Have you always dreamed of living a true adventure? Have you always wanted to travel the world and discover new cultures but you are stuck working? Here is some good news! You can do both at the same time! Working abroad is the experience of a lifetime you’ll discover new cultures, new people, and new ways of doing things. You will also become more self-confident and more self-reliant! To make this experience unforgettable here are a few tips you should take into account before you go for it.

Know the best destination for you

Deciding to change completely where you’re going to work can be a little frightening. What is the best place for you? It is important that you know what will suit you better for leaving conditions. For example, maybe you had an excellent time on holiday in Puerto Rico, it might not, however, be the perfect place for you to live. Therefore, doing a bit of research about the climate and culture differences will help you determine where you will feel more comfortable! If it is possible, go and see for yourself how is the atmosphere, what are the people like and get a feel for your future town before you make a move. Loving the place you live in makes your experience abroad so much easier!

 

Know where to look for your dream job

The best thing would be to look for your future job from back home! And in order to find the perfect match before you are gone you have multiple options;

Don’t hesitate to post on social media

Sometimes social media can help you find a position in a new country really fast! Maybe your girlfriend’s cousin knows someone in that country you are targeting. Maybe one of your mum’s friends has a son who is living in that same country. You never know and it can only bring positive outcomes! Even if people from your social media can’t directly help you they will for sure give you great tips from their previous experiences.

Check specialised websites

There are millions of expats across the world and therefore there hundreds of websites dedicated to them. Then there are many websites dedicated to helping those who want to leave! Not only will you find many job proposition made for expats but also will you benefit from the experience of the others. They will advise you, and gladly help you with any questions since they probably went through the same process as you. Most expats will gladly share their experience!

Look through the local job board

There is nothing better to find a job where you are going to work than to follow the path a native would follow. It will help you find a job faster and one that isn’t reserved for expats so that will help you discover the culture and the country on a wider scale. If you want to know what is the best job board per country you can check Jobboard Finder, which is a partner of StudentJob IE. It will help you find out which Jobboard is the most used per field so you can easily find the best proposition for you.

Get your papers in order  

Before leaving your country for great adventures, you need to know all of your papers are in order. Once you will leave as an expat and you work in a different country everything will be more complicated. Therefore, when you decided that you wanted to leave, the first important step is to know you will not get in trouble in the middle of your stay because your ID has expired and you do not have any valid documents. So make sure your ID and or passport are valid, that you follow all the procedures to get a work permit, and, if applicable, a visa…  Also make sure to bring with you, along with identity papers, degree certificates, references, resume, resources, police checks and everything you need for your visa: your actual visa, bank statements, anything that proves ties to your home country. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to prove who you actually are! Pro tip: upload a copy of all of your important documents to your computer (put them in your cloud, Google Drive) so that you can retrieve them a lot more easily.

Health insurance

Every country has its own system for health insurance and in some countries, the medical bill can be extraordinarily expensive (especially in the US for example). So before leaving make sure you are covered by your own social security or find out what you are entitled to. In some countries such as France, health insurance is an obligation. Know what procedure you should follow in order to abide by the law.

Taxes

When you are moving abroad you don’t immediately think of taxes but the tax system is, like health insurance, unique for each country. So before leaving you should make you sure you filled all the right papers. There is probably an international agreement between your home country and where you are going. Find it and follow the procedure to be sure you will only pay one set of taxes!

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