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.
