The intrigue of international assignments: if you're prepared, career advancement, leadership opportunity and a diversified experience can be yours

Black Enterprise, May, 1996 by Cassandra Hayes

ON THE REBOUND

Many companies claim to be committed to globalization but most don't take advantage of--or can't quantify--their returning employees' newly acquired skills, such as flexibility, diversity management and interpersonal growth. As a result, many expatriates remain on the international circuit for much of their careers or start their own businesses. In fact, 20% to 48% of expatriates leave their companies within the first year of returning from an international assignment, says Bennett.

In a Business Horizons survey of 135 repatriated employees, only 39% felt their firm used their newly acquired skills; a meager 29% claimed that the assignments helped their careers. Bennett says such post-repatriation dissent occurs because goals were not discussed before commencing the assignment, and most employers fail to properly re-acclimate their world travelers.

On the flip side, many employees who have been on overseas assignments assume that they are a special or "chosen one," and expect to be treated as such when they return, warns Bennett. "Instead, they come back and move right back where they were." With international assignments becoming more commonplace, few companies are implying that there is any career advancement on the horizon for taking one. But that doesn't mean the rewards are not significant.

Many African Americans say that international assignments have been the promotion they otherwise would not have had. For others, it's a way to escape the sometimes blatant, often subtle, racism and sexism here at home. Bennett recalls one black senior executive on assignment in China who remarked that "for the first time in his life he felt that his success was based 100% on his efforts and not on EEO."

Many whites get their first taste of racism when they go overseas, particularly in countries where they are the minority, says Bennett. When they return, many realize what minorities have been going through for years. Frequently, as a result, they become active in the diversity efforts of their organizations.

While it might take some time to see the payoff, an international assignment oftentimes spawns career advancement. Few know that better than Taran Swan, vice president of channel development at Nickelodeon International, a subsidiary of Viacom in New York, one of the world's largest entertainment and publishing companies.

In 1993, Nickelodeon sought to penetrate the German cable market. Swan, who previously worked in studio planning at Disney, was brought on as director of business development to spearhead international ventures. The Berkeley, Calif., native commuted weekly between New York and Dusseldorf, Germany, analyzing new markets, developing business plans and joint ventures and formalizing entry strategies for the network.

But last August, as completion of the project neared, Swan needed to be in Germany more often in order to finalize the operation. Weary of the 16-hours of travel each week, Swan took up temporary residence in London, Nickelodeon's European hub, for the last six, most critical months, of the launch. Instead of spending days on end in Dusseldorf, she now had a three-hour shuttle, two or three times a week, between the two cities. (Her husband Roy, an investment banker with Salomon Brothers, also got a temporary transfer to his firm's London office.)