Expat Women November 2010 Home Page

Hi Everyone, We have just uploaded our November Expat Women home page (a little earlier than usual, due to the 1 November, voluntary, global Communication Shutdown to raise money for Autism groups in 40 countries).  We invite you to read our new November features, share them and tweet about them.  Thanks so much!

Success Story
Sarah Jewell
Managing Director, ALC Health
Former expat in Hong Kong, Sarah Jewell, is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of ALC Health – a successful international health insurance provider which services many expatriate clients around the world...
Read more...

Business Idea
EXPARTUS®
Chioma Isiadinso
Chioma Isiadinso, who was born in Nigeria, turned her admissions experience with Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard University into a new business: EXPARTUS®.  In 2008, her business followed her and her family to London...
Read more...

Expat Confession
International Adoption
Expat Women Girlfriend
My husband and I have been expatriates for some years now, living across four different continents… We are now ready to have a family and are seriously thinking about adopting from abroad...
Read more...

Job Search
Expat Job Search In The Digital Age
Lois Freeke
Job search can be a frustrating process, especially if you are an expat trying to find your way abroad and unsure who to approach for that dream job offer...
Read more...

New Book
Black And (A)broad: Traveling Beyond The Limitations Of Identity
Carolyn Vines
Experienced expat and blogger, Carolyn Vines, talks to us about her new book, in which she examines how life abroad transformed her concepts of race and culture, and what it means to be a woman of color in the world...
Read more...

Successful Blogging
5 Steps to Planning a Successful Blog
Annabel Candy
Learn from Annabel Candy – a serial expat woman and a blogger who, as a result of her blog, was unexpectedly flown recently to Shanghai by Coca-Cola to offer her advice on social media...
Read more...

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Not A Member Yet?

Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters.

To receive our newsletter later this month and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site ExpatWomen.com, and also receive your link to our free e-book of Winning Stories!

Thank you very much and best wishes for a sensational November! Andrea

Expat Partner Support Is Crucial When Families Are Posted Abroad

Hi Everyone, Here is a piece from Global Connection that might interest you, especially if you are an expatriate partner or if you service expatriates and their families...

Expat Partner Support

"Partner support is crucial when families are posted abroad, and will only become more so over the coming years. That is the main conclusion of the survey that media organisation Global Connection had MonitorGroup carry out among its panel of expat partners around the world. The panel is a representative cross-section of Global Connection’s full membership of mainly traditional expatriates, although the ‘expat-light’ trend is starting to emerge. The expats surveyed were posted abroad by a total of more than 50 organisations.

The results of the survey show, first, that expat partners appreciate all types of support. We asked the respondents to rate a large number and a wide range of support initiatives, excluding those related to children and the actual move. These were rated on a 5-point scale: from insignificant [1] to very significant [5].

The average score for the 15 different types of assistance was 3.8. The scores scarcely vary, which means that the ranking order has only limited value.

The remarkably high rates alone demonstrate how much the importance of partner support has grown. Additional data serves only to confirm this trend:

• Expat partners have become a highly diverse group, but overall they tend to be critical, independent, generally highly educated (1) and typically, they were working on their own careers prior to their spouse being stationed abroad. The large majority of expat partners are still women, who would like to receive relevant information on which to base their decisions for creating an enjoyable, meaningful life abroad. Assistance in compiling that information is therefore a prerequisite for the success of the posting.

• The trend towards expat-light (2), which involves employees being stationed abroad for a shorter period of time or with a less comprehensive package of perks, also places huge demands on expat partners. Some stay behind with the family, while others who do go abroad are more or less forced to find work there in order to maintain their standard of living. In such cases, it is essential that the expatriating company or organisation provides support.

• Increasing numbers of expat partners undertake daily activities that are not, as in the past, primarily focused on the family. Global Connection surveys held in 2007 (3) and 2010 (4) demonstrate that over a period of just three years, the time that partners spend on non-family-related activities has soared by 34%. This, too, indicates a growing demand for support and information, among other things in looking for a paid or volunteer job.

ROI is hard to quantify

The above data takes on even greater significance when taking account of the fact that many dispatching companies have been taking a more critical look at their costs – including the costs of partner support – since the 2008 credit crunch. The problem is that the Return On Investment with respect to the costs of partner support is hard to quantify.

There are, however, good commercial reasons for taking partner support very seriously indeed. A number of these reasons are listed in the Brookfield Global Relocation Trends report (5), which was published earlier this year. The large quantity of statistical material in this report indicates, among other things, that 7% of all postings end prematurely. In another 7 % of all cases, the family returns home early, while the expatriated employee remains abroad alone.

Family or partner-related trouble is the main reason to return home for a third of the cases in which the employee and the family leave prematurely. For the latter 7% (family returns home, employee does not), the decision to go back often has to do with education, but the report also cites: “The real reason is often the fact that the family has difficulty adjusting.”

One must also keep in mind that many intended expatriations never even take place at all on account of the family. According to Brookfield, ‘partner and/or family’ is the main reason for a refusal to be stationed abroad in 83% of all cases.

The report refers to this solid, continuously reoccurring data, as a ‘challenge’ and further states: “With such widespread agreement about the nature of these challenges over such a long period of time, the lack of apparent success in addressing them is puzzling.”

Reprinted with written permission from Leo van Haaften of Global Connection, an international media company focusing on expats and their partners.  Special thanks to Expatica for alerting us to this article by sharing it on their site today as well.

Warmest regards, Andrea.

Expat Women: Can You Share A Story?

Hi Everyone, This is a call-out to all expatriate and repatriate women... Living abroad fills your treasure chest with a wealth of stories. We would love it if you could please take the time to share at least one of your stories with our readers in our stories section here.

We have around 300 reader-submitted stories in total (but not very many submitted this month) and we are always looking for fresh, interesting, well-written submissions. It is a really popular section of our site for our readers, so please, contribute if you can. We would love to hear from you.

Thank you so very much in advance! Andrea

Missed Some Great Expat Links On Twitter?

Hi Everyone, Here are some expat-related articles and links that I have tweeted about recently, that might interest you:

Expats: Looking for a way to shop conveniently from any US website? Check out our new Sponsor: US Global Mail! http://bit.ly/cNHNu2

Number of expat executives set to grow in next 5 years...? http://bit.ly/9tTjwe

Clements Receives 2010 Communicator Award for Expat Youth Scholarship Website http://tinyurl.com/2aln3t6

Many Expatriates - Many Voices - a study by Prudential: http://wp.me/p12mbU-1N

Did you move between 2008-2010? Take Association's PCS survey to win 1 of 2 $50 gift cards. http://bit.ly/PCSsurvey

Expat Focus 2010 Survey - Can You Help? http://bit.ly/boJleS

Use Social Media To Make Your Overseas Move A Success http://bit.ly/bUTocT

Worldwide ERC's October edition of Mobility now online http://bit.ly/cCxqXK

UK and US Expats wanted for brain mapping experiment at university in Beijing http://bit.ly/aigzbG

Global Mobility Summit - Presentations from New York Conference now online http://bit.ly/9zdRMM

Thinking of becoming an expat? 6 things to consider http://bit.ly/do1NGr

Interview with Robin Pascoe on Expats Radio http://almerimarlife.com/a-broad-abroad

FAWCO registration open: Morocco conference March 2011: American Expat Women & FAWCO Club members invited: Get 30 Euro discount http://bit.ly/bh4wRi

Expats in Vietnam? 101 Reasons To Love Living In Hanoi http://bit.ly/c9VXCw

Congrats Expatica! 4000+ visitors at their expat fair in Amsterdam http://bit.ly/cZlgeQ

To follow me in 'real time' and keep up with even more great expat links on Twitter, please click here.

Thanks for your support! Andrea

Expat Women October Newsletter Highlights

Hi Everyone, For those of you who missed our Expat Women October 2010 members' newsletter at the end of last week, here were the highlights:

(If you are a member and did not receive your newsletter, please email us here, thanks)

Success Story: Laura Stanbridge, Consultant, Marbella, Spain;

Business Idea: Jill Coyle, Imports Oriental, Beijing;

New Book: Thrive: 34 Inspiring Women who have reinvented their lives abroad;

Personal Branding: An Expat's Secret Weapon In The War For Talent, by Lois Freeke;

Expat Confession: An Affair Upon Repatriation, by our Expat Women Girlfriend;

6 Ways To Improve The Success Of Your Website: Insights from the SES Conference in Hong Kong, by Andrea Martins;

Expat Blogging: What's In It For Me? by Maria Foley;

Winning Story: Treading Water in an Ocean of Poverty, by Gabrielle (a Brit in Cambodia); and

Winner: The name of our Explorer Publishing mini-guide pack winner.

If you are not a member of our main site, ExpatWomen.com, please join today to support us (and receive a link to download our free Expat Women e-book "Winning Stories"). This will also mean that next month your newsletter will be delivered directly to your inbox.

Thanks Everyone! Andrea

Reminder: Léman Expat Fair in Lausanne, Switzerland, Sunday October 31

Hi Everyone, If you are living in (or planning to move to) Lausanne, Switzerland, don't miss this year's Léman Expat Fair at the Palais de Bealieu in Lausanne, on Sunday October 31, from 11am to 5 pm.

Over 100 exhibitors will be there to help you learn what services and providers are in Lausanne to serve the local international community. Including: professional services (banking, insurances, auto importing/exporting, tax advice, career coaching, business clubs and professional printing needs); sports camps for kids; adult sports and fitness clubs; language studies; driving schools; international schools and higher education providers; health, beauty and dental services; stress management coaching; real estate advice, house, home and garden services; home decorating; wine distributors and wine tasting; family lifestyle services; international social clubs; churches; entertainment venues and more.

Admission is free, so mark your calendar and go along if you can! Andrea

Expats: Married Executives Juggle International Moves

Hi Everyone, Last month, The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article by Joann S. Lublin entitled Married Executives Juggle International Moves. 

The challenges faced by dual-career couples on the highly-mobile expat circuit are not new, but they are ongoing and they are increasingly a roadblock for some couples when one member of the couple is offered the chance to work abroad.  So it's great that the WSJ devoted some space to profile this issue and hopefully it will raise some more awareness of the difficult decisions that dual-career couples face - especially when one member of the couple has to give up their career/job to trail their spouse/partner to foreign lands...

Thanks go to Danielle Dayries of Ricklin-Echikson Associates for sending us this article.  If you see high-profile articles like this about expat life, please send them here, anytime.  Thanks, Andrea.

Missed Some Great Writers' Links On Twitter?

Hello Everyone, If you are an aspiring or a professional writer, here are some of my recent writer-related tweets that might interest you, as you write your expat stories and/or you write for business or pleasure:

How Do Authors Really Make Money? Another brilliant, in-depth blog post by @tferriss http://bit.ly/b9y63r

Seth Godin gives up on traditional publishing? http://bit.ly/d9TYA1

Authors: Do You Have Various Editions Of Your Book? http://bit.ly/a9MhqK

Expat Focus podcast with British author in the U.S., Toni Hargis http://bit.ly/d6Sz8b

Tips for Announcing Your New Book Via Email http://bit.ly/aQ4qNj

11 Articles Full of Tips To Market and Promote Your Book http://bit.ly/cswjnA

Writers and Authors: A Self-Publishing Review of Lightning Source http://bit.ly/arIoth

Big welcome to Twitter to @Tonihargis, at long last, author of Rule Britannia http://bit.ly/a19RuS

Media List Checklist for Writers, Authors, Publicists http://bit.ly/bd6EvX

Tips For Writing Online Book Reviews http://bit.ly/9TI4wx

8 Reasons Self-Publishing is Entering a Golden Age http://bit.ly/cyDwi8

Writers: Thinking of Self-Publishing? What To Do When Your Book Is Not Printed Properly http://bit.ly/cCcQS0

6 Ways Authors can Profit from their Books “After the Sale” http://bit.ly/aiODzg

New authors and writers can display books for only £125+VAT at London Book Fair, April 11-13, 2011 http://bit.ly/9Bq8FU

Selling your book? Follow BEAExhibits for weekly updates for BEA11 http://bit.ly/a155b4

If you would like to follow me in 'real time' on Twitter, my Twitter ID is @andreaexpat, or you can just click here. Twitter is surprisingly easy, once you take a look. And I try not to overtweet.

Best wishes, enjoy your day/evening! Andrea :-)

October Edition of Mobility Magazine Online

Hi Everyone, The October edition of the Worldwide ERC® Mobility Magazine is now online and features the following:

Architecture of Strategic Talent Management
By Dean Foster and Lauren Herring, CRP, SGMS

The Global Mobility and Talent Management Partnership Opportunity
By Scott Sullivan

Talent Management Strategy Discussions in Asia
By Christine Wilson

It Never Rains in Seattle
By Ronald Huiskamp, GMS, and Kari Hamilton

Lending Regulatory Changes and the Effect on Transferees and Your Mobility Policy
By Karen Gerba

It All Adds Up - Expatriate Compensation Collection and Considerations for Consistent Program Compliancy
By Chris Pardo, GMS

Israel - Milk, Honey, and Natural Gas
By Tsvi Kan-Tor, Amit Acco, and Adam Greenstein

Rethinking ROI
By Ellie Sullivan, SCRP, SGMS, and Tim McCarney, GMS

The Mobile Workforce: the New Rules of Engagement
By Kathy Sharo

An Overview of Expatriate Housing in China
By Alex Chua, GMS

China Mobility: Understanding the Places, Policies, Practices, and People for Successful Relocation
By Avrom Goldberg and Lorraine Jennings

Effective Virtual Communication and Team Meetings with Your Chinese Customers and Co-workers
By Sheida Hodge

Awakening Giant - India’s Burgeoning Workforce
By Charlene Solomon and Sean Dubberke

Africa: Land of Exhilarating Contrasts
By Gene Edgerton and Nancy Ruth

Uncovering the Universal Qualities of an Effective Manager
By Robert F. Burch, SCRP

Three Steps to Managing Culture Shock
By Margarita Gokun Silver

Strategic Planning—Back to Basics
By Michelle Sandlin, CRP

If you are in the expat, global mobility and/or relocation industries, happy reading! Andrea

Expat Women October 2010 Home Page

Hi Everyone, Please take a look at, share and tweet about our new October Expat Women home page, which features:

Success Story
Laura Stanbridge
Consultant (Marbella, Spain)
Having moved abroad for her first job out of university, American Laura Stanbridge has crisscrossed the globe and now works as a consultant in Marbella, Spain, where she earned special recognition from the City of Marbella for her contributions...
Read more...

Business Idea
Imports Oriental
Jill Coyle
Four years after setting up home in Beijing, Jill started an import/export business that did so well that her corporate husband quit his job to join the company! In May 2010, Jill was chosen as the People’s Choice Entrepreneur of the Year at the Beijing Women in Business Leadership Awards...
Read more...

New Coffee-Table Book
Thrive
Ruth Kuguru, Lisa Blunt Rochester & Alejandra Guzmán
We talk to the ladies whose new coffee-table book Thrive tells the stories of thirty-four remarkable women who have built new lives for themselves and their families in Shanghai…
Read more...

Personal Branding:
An Expat's Secret Weapon In The War For Talent
Lois Freeke
According to Execunet, personal branding is now the number one career management tool used by executives worldwide. What does it mean to you as an expat overseas?
Read more...

Expat Confession
An Affair Upon Repatriation
Expat Women Girlfriend
My husband and I lived abroad for 15 years – in Amsterdam, Belgrade and Bangkok. We moved home 18 months ago, but my husband continued to travel a lot. Last month my husband told me that for the first time in our 21 years together, he cheated on me...
Read more...

Insights from the 2010 Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference, Hong Kong
6 Ways To Improve The Success Of Your Website
Andrea Martins
Sara Lander’s clothing design website was up and running and now the whole world was going to starting coming to see and buy her unique clothing designs. Right?
Read more...

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Not A Member Yet?

Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters.

To receive our newsletter later this month and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site ExpatWomen.com, and also receive your link to our free e-book of Winning Stories!

Thank you very much and best wishes for a fabulous October! Andrea