A Career in Your Suitcase 2: Everything You Need for a Career in On the Move [Paperback]

'I've recommended this book to expats, repats and domestic movers since the first edition was published in 1998. It is a small book that is absolutely packed with practical information (no excess baggage here) and advice that can be applied immediately, 'Paula Kugelman Expat-Repat Advisor/Consultant/Licensed clinical Social Worker.

This newly improved edition is an encyclopaedia of common sense advice on relocating a professional life and finding personal satisfaction along the way.

A Career in Your Suitcase 2 takes a hands-on approach to the plight of the expatriate accompanying partner, and indeed, anyone who wants a portable, flexible career inspired by their passio 'The need to continually adapt and adjust personal and professional skills, focus and asprations is not just a lifestye isseu, but one of marketplace survival. This book helps you to develop the tools and vision you will need to keep pace with tomorrow's dynamic and demanding workplace - and the insight into change and growth essential for happiness along the way,' writes Mary van der Boon about A Career in Your Suitcase 2. The author and her contributors are all well-acquainted with life on the move both as expatriate employees, accompanying partners and entrepreneurs. This book shares the secrets of such impressive combined experience and provides an inspiring read to anyone who wants to maintain a professional identity. This book, while inspired by expatriate experience, is of equal value and importance to anyone faced with a possible change of career. Perfect for those who are returning to work, have been made redundant or simply know they need to find a new way of working, this book will show you how to work with passion and discover what you most love to do. Packed with ideas and exercises, this book provides the inspiration that will let

Everything you need to know about creating a portable career
Written by expats for expats this book is the catalyst you have been waiting for. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Jo Parfitt is an acclaimed international journalist and speaker who, after a decade as a working expatriate wife, specialises in portable careers. Her sell-out book 'A Career in Your Suitcase' has now been completely revised and her free website www.career-in-your-suitcase.com was launched in April 2002. She is well known for her inspirational, interactive workshops on topics that include networking, finding your passion and making things happen. Past clients claim that her work empowered them to lead more fulfilling lives. Her journalism has been published all over the world and she is a regular contributor to many publications including Expatrium, The Weekly Telegraph and Business Woman Canada. In 2002 her work was published in Hobsons Career Guide for Women and she was recently employed as editor for Woman Abroa

Find your passion
Ever since the publication of Richard Bolles’ book, What Color is Your Parachute, people have begun to believe work is more than just a salary. Bolles writes both for people who are out of work and for those weary of work lacking in fulfilment and meaning. His book provides readers with the blueprint for a journey of personal and vocational self discovery.
Bolles recommends that we think of our work as the expression of our mission in life and he supplies us with many inventive exercises to help us identify the nature of this mission.
In the following exercises and suggestions you’ll find a mixture of activities and inspiration I hav picked up over the last ten years or so. Each has merit. Some ideas are of my own invention, some were inspired by other people.
Getting Started
It is not surprising that many people neglect the difficult task of self scrutiny. After all, where do you begin? How do you get started? How do you know you’re on the right track? And how do you keep yourself accountable for the results? Here are several suggestions to launch you on your own voyage of self discovery.
Buy a notebook
Prepare to do a lot of soul searching, thinking and writing. Buy yourself a large, lined notebook, preferably spiral bound, in which to write your thoughts and exercises. Choose a large one, about A4 or foolscap in size. Try not to succumb to doing this on a computer. If you want to be creative, it’s more productive to have a pen in your hand than a keyboard beneath your fingers. Computers use the left, logical, side of your brain. A notebook and pen will use the creative, right, side.
Make a space
Give yourself permission to make a space in which to explore. This may mean you have to give up something else in your life to provide time for your voyage of discovery. Ideas will only come to you if you have the space in your head in which to think and the space in your life in which to take action.

Practitioners of feng shui recognise the value of clearing clutter from their lives. Space clearing, clutter clearing and life laundry can help you to make the mental space in which to explore your dreams. Try to tidy your workspace at the end of each day, so that each morning you’re faced with a clear desk. Put your files and papers behind closed doors and remove mirrors from areas where they reflect clutter.

So, create yourself a mental and physical space to give a positive start to your journey.

Make a team
Self assessment is very effective when you’re able to talk with others who can provide perspective, balance and insight. Solitary self assessments may invite self delusion and frustration and the ‘finding out what you want to find out’ syndrome. We all need help in order to see ourselves accurately. Self assessment is an interactive process. When someone else is there to probe and challenge it stokes our imaginations and self reflection.
Recruit supporters who can be on your success team. Find people who will give you permission to find out who you are, and who believe in you. You need to be encouraged and praised. If your closest family members are not with you in this, then prepare for a rough but I hope not unbearable ride. Best of all, find some friends you know well, who can join you on the journey, and meet or send emails regularly to keep each other motivated and on track.
If you can’t build your own team of supporters, you should seriously consider hiring a coach or careers counsellor. I know from painful experience that I won’t go to the gym if I’m alone. It’s too easy to let myself off. Involving someone else makes it much easier to make a commitment.

You could always kick off with a Blue Sky Party. I use ‘blue sky’ to refer to those magical times when we discuss dreams and make plans with someone else. It’s a time for brainstorming - or ‘random-entry’ listings as it is now politically correct to call them. It is a time for ideas. But I also take ‘blue sky’ to refer to the blue sky that can emerge from the clouds, and the hope it brings. A summer’s day, with a blue sky above, is something many of us, particularly the Northern Europeans, long for. Divide the time you have available by the number of guests you invite and take turns to blue sky with each other.

Make a start
Take that first step. Start doing something right now, even if it is only for half an hour. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Be realistic and do what will work for you. But start now. Once you begin, and you see patterns and insights emerging, you’ll find it hard to stop.