead, young road warriors tend to worry about the work/life balance. Making friends and forming relationships are a constant challenge, they said.

"These people are overachievers and their career is the drive," Malewski said. "Relationships kind of fall by the wayside."

Those who are lucky enough to be stationed in one place for a length of time often do manage to find friends among locals and the expat set. Expat bars and international churches are common meeting points; so is the Internet. One Web site called Expatcontact.com hosts get-togethers for young expats in Paris, Milan and Stockholm.

Tompkins, the American engineer in Berlin, said he was still struggling to "find a balance between personal and professional." In other words, he's still single.

After five months on a short-term assignment, he recently decided to accept a long-term posting with Rolls Royce Deutschland in Berlin on a local salary. Although he no longer gets expat benefits, the move has allowed him to settle into German culture somewhat and learn the language.

His first months were lonely, he said, but in time things started to change. He takes a German course and plays the guitar at the international Episcopal church in town.

"When you take a risk, that's when things start to open up," he said. "It's definitely improving."

[Jennifer Kirley]

There was a recent BusinessWeek article about this, describing the competetive benefits of a stint in, for example, India, in this increasingly global economy.

IMO, given that young Americans are, on the whole more ignorant in world matters than counterparts in other developed nations, I view this introduction to other cultures as a good thing.

And while the article mentions burnout over 12-hour says, I compare this against an apparent idea among our younger workers that work should be easy. Meanwhile, oldsters like me competed fiercely for a 60-hour-per week job because it was among the few around here that compensates well. Are our younglings getting spoiled?

Yes, I think it is a good thing. A growing-up process that may help build professional characters as well as skills IF these young people make good use of it.

[Kevin H]

- Jennifer tell me it isn't so, 44 can't be old. Because then 54 (my age this year) must then be ancient.

Funny how our perspective of age changes as we go through life.

[Jennifer Kirley]

Originally Posted by Kevin H

- Jennifer tell me it isn't so, 44 can't be old. Because then 54 (my age this year) must then be ancient.

Funny how our perspective of age changes as we go through life.

Old is a frame of reference when considering how different the work forces seem.

I am not old really, but I felt old when dealing with middle schoolers and their mental games. For sure that experience gave me perspective!

I am old enough to be concerned with age discrimination--except thankfully in my current job, youth would not be an advantage! I am the right age to do what I am doing now.