Are You An Ex-career Woman Living In A New Country?
|
Were you once a successful, professional woman who had a significant status level and received adequate remuneration for your work?
Have you re-located to a new country where the educational degree you worked so hard to achieve is neither recognized nor considered valid?
As a result, have you now settled for a job for which you are overqualified and living paycheck to paycheck?
If you once had a successful professional career and answered yes to the above, you probaby understand how frustrating it is, to be unable to practice your profession in a new country.
The decision to immigrate to another country is a courageous act which involves leaving everything that you know and everything that makes up who you are. It usually means starting over, making changes and finding a new job or career.
As a skilled professional woman, you already have a unique combination of marketable skills and experiences, optimism about your future prospects in the new country, education, commitment and motivation to work in your field of expertise, language ability and a desire to learn new things expertise...so, it's really puzzling and shocking when you suddenly find yourself unemployed or unable to find a job in your field.
It is therefore important that you wake up from your slumber and do something about making your life a success.
To start making something of your life in a new country, you need to:
1. Stop being in denial.
Accept change and be ready to change! Your past successful life is always going to be a part of you and no one can take that away from you. However, the rules of the game in the new country may mean that you may no longer be the successful, lawyer, doctor, CEO or professional you once were.
As painful as it may be to accept?don't spend your days talking about who you were in the past and dwelling in the glory of your past success. Don't live in denial any longer than you must. Accept the fact that your circumstances have changed and start looking for constructive ways to make the best of your life in the new country.
2. Take a stand for your life.
When people move to a new country, they usually want to live in a place where they have some contacts, relatives or friends. However, some of these people you know, may have resigned themselves to living unfulfilled lives and may try to prevent you (by their comments or actions) from expecting more for yourself.
If you want to make a success of your life, you must take a risk, go against the negative majority, choose to be different and take a stand for a positive future. The decision to get out from among people, who will hold you back from doing something with your life, is worth it!
3. Don't lose your sense of self-worth.
Your professional occupation is a large part of your identity and an integral part of your life. However if you have settled for less and are now overqualified for your job, you may feel that the work you are doing is not a valuable contribution to society. As a result, you may start questioning yourself and feeling worthless.
You are not worthless! Find meaning and purpose in what you want to do and begin to pursue it with vigor. After counting the cost, make the decision to do what you have to do to make your life a success. Stop settling for less than you deserve, start standing up for yourself and for your dignity.
4. Stop being invisible.
If you were used to being recognized by members of your community who were aware of your professional merits, you may be feeling very "anonymous" in the new country.
If you were previously a highly active, social and professional woman, don't chose jobs that will relegate you to the back office and hide you behind a pile of meaningless paperwork. Look for a job that projects your social qualities and allows you to interact more visibly.
Find a career that allows you to fully utilize your skills. This could mean starting your own business, finding a new career, going back to school or finding means and ways to become actively involved with people in your profession in the new country or abroad.
5. Be informed about the work culture of the new country.
This may seem pretty basic but it should not be taken for granted. If you want to get ahead you must stop running around like a headless chicken and begin to familiarize yourself with the lifestyle, culture and work ethics of the new country. For instance, do you understand the work place terminology? What kind of transferable/employable skills do you need? Do employers require curriculum vitae or resumes? What is the academic equivalent of the professional qualification you hold?
Sometimes the hardship you are facing is not brought about by you as a person but by your lack of research on the basics. Make the adjustment easier for yourself by tailoring your life to fit into the new place and not vice versa.
6. Increase your social networks.
There is always a close connection between one's occupation and social status. When you are unable to transfer the occupation that you once held to the new country you now live in, you also lose social status. It is therefore important to have a network of people that you can trust and depend on.
You can have personal networks like friendship groups and social organizations and also join and actively participate in professional associations, community networks and support groups that are involved with issues that interest you. These networks also play a useful role in combating the feeling of being alone in a new place and can also be good idea or lead generators for a new job.
7. Don't be complacent?do something!
Don't wallow in self-pity. Hold on to your dreams and your goals. Work steadily and take risks to achieve them. Persevere and be resilient. Do what you have to do, to ensure that you make a success of your new life.
Be strong! Although there are many barriers to be overcome in a new country, let not your spirit be tarnished. Look within yourself for the strength to move forward with your life. With a positive attitude, you will find that there are a lot of things that can bring you ultimate success.
About The Author
Caroline Jalango is a life coach for unstoppable women who are willing to step up to the plate and take a shot at living exceptional lives wherever they are. www.motivationzone.com
|
|
|
How To Negotiate The Best Salary And Benefit Packages
Salary and Benefits NegotiationOne of the most difficult aspects of job searching for many people, especially those who are just starting out or who are making a mid-career change, is actually the salary and benefits negotiation aspect. This is true partly because some people are just naturally uncomfortable with negotiation in general and also because they may not feel knowledgeable enough about the job market to be able to effectively negotiate for better pay and benefits. In other cases, certain job seekers may not feel confident enough about their talents and skills in order to attempt salary and benefits negotiation.For the most part, employers expect that there will be some negotiation regarding salary and benefits packages. Today, this tug of war ha...(related: Employment)
Job Layoff: Confronting Why Me?
Perhaps you saw it coming. The fall in company stock prices. The news articles about company troubles. Maybe it was just rumors on the production floor, or a creeping suspicion that orders had slowed down and there was no longer the backlog of work which had been a security blanket. Maybe it was the way management started to avoid you and private meetings were held without any communication issued afterwards....(related: Employment)
How To Get Paid More Without Being Pretty Or Good Looking
Guess what. The results are out they are ugly. Pretty people do get paid more money.It pays to be tall, dark and handsome... literally. A report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis suggests that good-looking people tend to earn higher salaries and get promoted more often than those with average looks.When compared to the average looking people:· Attractive people earned 5 percent more· Overweight women earned 17 percent less· Taller p...(related: Employment)
Has Adhd Put Your Career In Danger? 3 Steps To Get You Back On Track
"Roger, you must get those contracts completed for this month's sales and don't forget, we have a meeting tomorrow at 9:00. Don't be late again!"Roger was a super salesman, but he risked losing his job because he was too busy rushing from client to client to...(related: Employment)
Book Summary: How To Work With Just About Anyone
This article is based on the following book:How to Work with Just About Anyone"A Three-step Solution For Getting Difficult People To Change"By Lucy GillPublished by Fireside/ Simon and Schuster 1999ISBN 0-684-85527-5206 pages"I just can't seem to get along with this person!"Every office has that one difficult person to work with, who affects productivity due to a terrible attitude, chronic tardiness, or simply drives everyone else up the wall. Here is the answer to common problems in conflict management.Dealing with negative behavior, whether at work or at home, can be solved with three steps:<...(related: Employment)
Making The Best Of Yourself At Interview
You are just about to leave university You are just setting out in the job market You have a number of hurdles to get over before you have the job you have been dreaming of. You find the thought of an interview daunting. You want to make a good impression and succeed!Creating a good impression at an interview isn't rocket science. This article will help you face that all important interview with confidence.Remember most interviewers will have made their minds up in the first 2 minutes. Be on time, look the part ...(related: Employment)
Telephone Job Interview Preparation Tips
TELEPHONE INTERVIEW BACKGROUNDTelephone interviews are quite common in today's job market.They are offered for a variety of reasons including cost savings,screening of candidates and out-of-town applicants. To successfullynavigate the phone interview, it is important to have a solid gameplan in place for preparation.<...(related: Employment)
Job Search Lessons From The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is a game but, like sports in general, it offers useful life lessons that we can take with us . . . if we only look below the surface. As I watched the game, I saw a number of things. How many did you see?1. Winning is a team effort. The teams that make it to the game don't get there by accident. There are teams of planners and l...(related: Employment)
Best Strategy Using Internet Job Search Engines
Best Strategy using Internet Job Search EnginesThere are hundreds of Internet job search engines, from super job banks monster.com, careerbuilder.com, hotjobs.com to regional job banks, to job banks with occupational focuses, such as Dice.com. Job seekers can hardly exhaust all the job search resources, so we have meta job search engines which will simultaneously search several job board for the same job search criteria. One of the major mistakes common job seekers make is to search only the super job search engines. Admittedly more job openings are posted on the super job search engines, but in the mean time, the employers who use the supper sites will also receive much more applications for the posted position. A large portion of job bank traffic is generated by jo...(related: Employment)
Yes, Ive Had Gaps In My Employment History--what To Do About It?
Yes, I've Had Gaps In My EmploymentHistory--What Can I Do About It?1. Honestly, there is not a single personwho has not had SOME gaps in theirwork history. Anyone who says differentlyis someone who might not always tell thetruth.2. So, you, job seeker have had someemployment gaps in your career/work life.What to do? What to do?3. Sit down...(related: Employment)
site-map - Copyright © 2007 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved | Free Articles and Information | Employment