anyone retrained and found a new career (or at least a job) overseas?

[Muttonboon]

In 2 yrs time I should have enough time to work. I therefore have the chance between now and then to do some training. But what? I could do a degree/postgrad from the UK but to what end? I am learning German (where we live) so should i just keep going with that? realistically I cannot see me being fluent and therefore able to get a job requiring German, so I am looking at INnternational companies.

I also will need to work part time so that restricts things.

This is an opportunity to do something completely different but it is hard to know where to start.

Any experiences/ thoughts would be much appreciated.

Here's where to start

• What are the major sectors in which the international companies near you operate? e.g. If you want to work in English in Hong Kong, it's mainly banking and law. In Basel it would be pharmaceuticals.

• What did you used to do and do those skills match the opportunities available?

Thank you Richman. Could you share your experience?

I was in Finance but do not want to return to that.

I have worked abroad as an English as a foreign language teacher where I didn't speak the language and as a translator in countries where I did speak the language. Now that dcs are at school, I need more flexibility so retrained this year as a swimming teacher. I own my own company, work 3 days a week that fit in with the dcs, earn more per hour than translating and love my job! I live in a hot country with lots of sun, lots of private pools and lots of babies whose mums need them to learn to be independent in the water.

I meant to add, as rich man said, find out where the demand is and what you want to do. There is a huge huge demand here for swimming teachers ..... I decided that I'd had enough of working in a office so that was out for me. Can you make a career out of something that you really enjoy? Living abroad is a great opportunity to reinvent yourself....

One big up-and-coming market in Germany right now is teaching English to young kids, either in groups after school, or even more popular, going into nurseries (Kindergarten) and teaching there during the daytime. If you are teaching in the nurseries you would need very low start-up capital and have low overheads. You could either get a TEFL qualification, and/or become for instance a Helen Doron accredited school. NB: I have no connection to Helen Doron, but a friend has a school that runs under her name and he's making a real go of it.

And if you wanted to expand you could go into the 'young sector' training market generally - yoga, typing, etc.

Mutton Happy to share but it's not especially typical. When I live in the UK I was a equity research analyst for a large fund manager. When we moved overseas I quit and was a trailing spouse for a whiie, then had my son. Over the years, as well as my paid job, I'd done various things in the charity sector- been a trustee of a London charity, been a volunteer treasurer/ admin bod for a charity in the Middle east, done some consulting on a few projects looking at philanthropic funds etc. Anyway, when my son was 15mo, an opportunity came up to go back to my former employer but work for their foundation rather than on the investment side, so I'm doing that now.

I did have some challenges trying to get an English only jo in the fiannce/ investment side because most other candidates spoke English/mandarin/cantonese and were prepared to work for less than I was.

My sister also lives here. She is a TEFL teacher in a Local Kindergarten and she tutors a few hours each evening which effectively doubles her salary.

Thank you for your replies. I think TEFL is a good place to start - I sometimes feel doing something is better than doing nothing. I wonder whether thinking about my skills is better than trying to solve the problem by looking for one, possibly long, possibly expensive course.

It would be nice to have a highly flexible, highly paid job :) but I have to be realistic and part time work is unlikely to pay very much and I would only like to work mornings. I would enjoy working for a charity.

I think just getting your confidence to stand up in front of people would be a good start.

Getting my confidence - need to brush up on my english grammar :)