by Rick on September 2, 2010
Traditionally, as a western expat, you could expect to be flown out to your work destination and given a compensation package that would be the envy of your friends and family back home. That is no longer the case according to an article from AsiaOne Business. As the world economy deteriorates, businesses no longer feel they have to be as aggressive in recruiting employees. With so many people looking for work, a company can offer less and get more.
And so the traditional expat package suffers. The article states how housing allowances and relocation bonuses are either shrinking or disappearing altogether. What does this mean for an expat looking for a job? I think it means things just got a whole lot tougher.
You may have to move yourself to find work
When times were good, an expat could expect to move abroad to improve his or her salary and get a more senior position. Now moving abroad may be the only way to even find work. Obviously companies have caught on, and know they have the power in bargaining. That means you, the employee, will have to prove you are worthy of a job. It may even mean moving to the foreign country to find work. This is something I would normally not recommend, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
If you show a prospective employer your willingness to move yourself, you will be at an advantage to other employees. One way you can compensate for this dilemma is by researching to find the part of the world that has an abundance of jobs in your field. Since making the move to another country to find work is so immensely difficult, the research you do is absolutely necessary. Don’t simply pick a country that is a traditional center of jobs in your field. Find a country that has a growing economy and jobs in your sector. It may not be the country you had set your hopes on, but it will be a place with opportunity.
Will the pendulum swing the other way?
I believe this environment is a temporary one. While recessions always follow the boom times, eventually the boom times will return. Of course I’m not a market timer, so I can’t tell you when the good times (for employees at least) will come back. But they will come back, and when they do, you’ll be prepared with a job that may not be the exact one you wanted, but a decent job in a growing economy nonetheless.
by Rick on September 1, 2010
A very interesting survey/press release by HSBC has been picked up by Business Week and others concerning which countries have the wealthiest expat workers. Russia is in the lead followed by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. This is extremely surprising to me. I have personal experience with the expat community of Bahrain and I would hardly call it wealthy. I’m also confused as to what is defined as an “expat”. Do they count foreign labor from Asia that is generally poorly paid? The Business Week article I linked to notes that expat is not defined. That’s a huge oversight.
Certainly, there are many well to do expats living in the Gulf region. The Gulf states have a long history of importing almost their entire private sector, and many of the executives who live there are paid well. But Bahrain is well known for paying less than the other GCC countries generally because it is a poorer country and has a smaller economy with less opportunities. Surely Kuwait and Qatar and even the UAE would have higher salaries for western expats. Perhaps poorer expats from Asia bring the average down? I’m not sure. There are many poorer expats from Asia in Bahrain as well, though not to the extent of the other GCC countries.
So all in all, I’m not sure where this data comes from as it differs markedly from my own experience abroad in some of those countries. I have no familiarity with Russia, but I would imagine there are many high paying opportunities for westerners there as that country has considerable wealth. Generally the highest paid expats work in the mining and oil exploration industries.
I think there is certainly a need for these types of surveys. HSBC makes a lot of money offering expats banking and investing services. It behooves them to know where the wealthy expats are living. I’ve made use of HSBC while I lived in Bahrain and Dubai as I felt is a bank that is reputable, has decent service and most importantly is solvent.
Surveys like this will also aid an expat in determining where to go for the money. The Gulf will always be a place with opportunities. So too, perhaps is Russia. But right now this survey is inadequate as it does not define what an expat is, and I believe its information is inaccurate. Hopefully in the future a better quality survey will be produced giving expats a clearer idea as to where to go to make money and build their careers. It will be a tremendous service to the expat community and to business worldwide.
