Tag Archives: UK
You have moved abroad to take a fantastic new job. Great achievement! Is it time to congratulate yourself and focus on work and work alone or find a new personal development opportunity through school?
People attend executive study programs for different reasons:
- Get an elite school on the resume to improve career prospects or simply satisfy ego
- Meet likeminded professionals to network with
- Personal development: never stop learning
- Learn from professors who are not only academics but also practice your trade
- Finally complete the unfinished education gap by getting a shorter version of that MBA you never got to do
- Intellectual challenge
- Go through a significant career change
- Fill in the gap year
- Work is paying for it. Why not?
- Party and make friends like you are back in college for the first time (usually combined with one or more of the above)
For an expat, an executive study course in the host country can also help
- Get better adjusted in a new country
- Consider new career options if you are following a significant other to the expat location and do not have a work visa or a job planned yet
- Learn about careers and international adventures of fellow students who most likely are expats, have been expats or are considering an expat opportunity
Besides the field of study, key things to consider are
- Cost
- Commitment
Executive education does mean what it sounds like. It is a high quality product and hence it is expensive. It requires significant investment of money and time. Like with reaching any goal, plan and take actions that can get you there:
- Find out if your current employer will pay for it. Even if the company covers a portion of the program, it helps!
- Research scholarships. Yes, some schools may have subsidies for executive education programs, too.
- Be very clear on the time commitment required. Can you fit it into your travel schedule? How much reading is involved? What kind of exams and projects are you going to be faced with? What if you can’t make a session?
Once you have been accepted, fully commit to the program. If you were not the most diligent of students back in high school or university, now is the time to do it for yourself. You will get much more out of the experience if you dedicate the time required from both personal development and academic result point of view.
By Yelena Mackay
Follow on Twitter
Read more
My memories of International Women’s day over the years are a collage of completely different experiences.What were my past highlights?
Ukraine. Primary school: walking to a small market to buy flowers for my teachers, absolutely mandatory! University: getting flowers from students, having celebration drinks with my women friends, men always congratulating women, trying to do something special on that day.
- America. Despite the fact that the first National Women’s Day was celebrated there, getting blank stares when talking about the holiday to men. Certainly no flowers or gifts are expected. Feeling like a foreigner talking about an exotic holiday. Later discovery: lots of events to celebrate women’s achievements sponsored by both corporations and non-profits.
- Switzerland and UK. Pretty much the same as the US: unnoticed on a relationship or family level but events to empower and celebrate women are held close or on the day.
Was there one particular day that stood out? Not until this year.
2014 International Women’s day was nothing like I have ever experienced or expected. It was a Saturday at the end of my first week teaching business as a volunteer at Give a Heart to Africa in Moshi, Tanzania. There are two of us on site at the moment. Eva is a psychology student from Germany working here for a month before returning back to school. We have come here to work with Tanzanian women who are learning how to start a business, and working on their English to get a better opportunity in life through education. The center is free for all of the students and volunteer work and donations are critical. This year, a group of truly international women, inspired and organized by WHOA Travel, were climbing Kilimanjaro to summit on the 8th of March. What a way to spend the International Women’s day! They have made it their goal to support Give a Heart to Africa women’s school and efforts by raising money as part of their adventure. Two of our current students, Christina and Magdalena were invited and successfully climbed with WHOA travelers.
Eva and I spent the week teaching at the foothills of Kilimanjaro and talking about the brave WHOA Women and how we could make this year’s IWD memorable for all the students. It’s never too late to celebrate women so the following Monday, we got to meet at school and deliver a presentation about women’s rights, equality, the history of this holiday, its modern meaning, and where in the world it is observed as a holiday.
It was amazing to have all WHOA Women on site with us. We finished the morning splitting into small discussion groups to talk about women’s rights in Tanzanian society, what our students would do differently when they raise their children and ideas that they have to help women make progress. This was such a unique opportunity to learn more about women’s rights in Tanzania and compare with many countries around the world.
2014 is added to my bank of International Women’s day memories as something that is hard to live out better. It could have only been improved by joining the climbers at the summit on that day.
By Yelena Mackay
Serial expat. Founder of Moving Without Shaking Ltd
Follow on Twitter
International Women’s Day Image Credit
Volunteering abroad is no longer reserved for those who can dedicate 2 years to Peace Corps, recent graduates or retirees. If you haven’t been following the developments in this area, you will be surprised to find out that volunteering abroad as well as voluntourism have completely gone mainstream. In many emerging economies, non-profits have set up an amazing variety of projects that are fueled by the energy of those who just graduated and are looking for their first work experience, adventure and opportunities to see the world before they dive into their professional careers. Whether you are a doctor, a teacher, a marine biologist or still soul searching and have no particular professional experience, somewhere in the distant corner of our planet your free time can be put to good use. Not everyone can afford to have a full gap year. Many organizations are catering to those who just have a week or two to spare.
If you are a careerist who can’t imagine disconnecting from your paid work, climbing the ladder and pushing yourself to the next achievement, there are many great reasons for you to join the students, recent grads and retirees volunteering abroad movement. Until recently, I was one of you. Unpaid work- you must be joking! I can barely have time to have a vacation. Thankfully, my current residence is in the UK, so I did get some good amount of paid holidays each year. When I quit my job running commercial operations at a software company last year, I had 2 immediate goals: finish my book on expat and life abroad success and go volunteer in Tanzania. I am writing this on the way to my first project site in Moshi and contemplating why this feels like the best decision in my life.
Why should a careerist sign up to volunteer abroad?
1. Have a purpose for your gap month/year.
It’s hard to just quit a job and relax. The reasons you are a workaholic or hmm… careerist are rooted in your desire to be busy, involved, useful, perhaps feel important, and successful. Time flies unbelievably fast whether you are gainfully employed or taking a break. If you planned to have just a few months off or even a year, it will be over before you know it. Don’t find yourself having regrets when that long thought- after break is over and you still “haven’t done anything useful”. Donating your time and knowledge to those who truly need it is mutually rewarding. Do something meaningful with your break!
2. Get out of your comfort zone.
If you are a careerist, chances are you have done reasonably well for yourself. Your job is challenging. You feel like you have made a lot of progress. You generally have been in control of your career and your choices. May be that’s why you have become somewhat rigid in your views and too comfortable? Imagine letting go for a period of time: having no control over exactly what your assignment is going to be, being flexible, figuring out local rules and how to do a lot with really little and mean it.
3. Learn something new and do something for the first time (again).
You have travelled a lot for your job. Nothing can really surprise you- so many relationships have been built, problems solved, numbers met, and exciting places seen. If you weren’t an adventurous backpacker growing up, chances are, there are still a lot of new places and ways of adjusting to them that will be exciting. What about a new language? Fine, you already speak 2 or more European languages. How about Swahili? What better way to share a new culture than full immersion into the local language?
4. Make new friends.
When was the last time you made a new friend? Not a networking buddy, or useful contact but a friend? This is your chance to meet new people, both locals who you will help and other volunteers. This shared experience will certainly create new bonds.
5. Find the new YOU.
There was a reason you wanted to have a “gap”. Being away, learning new things, meeting new people, changing the familiar pace of your life, doing something meaningful will put you on track to discover that reason. Who do you want to be when you come back? Were you on the right career track? Did it give you the satisfaction you hoped for? Is it time to consider what your true passions are and follow them? New career, back to school or on to a new business venture, or may be, the career was right, and the new employer is all you need to find YOU again.
Next few months I will be spending in Moshi and Zanzibar working in education programs aimed at empowering women and children. I will be sharing my learnings on this blog.
By Yelena Mackay
Serial expat. Founder of Moving Without Shaking Ltd
Follow on Twitter
Read more
