The Drawbacks of an Administrative Career Abroad

By Karen Riedel

A couple months ago, I wrote about working in university relations, a job that I consider to be the best in higher education. The fact that I work in Bologna, Italy, seemed to clinch my argument in the minds of many readers. "Of course she has the perfect job, she lives in Italy," seemed to be a common opinion on an e-mail discussion group for university editors.

I realize that it does sound exciting to be able to zip over to Florence -- less than an hour away -- for a day of shopping or to spend a Saturday marveling at the masked revelers at Venice's Carnevale. With the advent of Southwest Airlines clones for transportation and of lastminute.com for hotel reservations, a theater weekend in London is a heck of a lot cheaper and easier to get to for this former Texan than a similar trip to New York.

But there's a downside to this high life abroad. Here are some of the drawbacks you may want to consider before dusting off your résumé, much less your passport.

The Personal Price

Believe it or not, international study centers or American universities based abroad often have a difficult time attracting both faculty and professional staff members. I moved to Italy as a single person with a grown son back in the United States, but others have families to relocate, which gives many people pause before making such a radical change.

Consider what decisions you and your spouse or partner would have to make if you were offered a job in another state. What employment opportunities are there for the trailing spouse? Would my children be going to a comparable educational system? What are the neighborhoods, quality of life, and politics of my new community? What are the tax, retirement, health, housing, and transportation implications if I were to make this move? You would probably assign a certain weight and priority to these questions to help you make a decision. Multiply that weight a hundredfold if you were to move abroad.

In the first place, unless your spouse is master of the universe in his or her profession -- and that skill is desperately needed in your new country -- you two would have to win the equivalent of the academic lottery in order to find a position. Jobs for non-citizens, especially in Europe, are rare. So be prepared to live on one income or trust that your partner can cobble together a career fashioned on freelancing from afar or teaching English in sporadic and lowly paid stints. More than one faculty member or staff employee has returned to the United States mainly because career opportunities were closed to their partners.

If you have children, schooling is a huge consideration. Most of the Americans I know put their children in the Italian educational system, either private or public, and for the most part their offspring thrive. Others opt for the more expensive international schools, which are in the major cities throughout Europe. The operative phrase here is "major cities." The closest English-speaking school may be hours away or completely out of reach. Although it is a great opportunity, I believe, for children to be exposed to new environments and situations, think of how you would normally be concerned about relocating your children to a new neighborhood, introducing them to a new circle of friends, and finding activities for their leisure time, even in a move to another part of the United States.

The Professional Price

One of the reasons you change jobs is to move your career along, and to gain new experiences. In my case, I wanted to learn more about the different areas of university advancement, and I wanted to work for a private university (in this case, the Johns Hopkins University) after spending much of my career in public institutions. Although I enjoy the prestige bestowed by the mother ship, I am adrift from many of the advantages she offers my colleagues stateside. For instance, the development office at Johns Hopkins has so many career-building workshops that they print a booklet announcing the yearly offerings, none of which I am able to attend. And I am obviously out of the loop for staff meetings, social get-togethers and the daily give-and-take among co-workers that is so vital to understanding the culture of the university. In addition to the opportunities related to my profession, I also miss out on the extracurricular activities such as extended education, cultural events (in English) and -- as important to me, at least -- virtually free or deeply discounted access to the university track, pool, and weight room.

Let's say you accepted what you thought was the job of a lifetime in the country of your choice. You live abroad for 2 years or 10, but at some point you decide it is time to return to the United States. You go through the laborious process of job hunting, complicated by the fact that you have to rely mostly on online listings and must allow more time to get your résumé posted. Your references are scattered, and not necessarily a mere phone call away. Trans-Atlantic phone calls are still expensive, you must deal with a time difference of five to nine hours from Europe, and you hesitate to ask someone to call you back if you don't get them on the first ring. Of course, in these cases, e-mail can be a lifesaver, but even that method suffers from time-zone drawbacks.

By moving abroad you are also out of the loop -- except in rare circumstances and with wealthy institutions (let me know if you find one) -- in attending the regional and national conferences and seminars pertinent to your career. For development folks, your contacts are European (or Asian) based, and may be of little use to the interviewing university back home. Those of us in university communications have software programs to conquer, media contacts to make, publications contests to enter, all certainly doable in Europe, but much more difficult. And my media contacts in Italy don't have much relevance to most institutions back in the United States.

Although you may have a stellar résumé, more than enough experience, and the perfect cover letter, you need to set yourself a notch or two higher to get the interview. Any rational potential employer -- or at least the budget officer -- is going to think twice before springing for your plane ticket. Say you get the interview. You don't take a day or two of vacation to interview, you have to take at least a week. From experience, and from the other columns on this site, you know all too well the things that can go wrong on the way to the interview: delayed or canceled flights, coffee down your shirt, the onset of a cold, lost luggage. Now consider the complications of a trans-Atlantic (or -Pacific) flight and the jet lag you endure once you arrive.

All of these obstacles, of course, can be conquered, but consider another factor: having to defend your decision to leave the country. An acquaintance of mine has a job in development at a European institution. She decided last year that it was time to return to the United States, and was pleased to land an interview at an institution of her choice. "I packed my résumé and interview clothes with a certain smugness," she admitted to me. "I saw my experience abroad as giving me cachet that the other candidates wouldn't have." But as the day of the interview progressed, she realized to her dismay that her experience wasn't translating to her potential employees. "People kept asking me, 'What made you decide to move abroad?' -- some with envy and admiration, but others with skepticism or, at best, mild disapproval. I was definitely getting the latter signal more often than not," she said. And in the end, she didn't get the job.

In the best of worlds, you get the interview and you are offered a job back in the United States. The salary appears to be more than you are now making, but is it really? Ex-pats are largely excluded from taxes. You would have to factor in the tax implications of your new salary to make sure you are getting a raise instead of taking a cut. You must also consider moving expenses. Universities usually have some kind of ceiling, so you would have to make up the often considerable difference.

Living abroad can be exhilarating, life changing, and personally rewarding. It can also be frustrating without the usual perks of career enhancement, and it can be scary when you consider your options for advancement. Although I have made some audacious career moves, this latest endeavor is by far the riskiest I have taken. I knew some of the pitfalls going in, but others I didn't realize until I was on the job. So be careful what you wish for.