One of the consequences of increasing cost of living pressures in Australia is that many Australian expats today aren’t prepared to come home unless they have a job – either one they bring home, or one lined up for their return.
The financial impact of not working for an unknown period is, for many, too big a risk to take.
Expats who are coming home with kids in schools, to care and be closer to family or to transition to retirement are now very sensitive to the cost of ‘getting the move wrong’. The changing financial rules for many expats around wealth transfer and capital gains tax are also impacting move considerations.
When InSync did our expat survey in 2022, 30% of respondents said they would only come back if they had a job. Based on discussions I am having now; I predict this percentage will rise when we repeat the survey later this year.
The employment market in Australia has changed. Work was relatively plentiful and flexible during and immediately post COVID with the pandemic disrupting how we work, where we work and Australia’s international migration. The uncertainty that COVID created also meant that more Australians were willing to take the risk of coming home without a job – and take work when and where they could find it. Back in 2022, 54% of expats who came back to Australia without a job found a job within three months.
But the landscape has shifted. Costs of living pressures, housing shortages, rising unemployment, and a workforce where the pendulum of power is swinging back to the employer from the employee means the first career move back in Australia for many expats has significant financial and personal consequences.
How to approach securing a job before you get home
We have profiled a number of Australians who have come home with jobs in various seasons of Boomeraging: from expat to repat including Adam Malouf from our current season and Jacinta Reddan, Prue Clarke, Shane Masters, Andy Whitford and Jan McGrath from previous seasons. Here is what can be learned from their success securing roles and career moves before jumping on a plane back to Australia.
Understand and balance your motivation for returning home
Most successful expats don’t come home with the primary driver of ‘furthering their career’ in a traditional linear sense. Most will admit they are returning for other factors such as kids, sick and or ageing parents or lifestyle. They recognise that they are balancing a tension between these drivers and their career. Honesty and recognition of this supports emotional aspects of a transition. It also influences an expat’s willingness to take a job outside their planned career trajectory overseas. This may see opportunities secured sooner.
For some, this has meant taking a role which on paper looks like ‘a sideways’ step initially, such as Jan McGrath’s experience. For others like Andy Whitford, it means changing to an organisation overseas that could eventually provide an Australian-based role.
Take control
None of the most successful career stories have ‘got lucky’ with a random LinkedIn or Seek job ad. 80% of Australians overseas have never been approached by a local recruiter while living overseas. If you want to come home, it is unlikely a job will find you, you need to find the job.
Success will come from taking time to understand Australia’s current landscape, creating a plan, getting feedback and starting to engage with the local market. This takes time. Nearly 60% of expats we surveyed in 2022 said they were taking one year or more to prepare to move home. Prue Clarke and Jacinta Reddan are examples of expats who allowed time to plant seeds and wait for the right opportunity to make the move back home.
Ensure clarity
When you are motivated to come home by factors other than a job offer, it can be easier to deprioritise what you are looking for in a job. This makes it hard for the job market, hirers and recruiters to match you with a job. One recruitment firm I work with says a common mistake expats make is thinking that recruiters are career coaches – they are not.
The Australian job market is generally slow and risk adverse. Which means you need to have absolute clarity on what you are looking for, what is a good fit for you and what you bring to the local job market.
Ask not tell
Successful expats are curious. They spend time understanding the market in Australia and time developing an understanding of how their experience is and was perceived by relevant networks. Sometimes it can be uncomfortable to hear feedback that the local market doesn’t understand or value your international experience however expats who embrace this feedback and work on how to overcome the challenge of adapting their international experience to a local context do end up finding opportunities faster.
Get BBQ ready
Australia is a small market, and you never know who you will meet at a BBQ. Having a succinct, one sentence elevator pitch about who you are what you are looking for can be so useful in a small market in Australia where not only does everyone seem to know everyone, but Australians generally want to help. Trena Blair was one such expat-repat that had the next step in her successful career unfold via a random conversation and her one sentence pitch.
Getting your one sentence, however, can take months of thinking.
Build networks early
You don’t have to wait until you are home to start building local Australian networks. Podcast guests Adam Malouf and Jacinta Reddan built Australian networks while overseas via international Australian entities like AusCham and local AICD chapters. Others used holiday trips home to find and target recruiters and hirers in their industry. Be deliberate, be clear and succinct about what you are looking for and be curious about the market and you will find networks open.
Don’t know where to start? InSync hosts a free webinar once a month designed to give participants relevant market insights and a practical framework for managing career transitions. Click here for the next webinar
