Travel the World on the Company Dime
Today we have another guest blog post which I hope you will find useful, if you enjoyed this you can be sure to check out additional guest blog posts linked at the foot of this post.
They say “travel broadens the mind”. In my view this is certainly true when you learn to experience how others live. You likely come back with renewed appreciation of the comforts and familiarity of home. Or perhaps more radically a passion to emigrate! However I’m not sure a week on Costa del Sol sitting by the pool drinking lager and cocktails would qualify. Overseas holidays though can come with some expense so is there an alternative?
The world is an increasingly interconnected place and many employers offer opportunities for travel. Don’t be misled by the implied glamor though. Travelling “for business” can bring downsides such as time away from family and friends, long days and long nights, feelings of loneliness or isolation, tiredness and irritability bought on by poor sleep. Yet despite these it also offers some wonderful opportunities to visit places you may now have otherwise considered. I’ve had the delights of going to the jungles of Indonesia, the steppes of the Gobi desert, the outback of Australia, the salt mines of Cheshire, the rolling hills of Hobbiton in New Zealand, diamond mines in South Africa, the Great wall of China and the high Andes of Peru.
Travelling for work almost by definition means interaction with the locals….what they eat, what they do in their spare time, how they get to and from work and opinions on who is the best football player in world. All are quite fascinating but I concede I now know I’m not a big fan of eating sea cumbers, fish eyes, guinea pig or sashimi. Although teriyaki, empanadas, kangaroo, steamed dumplings and carmenere all go down a treat. To experience the traffic in Ulan Bataar, Manila or Jakarta can give a new appreciation of what we think are big problems in developed countries.
So if you have a sense of adventure how can you place yourself in the best position. Here’s a few suggestions:
Get a Passport and make sure is up to date
Learn another language
Tell you boss and your boss’s boss you are up for a challenge
Write Papers on your work and volunteer to present at Industry Conferences
Join and actively participate in Industry Associations
Contribute to company blogs and newsletters
Scour internal job vacancies for matching skills in other locations
Volunteer for secondments for project specific work
Develop unique skills that are not generally available
Don’t do drugs, a conviction for this will bring lots of limitations
Being out of you comfort zone in a foreign locations brings challenges but by golly it’s forces you to learn quickly and develop skills that will be marketable in your future career.
Other guest posts worth reading: