Preface

The purpose of this book is to help you help yourself in the process of deciding whether to accept and then prepare for an overseas assignment.  My method is primarily Socratic. I will not provide many sources or answers (because they change, get out of date, and are not the same for everyone). Rather, I want to help you prepare and educate yourself for this assignment by having you ask the right questions-in case you didn't know them to begin with. I hope to make you aware of some of the questions to ask yourself before you go, while you are there, and before you come home; I want to help you gather information and take appropriate actions; and I plan to comment on how to hold on to some of the funds earned during your posting.

It is difficult to ask the right questions if you don't know much about the subject, yet knowledge is invaluable to a wise decision and a successful outcome. Forewarned is forearmed. Many individuals have personal- and career-enriching experiences overseas, while others would rather forget the bad times abroad. Some multinational companies do much to enhance and support their employees who work abroad, while others do no more than provide a ticket for the expat and family. The costs of a failed assignment can be very high in terms of career, finances, and personal life, so careful thought before accepting an international assignment followed by thorough preparation before you go are clearly worth the time and effort involved. This book is intended to guide you through this process.

In this book, I'll give you a list of things to do, questions to ask, and decisions to make. What you do with this resource is up to you. Success overseas is often the luck of the draw-sometimes these assignments are smooth and sometimes they are hair-raising. Your particular job abroad could be extremely smooth or conversely, you may find yourself in an office cross fire and severe down draft wondering how everything went wrong and how you found yourself in this predicament. Having made overseas trips for many years, I have seen Americans of all types-tourists, business executives, students, those in the professions, lost souls-in all kinds of situations and predicaments. However varied the faces, though, one observation has remained consistent: A positive attitude and adaptability go a long way in providing smooth sailing on a journey through different cultures, languages, and countries. Flexibility seems to be an important ingredient in many success stories. Change, along with the unexpected, will probably be part of the foreign tour no matter how well-prepared you are for the journey.

I have spent considerable time in one-on-one interviews and data collection in order to write this publication and would like to thank all those who took time to share their experiences, thoughts, and recommendations. It would be impossible to try to thank everyone by name without the fear of not mentioning an important contributor. To all of you (you know who you are), many thanks.

A note on the use of gender-specific terms is also in order before I begin. In this text I sometimes refer to the expatriate as "he" and "his family." This use of gender is entirely a matter of writing style, as referring to "he or she" throughout tends to read awkwardly. Let it be clearly stated here that the expatriate can be of either gender and so can the spouse or partner.

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