We learned a lot from Covid pandemic, and one of the most valuable lessons was that for the most of IT and computer jobs there is no need for the office. And if there is no need to sit in the office, why just stay home?
For example, Serbia work permit it’s not so hard to get, but those rules and regulations vary from country to country. Still, lets explore what are the general advantages of working abroad, and those few minor disadvantages.
Advantages of working abroad
- You will get your mind expanded
When you live and work abroad, you will inevitably interfere with new cultures, languages and religions much more than if you are just surfing the internet and watching the National Geography channel from your home.
If you work abroad, you’ll work face-to-face and socially interact with people from different backgrounds and with different living habits.
Working in Germany or Japan, for example, can learn you how to function in a more disciplined and efficient environment, while working in Italy, Greece or Spain, can show you what balance between work and living truly means.
Besides that, being untethered from an office will give you the freedom to explore the country and meet new people outside of your work.
- You will be away from friends and family
Stay tuned here – this is still the list of benefits of working abroad, we cross our hearts! The fact is that friends and family create safe comfort zones, which is great for most of the time, but in the same time it can be rather difficult to challenge yourself and grow as a person in that kind of environment.
In new and unfamiliar conditions you have to work hard to get out of your comfort zone and create friendships and relationships from zero, without the history and all the residues you have at home.
And most important, relying on yourself for most of the time can do wonders for your character, confidence, and independence. That leads us to the next fantastic advantage…
- New and valuable life skills
Working and living outside of your home country involves a lot of boring administrative works, financial management and logistics in general. There is also a dozens of questions that comes to your mind when you decide to try your luck abroad.
How will i get my working visa? How long can i stay? How will i find a suitable accommodation? How will i bring all the things i need? What are the costs of living in my new home? Do i need dramatical change in my living and spending habits? And so on, and so on…
But in the same time, all this legal issues will challenge you to be resourceful and to learn valuable life lessons that you will remember for the rest of your life.
- Maybe you will start to love your birth home a bit more
Absence makes your heart grow faster and fonder, especially when you are far from home. Along with all the good things you’ll see and learn abroad, you’ll also experience the not so good things, while in the same time also appreciating a little luxuries and stabilities that had been available at home at any time.
You may also meet and learn from the people who may not have had the luxuries you did growing up. In the end, you will probably realize that you never needed certain luxuries, and thus switch to a more simple and less materialistic way of living.
During the same process, you will start to watch your home country with different eyes and probably develop a more critical view of it. You’ll begin to question everything that is out of the order in your home country, and if you plan to return, you can bring real-world expertise and practices that can help you make significant change back home.
- You will boost your CV and make it stronger
The richer your CV is, the more impressed the employer will be. Living and working abroad can significantly affect your future business career.
The new language skills you gained, or the international contacts you’ve made, can be the key thing that will set you apart from the competition and be a shortcut to your dream job.
Disadvantages of working abroad
- The costs of a fresh start
Every beginning is difficult, and when we talk about starting a new job, especially abroad, it will probably cost you as well.
In most cases, you will have to wait a bit for a first salary in your new job, which means that you will need to have some savings to survive the first month abroad.
- Nostalgia
Many people can experience severe homesickness if they are away from home for a long time.
Fortunately, there are little tricks that can make this loneliness more bearable:
- Arrange weekly video calls with those who mean the most to you
- Learn to enjoy independent activities – such as preparing a meal only to yourself, or binging a TV series in two days
- Keep your living space clean and tidy, because you never know when an unannounced guest from home might come by
- Enroll in a language course or go to the gym to meet new people and occupy your mind at the same time
- Foreigner forever
You learned the language, adopted a new culture and customs and have been living there for years, but in the end you will always feel different from the locals. Most people are very sensitive and polite to foreigners, but despite all that tolerance, you will always be a foreigner.
It is extremely important that you do your research on the customs of the country you are about to pack your bags for. Think carefully about what your life priorities are, what suits you and what doesn’t. If you do this task well, your only opponent will be yourself. (FOTO: Pixabay.com)