Is Your Kid's College Education Worth It?

Why your son/daughter's university may owe you an apology.  Here's the reason:  if there is no international component, i.e., time spent studying or working overseas, chances are they won't be ready for the new economy.

After speaking with Joanne Douds, Vice President of Development and Global Markets Prominent Properties Sothebys International Realty, she feels strongly that a university education may be worthless if your son or daughter is not exposed to diversity and work or study in another country.

We can no longer 'protect' our children from regions of the world that we may not understand, know the language or culture.  We cannot expect that our children will remain in the US and be as successful as we want and hope them to be.

The cost of university has become very expensive.  It's well known that the average student loan bill is now 6-figure debt.  Is this true for your son or daughter?  

The time is now to adapt to the new economy, to insist that your children receive a complete education.  We are laying out too much on the table for them not to have all the tools in their inbox to succeed.  

You need to insist upon:

1. Foreign Language (Spanish, Chinese, etc.) to near fluency;
2. Overseas assignment, for a period of six-months or longer if possible;
3. Some type of cultural immersion different from his or her own culture;

“We are all equal in the fact that we are all different. We are all the same in the fact that we will never be the same. We are united by the reality that all colours and all cultures are distinct & individual. We are harmonious in the reality that we are all held to this earth by the same gravity. We don't share blood, but we share the air that keeps us alive. 

"I will not blind myself and say that my black brother is not different from me. I will not blind myself and say that my brown sister is not different from me. But my black brother is he as much as I am me. But my brown sister is she as much as I am me.” 

― C. JoyBell C.

Nine Global Assignment Success Factors

There are some factors that facilitate a successful expatriation experience that workers can directly influence.  But then there are factors over which one has limited control.  Rather than focus on the problems that people experienced while on assignment, I would like to hone in on nine common traits shared by persons on assignment who enjoyed a positive experience.

1. Career:  Strong home and host company sponsorship for the assignment.
2. Career:   Invested in personal development and active in managing their own succession planning.
3. Career:   Rationale, goals and next steps after the assignment were well planned and articulated at the start.
4. Personal:  Handles unexpected challenges with calm resourcefulness.
5. Personal:  Strong level of emotional intelligence and strong intuition in working with others.
6. Personal:  Highly adaptable and flexible individuals who are grounded realists rather than idealists.
7. Family:  Uncomplicated and/or stable family situation.
8. Family:   Preschool children or young (and adaptable) teens.
9. Family:   Relatively unencumbered lifestyle, e.g, no animal menagerie. 

Some of these points cannot be easily influenced by the employee alone.  For example, certain factors like having to work out something like shared-custody of children has nothing to do with one's suitability for an assignment from a career/capability standpoint.  Personal factors are something that makes candidate selection so challenging for corporations.  Management, supervisors and human resources professionals, are required to focus solely on work competencies in candidate selection.

Do you have the right stuff?

Another factor that is beyond the control of an employee is being selected for the assignment in the first place.  Truth is, from my standpoint, nothing is more off-putting than someone who is campaigning heavily for an expatriate assignment.  There was a situation where an individual at one place I'd worked arranged their own interview for an assignment in a foreign office when there was no open position nor business rationale for an international assignment.  What a colossal waste of time for all involved!

Sometimes the best decision may be to not go on an assignment.  This is why I recommend open access to tools to help employees to make an early and informed decision about their own foreign assignment suitability.  Without access to such resources, countless hours are wasted on inappropriate candidates or failed assignments.  There are platforms available through most firms that offer cross-cultural training to run self-assessments to determine one's own capacity for an international assignment.  Avoiding one failed assignment could justify access to such a platform.

Three mindful suggestions in being selected:

• Assess personal and family readiness;
• If the timing is right, then make openness to international assignment known;
• Be patient for the right opportunity.

Remember that (like many things) offers of a foreign assignment is not something that can be made to happen if it's not meant to be.  And, if an individual is successful in pushing for an assignment that's lead by personal desire over true business need, then the justification will be too weak to sustain overall career continuity - if you know what I mean!

Expatriation Commando-style

If someone has a strong desire to work internationally, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this.  If that person is impatient for an international opportunity to happen, then my recommendation would be to look for open and posted positions at foreign offices in target locations.  If there is a good fit, inform management, apply, interview and, if offered, then accept the role as a 'local' hire.  Expect that the standard (rich/costly) international assignment benefits will not be included.  Among the many factors to be considered, the following should be anticipated:

• Relocation benefits may not be included;
• Nationalized pension schemes (e.g., social security) contributions will not continue;
• Prepare for double-taxation - no tax equalization benefit;
• Foreign work authorizations will have a time limitation to them, and options for permanent residency are often limited by the nationality of the employee and the country being entered;
• International school fees, language training and settling-in services would likely not be included in the offer;
• If things don't work out, the position is eliminated or immigration options are exhausted, there is no corporate sponsor to ensure a return role or to cover repatriation expenses.

As technology brings the world together and companies require those in leadership roles to have demonstrated global working experience, the number of assignments are only expected to increase according to a recent study by Towers Watson.1  I would advise people starting out to include some type of overseas exchange, internship or assignment to their early on in their experiential history.   The later in the career, the higher the stakes for the company and employee.

"Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power."
- Lao-Tzu

The Global Mobility Identity Crisis

Often, the international assignment function seems to suffer from an identity crisis.  I began to notice that colleagues managing this function seemed to vary in terms of the departments to which they were aligned.  Though each alignment presents it's own challenges, I would recommend each organization to look inward and examine if the international assignment program is located to best achieve internal goals.

"Self-portrait" 1861 Henri Fantin-Latour

Resourcing Alignment

I have observed cases where the global mobility program may belong, from a reporting standpoint, to the recruiting function as some of the tasks (e.g., relocation, immigration, on-boarding) seem to relate to bringing in talent to various areas within the company.  However some issues may be present with this alignment, for example:

• Separation from talent management and succession planning function:  resourcing is more concerned with filling gaps than planning next steps for successful candidates.  
• The tendency for recruiting to 'bend the rules' to attract a candidate could lead to more policy exceptions which in turn can make running a consistent program a real challenge.

Tax Concerns

This group is concerned with tax compliance.  Though this is an aspect of assignment management that is growing in importance, it is not the end all and be all.  Allowing audit-fear to run an international assignment program may be a 'safe' approach, this alignment may not enable a corporation to get the most out of its assignment program.  Instead of reporting to tax, or assigning a tax professional to the function - there should be a strong partnership to leverage the support-strength of the corporate tax function.

Reporting to Compensation and Benefits

Compensation professionals have an affinity for creating global alignment between job descriptions, and they may view the expatriate program as a series of perquisites or benefits enjoyed by an elite population.  Though this alignment will enable better connection to things like bonus, multi-year incentive programs, stock options and deferred compensation program - this alignment may lead to the expatriate function moving from strategy to more of an analytic support function.  

Connection to Talent

Though not often seen, I feel that the best alignment may be to the talent management function.  I feel that an expatriate program, at it's best, is a development program for the high-potential employees within an organization.  The talent group has a strong investment in retaining key talent and planning for key leadership positions within the organization through succession planning.  Often persons feel lost at the end of the assignment in terms finding a good fit for their next role (or worse, no role at all). 

Who owns the international assignment function communicates where the values of the company are focused in terms of the benefits expected from the global mobility program.  Consider the benefits of aligning to talent management and succession planning if developing and retaining key talent is your ultimate program goal.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
― C.S. Lewis

For more on the topic of global mobility alignment, check out this white paper written as a result of my collaboration with Mobility Services International. In the article behind this link there is a further exploration of the link to global mobility alignment and program goal achievement (see pages 5 and 6).