4 tips on how to network when you’re moving halfway across the world
Before you even step foot on a plane, preparing to live and work in a country you’ve never visited is a little overwhelming. Living abroad is easily romanticized, but in fact takes a ton of tedious preparation. Usually people ask me what my living conditions are going to be like while that hasn’t even crossed my mind yet. I’m worrying about cultural sensitivity and language barriers. You have to strategically bring all of your professional resources and ideally make any important contacts prior to leaving.
A few decades ago, trying to make contacts in a place that is halfway across the world would be virtually impossible. The internet has made our world smaller than ever, and now it’s almost retroactive to not try and seek out people who have lived or worked in similar situations.
Tomorrow I start my 9,000 mile journey across the world to work in a country I’ve never been to as a volunteer in the Peace Corps Response Program. For the past few months I have been trying to find anyone who has traveled to Vanuatu before, through the Peace Corps or not, so I can pick their brains on anything from what to pack to gender roles to the best place in town to drink kava. I have a little bit of an advantage, having been in the Peace Corps before, I already have a very strong network of people who have worked or lived internationally. Here are a few tips that I find helpful on how to get as much information as possible while trying to internationally network so you arrive in country with a jumping off point.
1. Get the word out
I’m one of those people who doesn’t update their Linkedin profile with a new job until my first day. Unfortunately, when you’re trying to find people that share a very obscure commonality with yourself, you have to somehow put it out there. I reached out to Facebook groups, sifted through countless inactive and active blogs, even searched under the #Vanuatu hashtag on Twitter, to try and find people who were willing to talk to me about the country I’m about to live in.
Positioning yourself in already determined communities as someone wanting to learn about the shared interest, I have found, is one of the best ways to reach a large group of people who share the commonality you’re looking for.
2. Do your homework
If you do get someone willing to talk to you, don’t waste their time. Before even reaching out to these online networks, make sure to do your own research and have a good idea of what type of questions you really need to ask. These willing contacts are agreeing to go out of their way to help you, so making sure you have a base knowledge of the culture and history of the country only positions you to having higher level conversations with your contacts.
3. The internet is great but don’t be afraid to meet offline
There’s a lot to be said about a good mixture of the modern day cold call through social media and working your already determined networks. Don’t be afraid to hop off the virtual communication sphere and meet face-to-face. While the internet is convenient, there’s something to be said about meeting for coffee or even chatting on the phone to get a better stream of information.
I’ll start from the beginning with one of the most bizarre and helpful contacts I’ve made, because only then is it as surreal as it needs to be. When I lived in Albania I had two sitemates, which means two other American Peace Corps Volunteers lived in the same town that I did and were placed in different organizations. We supported each other in community initiatives, kept each other laughing during one of the coldest winters in Balkan history, and ate dinner together basically every night. These two guys are now considered part of my family. Now that we’ve relocated back to the States we span across continental America, Eric living in Los Angeles, Garrett in St. Louis, and myself in Raleigh.
Garrett called me not too long ago to tell me a story about how he randomly ran into another Returned Peace Corps Volunteer at a bar one night. She had just returned home from the Peace Corps and as the conversation progressed she told him she had also served in Albania. Crazy enough already, but this story gets better.
Come to find out, her roommate is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Vanuatu. So he not only randomly runs into someone who lived in the same Eastern European country that he did, but also someone who did the Peace Corps and has a roommate that served in the same country that I’m traveling to for the Response Program?
This is proof that the world is not only small but this entire interaction had nothing to do with the internet or technology. It was just one of those random colliding of worlds that couldn’t have worked out better if you tried to plan it. Her roommate then offered to speak with me on the phone to answer any question I had about the place that she called home for two and a half years.
4. Follow up
Once you’ve asked every possible question imaginable to your new contacts, offer something in return. While you’re the one seeking advice, you’re also in a very powerful position. You’re about to start a journey that your new contact has already finished. One of the reasons I agree to talk to trainees about to move to Albania is because I get to relive that time of my life, reminisce on what I wish I would have known before moving to Albania or helpful insight that I learned along the way. I get a chance to give advice about something that I feel so dear to my heart, that most people in my day to day life will never understand or be able to relate to. I made a contact through my thesis project in grad school, who I happened to remember served in Vanuatu. She’s already put me in contact with people who still live on the island of Efate.
Offer to take photos of places or people they mention when trying to help you build a community. Ask if there’s anyone they were close to who might not have access to the internet to still communicate with them. Most of my closest friends in Albania were people in their forties and fifties who are not in the Internet Kafes on Facebook everyday.
While building a network before you leave is proactive, it’s only the beginning. It’s a way to ensure a solid start to your time in your new country and have as much knowledge up front as possible before arriving. Of course, you’ll make your own judgements once you see it for yourself but it’s a great way to get started.
I will being posting on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, hopefully different content but no promises. These thoughts and pictures are mine and in no way reflect the views or opinions of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.
