Tuesday, August 09, 2016

The downsides of being an expat in Australia...

For Gigi Foster, the move to Australia was not as smooth as she expected.

“I almost needed a translation guide when I got off the plane,” says Foster, a consultant and academic who emigrated from the US to Sydney. “I was used to being forthright in meetings. That works in the US, but how you interact with your work colleagues in Australia is very different.

She migrated to the land down under several years ago after working her way through university posts at Yale and Maryland. She jumped at the chance to take up a position at an Australian university, where she is now an associate professor. “Many people told me that Sydney was all about the beach and surfing” she said, “but it’s not. It’s about putting in the hours and hard word in a new culture that seems similar, but works in subtly different ways. It’s not an easy transition.”

She moved to Australia hoping for both a lifestyle change and a move up the career ladder, like thousands of professionals who have headed to Australia, drawn by its sunshine and beaches. For many, the move is part of a lifestyle change, to a continent which is often viewed as an easy place to work and live. However, many migrants have found the working culture starkly different to what they expected. Full story...

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