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You are here: Home Life in Blogs & photos Why Expatica readers go abroad
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22/05/2007Why Expatica readers go abroad

Why Expatica readers go abroad Expatica survey shows Expatica readers to be an adventurous group with a contemporary perspective.

Analysis of Expatica's questionnaire 'Are you a hero or a heroine?' which looked at what motivates expatriates to go abroad in the first place, shows  that Expatica readers are an adventurous group with a contemporary perspective.

Firstly, we'd like to thank all the readers who took part in this survey, which was compiled and analysed by the UK-based Cranfield School of Management, and give you a taster of the results.

Expatica readers are adventurers 

The majority of responding Expatica readers - across all Expatica country sites which includes Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain - were 'self-initiated' expats, people who were driven to travel by a quest for adventure, a desire to improve their language skills and to broaden their horizons.

The rest were 'classic expats', primarily motivated by career advancement and money. Although the participants were a fairly equal split of men and women, significantly more men comprised the company-initiated group.

Both self-initiated expats and classic expats said that working abroad was likely to enhance their career prospects but the self-initiated expats were particularly focused on achieving a holistic lifestyle, getting a balance between their careers and life.

A contemporary perspective

An interesting finding was that the self-initiated expats reported obtaining far greater clarity of work goals than the classic group, although initially they often took on jobs in the new country which were less challenging than the job they had left behind in the home country.

This connecting of the work-self and non-work-self by the self-initiated expats shows a contemporary perspective, something which is also reflected by the fact that companies are finding their expats increasingly selective when they are up for a posting abroad.

Expatica will release the full details of the report over the next few weeks.

 

Read Expatica reader Barbara Black's comments to this report:

 Expatica readers are adventurers? Come on!

A ‘pioneer’ to Holland in the sixties, a reader recounts her experiences back then – in what her children call the 'middle ages'.

 

22 May 2007

Natasha Gunn
Editor
Expatica Netherlands

Want to reply? Send your email to editorial@expatica.com

 



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