A Career Overseas for UK’s Talented Unemployed Graduates

The Governor of the Bank of England has finally confirmed what many of us were fearing, that this recession is the worst that the UK has experienced in its modern-day history.  Not only that, but it is going to take even longer to recover from this slump, and higher numbers of people are going to face unemployment.

Jobless figures for the 16 – 18 year old age group are already shockingly high with one third of people in this age bracket reportedly out of work, whilst the jobless total in the UK has risen to 2.44 million.  As the long forgotten images of queues trailing out of job centres are reappearing on the TV and in the newspapers, it’s a very worrying time particularly for recent graduates and young people about to embark upon a career.

However, there’s nothing stopping Britons from seeking employment elsewhere – so what about a career overseas for UK’s talented unemployed graduates?  A series of recent reports and surveys finds that employers find would-be employees with international experience to be of high value to an organisation, and that in certain nations Britons do exceptionally well in the local working environment.

We’re not for one minute suggesting that it is going to be easier to get a job abroad than it is in the UK…however, just as there are some jobs available in Britain, so there are some available internationally.  What’s more, if you’re a talented graduate who is skilled in a specifically in-demand area such as medicine, finance or IT, there are consistently jobs available for such graduates.  CTPartners, the ‘performance driven’ executive search firm has stated that increasingly they’re seeing talented graduates taking their very first placement abroad – in locations such as Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai, Russia and in the still emerging economies in Eastern Europe.  These are all areas where skilled and well-trained international staff are highly in demand.

And international graduates needn’t think they’ll be starting off on the bottom rung of the salary ladder either!  In a report from the New Zealand department of labour, Britons and Irish immigrants aged between 25 and 54 work their way into the highest earning brackets in the nation.  In countries like Dubai and Qatar, the tax advantages boost an expatriate’s salary too – and those who make the very most of their time abroad and embrace the offshore investment options available to them can find that a spell working abroad can benefit them in multiple ways…

They gain the experience of working in an international environment, they learn new skills for adapting to life in a new nation and culture, language skills may be developed upon or gained…and when expats take advantage of the fiscal opportunities available to them, they can return ‘home’ with enough in their pocket for a deposit on a property or plenty towards their final pension income.

The fact that the UK is in recession and there is rising unemployment particularly affecting the younger sector of society is a tragedy – however, if you’re prepared to look hard and consider working abroad, you could find that you benefit far more from an international placement during these tough times.  What’s more, by the time you’re ready to return to the UK workplace, the worst of the recession could be over, and you could well find that your internationally sourced skills and experience put you head and shoulders above the competition who have remained jobless in the UK.