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Why? Overseas recruitment to fill workforce needs is booming. Student
mobility is rising, actively promoted by universities and EU projects like Erasmus.
Both opportunity and the international student experience are leading young people
themselves to look for ways to live and work abroad. Yet what happens when one
leaves the structured university environment and is thrown into a junior position
in a foreign place? As a young person, you are expected to adapt to (rather than
change) the local way of doing things, and to perform as if you knew the new culture
and language as well as your local colleagues do. You may be offered a local salary,
even though your expenses may be higher than the locals' due to the cost of setting
up residence abroad, travel home on holidays, and buying foreign goods. Career
management becomes a greater challenge, as you leave home before gaining any real
work experience there, making re-entry problematic. On a personal level, you leave
the dynamic social setting of a university and find yourself in a demanding workplace
with no pre-established social life. As you succeed and get moved from one international
assignment to the next, how do you find a partner in a foreign cultural setting
and, when you do, how do you juggle two mobile careers? This workshop is for those who find themselves part of this new wave
of young expatriates. It is also for HR and intercultural professionals who wish
to aid the GenXpat in meeting the challenges of cultural survival and competence.
It fills a gap in application of intercultural theory and tools to the life of
the GenXpat so that "your culture, my culture" can become "our
opportunity" rather than "our disaster." Through guided group discussion, participants will look at the changing
face of expatriation, the factors to consider in deciding to become a GenXpat,
strategies for contract negotiation and international career planning in different
cultural environments, as well as methods balancing professional aspirations with
a satisfying a personal life 'on the move'.
’. Workshop
Facilitator: Margaret Malewski |
| Margaret Malewski is the author of “GenXpat: The
Young Professional’s Guide to Making a Successful Life Abroad”, published
by Intercultural Press. She works independently as a consultant to young, internationally
mobile professionals, and as a facilitator at the UBC
Centre for Intercultural Studies, in Vancouver, Canada.
She is also an Executive Member of SIETAR BC. Margaret’s interest in intercultural
issues began when she was growing up in Montreal and interacting with the English, French and Polish cultures. Her
decade of expatriation began in 1992, when she moved to Warsaw for her studies.
She took an active part in pan-European student organisations in an effort to
promote student mobility, foster the exchange of ideas across borders and help
integrate Poland into the EU. |
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Upon graduation, she joined Procter & Gamble in Geneva, and was responsible
for brand management and marketing in Lebanon,
Syria, Jordan and
Israel. Her book is inspired by the challenges she and her colleagues face
as they try to combine demanding international careers and cultural adaptation
with finding personal fulfilment. Who
should come?
Students and young professionals
interested in an international lifestyle (0-5 years experience). The secondary
audience includes HR professionals who would like to effectively recruit and retain
such young, internationally mobile talent and university career and student mobility
advisors, who are likely to be seeing increasing numbers of GenXpats in their
work (all levels of experience). |
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Price per participant will be €75. This includes coffee break but not
lunch.
Communicate
your questions
and expectations for this workshop directly to Margaret. Download
a short PowerPoint description of the workshop. Sunday
workshop in English Register
for this workshop now. If
you wish to stay at La Colle sur Loup on Sunday night, please book
lodging for the extra day directly with VVF La Bergerie. |
