How Do I Move My Family Overseas Mid-Career?

June 18, 2012 5:33 AM

How can I/we find a job out of the country now that we're midway through our careers (snowflakes inside)

I'm an American graphic designer with a background in education and training, my husband is a video producer. We both have about 10 years experience in our fields (and are in our early 30's). I would be (more than) willing to change fields for this move, my husband would prefer to stay in a closely related field.

How can we find a job that would take us overseas for a few years? We have one young child, so PeaceCorp is out. We would be okay with only one of us working, at least at first, if we could afford it. If one of us got a job what would the other need to do to legally work after the move?

Is it better to try and find a company hiring here who would move us overseas or would we need to pick a country/region and start applying over there? Are there countries that are more ameniable to Americans applying for work? I was thinking Europe, but I'm open to suggestions for other regions, the only caveat is that because of the child they would need to be stable and reasonably safe.

I grew up moving as a military brat so I like the lifestyle of moving and living elsewhere but I have no understanding of how to do it on your own. I would be willing to train for a different skill set if that would make me more marketable - but I dont' have any idea how to find the kind of careers that I should even be looking at for something like this.

Any advice/anecdotes/suggestions welcome.

posted by dadici to Work & Money (2 answers total)

Try DOD. Always hiring. Plenty of overseas gigs. Family friendly, and need your skillsets and you don't need a new language to get hired. Plus your former status as an Army brat might help.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:40 AM on June 18, 2012

Try USAjobs.gov, the federal government hiring website. This is where all of the overseas federal jobs are. You'd be surprised what's out there. My dad was a therapist (now retired) and he and my mom traveled the world when he worked on military bases. It was an awesome experience. Now, due to goverment pension and Social Security, they make as much now, as they did when they were working.

Applying for a goverment job is completely different than applying for a private sector job. Get a book that details this information for you before applying and then prepare to wait (and wait, and wait.) Once you get a job, prepare for the time of your life. Free move, free housing, free utilities and commissary and PX privilages.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:43 AM on June 18, 2012