Working Abroad

There was an interesting post on Get Rich Slowly recently about finding a good job in a bad economy.

The question that prompted the post is one that a lot of people around my age are facing: a recent graduate accepted full time employment at a job that makes her unhappy and isn't in the field she wants to be in. She's sticking it out for the time being because it's a full time job.

I understand where she is coming from: I've certainly had my share of jobs that were less than ideal. I do think, though, that sticking with a job merely because you have it won't get you much in the long term and is also hard on your mind and body in the short term.

Even in an uncertain economy, there is no point in staying at a job that really does make you unhappy. Yes, everyone who has a job is lucky to have it; but people staying in unhappy situations won't have good experiences to show for their next job. I have to be pretty happy at a job to give it my all, to work above and beyond expectations. If I dislike a job, I'll do the minimum required, which is fine for maintaining but not for advancing.

Other people recommended going to graduate school to ride out the economic downturn. The idea of going to school to get additional qualifications to ride out the downturn is not a bad one - but there are so many caveats to this plan it's hard to list them all. For starters: school is expensive; an additional degree may not result in salary increases; scholarship funding for schools are going down; tuition prices are rising; it's difficult to commit to work and school at the same time; and degrees might not advance your professional skills as much as a few year's experience can.

As someone who left their country for an opportunity for steady employment, I am obviously less tied down to my location than some other people. However, one option that I think too many people miss is this: An easy, lucrative way to ride out an economic downturn is to get a job abroad.

● It's easy to get a job teaching English in most of the world - and with most countries having pretty low costs of living, even if you have debts to pay off it's a viable option. Student loans can be deferred if necessary.

● If you don't want to be an English teacher, it's not difficult to find a comparably, or higher, paying job in another field. Most large businesses need someone who is an expert at English to work with documents, reports, public interactions, and so on. These jobs can be found in the country you want to work in or even as a transfer if your company has international offices.

● Leaving open the option of moving to another country opens up literally millions of jobs that you would not otherwise have access to.

● Living abroad can give you an incredibly valuable skill: the ability to communicate, and with effort, work, in another language. No matter what your field, there will be more options for a primary job and for freelancing if you can work in two languages.

● Working abroad gives you an easy resume talking point. An unrelated, but analogous example is that I have a cousin who applied to medical school, didn't get in, and became a mechanic in the year he had off. When he applied to medical schools the next year, with no other changes in his resume, he always had something to talk about: not many mechanics apply to med school! Now, there are probably more people living abroad than there are mechanic doctors, but the point is the same - having a truly unique experience on your resume will never hurt you in interviews.

In short, if you can't find a job or find yourself in a situation you hate, it's worth it to look beyond the confines of your town, region, state, and even country for a better fitting job that will open up more doors for your future career choices.

Photo by Balakov

Earn More While Abroad

I haven't posted in a while, for a variety of reasons - most of them fun, but a few annoying. A little over a week ago, my apartment got broken into and my old, worn, trusty dell laptop got stolen, along with quite a bit of my jewelry, my camera, and iPod, and with them a friend's possessions including her computer. Most of my things I don't care too much about, but my computer is how I talk to my family. Luckily, I was able to get a computer within a few days of the original theft.

Since then, I've been spending a lot of my free time earning extra money to help cover the cost so I don't feel like I've wasted my savings buying a new computer. With the economy how it is, it's getting more difficult to get extra work. At the same time, the dollar keeps rising, making that extra work abroad worth less. On that note, I thought I would share some websites, some of which I have used and some of which I have heard good things about, to earn extra money back in the US.

1. Demand Studios - A content writing website. To join, you have to submit an application with a writing sample. After approval, you can pick articles to write that generally pay between $5-15. You can also submit your own articles to write. I've been doing this for a few weeks and have found that it's becoming easier to knock out one or two articles in an hour. I've been making about $100 per week on this, though I'll probably settle into just writing a few articles a week. Payment is by Paypal.

2. GlobalTestMarket is a survey website I have had a lot of good experience with. It's a simple application and I get surveys an average of a few times a week. Each survey is worth between 30-150 points. Points are redeemable for cash at $.05 a point, with a minimum cash-out of 1000 points. It sounds confusing, but I've made $250 on this from taking surveys about once a week. I've also gotten to see some cool movie previews (such as 300) way before they came out. Payment is by check to your address.

3. ChaCha is a website serving a texting service. You will need to complete a test before you can work there. The test is not easy, but is doable if you can use Google searches effectively. Once in, you get between $.10 to $.20 per search. Searches range from topics requiring no research ("does Johnny like me") to ones that could test your quick-physics-solving-ability. You get to pick which questions to take. It costs $2 to get paid instantly or you can get a free online payment when you've made $100 - I haven't gotten to either point yet.

4. Caio is a website that won't get you rich, but will earn you a bit of passive money. It's a review site where people earn money based on the ratings and pageviews of their reviews. I wrote about 20 reviews for products that I loved, liked, or hated over a period of about a week and haven't touched it since. I've been earning about a dollar a week from it. Payment is by Paypal.

5. Shutterstock is a website that I have not had much success with given my inability to a good photograph. However, I have heard good things from people who use this as another passive income. If photography's your thing, it will be worth the effort. To apply you need to submit 10 photos, of which 7 have to be approved. I don't know much about payment through here, as I haven't earned anything but have heard good things about it.

To find a job that's in your field, try googling freelance [and your job interest here]. For instance, by searching "freelance writing", I found this site, where I've managed to get three small jobs - better than no small jobs - and have made $100 in three weeks. As a caveat, Paypal may charge some fees to get paid, but it's better than not getting paid at all!

Photo by Luismi1985

Foreign financial crises - job loss abroad

There was an interesting international news article in the New York Times yesterday about the droves of foreign workers leaving Dubai, which, like many other countries, is in the midst of an economic depression. Abandoning their cars and mortgaged houses, these unemployed or underemployed workers have been fleeing the country to escape from their massive, criminal debt that they have no way to pay off.

First, as a caveat and bit of a personal story: this article highlights how lucky I feel to have stable employment. In my last semester at law school when I was planning to practice in Michigan, I started applying to hundreds of jobs. Each job, hundreds of other highly qualified candidates would apply as well (I am not exaggerating these numbers - after a while, the whole process became too defeating to continue). I soon realized that with many law students and seasoned attorneys in the same predicament, I would be better off looking in a jurisdictions where my skills would be a unique asset. I applied for a job in Istanbul and here I am, while many of my classmates struggle, nine months after graduation, to find a job. In a way, my flight was from Michigan, where my being a native English, US-trained, jobless just-graduated-law-student would never set me apart from the hundreds of others vying for the same job.

But this article raises unique questions and challenges that I have little experience with for the expatriate employee. How deep are your ties to a country? How deep is your debt? It also highlights one of the benefits (and more unethical aspects) of expatriate living: sometimes, it’s easier to just cut and run and go back home, or somewhere else, than dealing with the impacts of your financial woes. This is obviously not to advocate that, but is certainly how many have reacted to the deepening global financial crisis.

If you are thinking of taking on debt in a foreign country, do you know the debtors’ laws? In Dubai, for instance, failure to pay bills is punishable by jail. I’m not planning on acquiring any large debt like a mortgage or house payment any time soon, but this really does highlight the need to speak to a qualified, educated individual before taking on any sort of major debt in the country. I would never have guessed not paying bills could land me in jail, and I would hate to have to face the book-it or be-booked dilemma that many in Dubai are now facing.

Finally, it also, of course, highlights the need to have an adequate financial cushion to help ride out the bad times. This is something that I myself am still working on, thinking that problems like this will never happen to me. It’s easy for me to think my job is secure; I could go anywhere. And, though the people in this story were in the wrong place at the wrong time, hopefully other workers, foreign or domestic, can learn from their unfortunate stories. I've always planned to build up a safety net sometime in the 'future', but articles like this drive home that future should be now.