S1/E23: #A Career in Your Suitcase - How to Create a Career Anywhere with Jo Parfitt & Colleen Reichrath-Smith

Show notes

Did you leave your career behind when you moved abroad or did it get lost in transit? Are you stuck trying to figure out what's next?

This sounds like you're grappling with the challenges of restarting or redefining your career after moving abroad. It's common for people to experience a sense of loss or confusion in this situation, as they try to find their footing in a new environment, often without the familiar support systems or professional networks they once relied on. It's a major transition, and it's natural to feel like you're starting from scratch.

Culture Chat In this episode, Frauke and Marie-Christine welcome Jo Parfitt, a serial expat entrepreneur and Colleen Reichrath-Smith, a career consultant and coach for purposeful career transitions, to talk about their bestselling book "Career in Your Suitcase". The book introduces the idea of a "portable career" – one that you can take with you wherever you go. This might be a freelance job, remote work, or a career that allows you to work from multiple locations. It covers everything you need from finding your passion, to developing a brand, networking on and offline and marketing. There's also guidance on how to manage the unique challenges that come with a mobile lifestyle, such as cultural adjustments and building new professional networks. "A 'how to' manual for the career oriented person wanting to thrive wherever he or she may be living in the world.

If you're in the process of relocating or have recently moved and are looking to adapt your career to a more mobile lifestyle, this episode might be a valuable resource. It offers both inspiration and practical guidance on how to thrive professionally, no matter where you are in the world. Jo and Colleen encourage us to find a career path that aligns with our personal life and goals.

References

Jo Parfitt: Jo has been both an expat and a writer for more than 30 years, has written 32 books and mentored more than 300 new authors. She runs Summertime Publishing, specialising in books by and for people living overseas and hosts a writers’ circle and teaches writing wherever she lives in the world. Find out about her and her many online writing classes at www.joparfitt.com. Jo is the founder of Career in Your Suitcase, a concept first imagined in 1996 in Norway and now a book in its 4th edition.

Connect with Jo: JoParfitt.com, careerinyoursuitcase.com

Colleen Reichrath-Smith: Colleen has been supporting successful career transitions since 1998. She believes it is a life skill today to know how to navigate individual paths across occupational boundaries, international borders and through changing times. By applying a narrative, strengths-based and syntropic approach to her own international career transition, within two years she was delivering career training again, this time in Dutch. Colleen is co-author of A Career in Your Suitcase, 4th ed. and certified as a Holistic Narrative Career Professional. She designs and delivers group F2F and online workshops and coaches individual career transitions. Her latest career adventure is providing career coaching hikes in the Dutch hills near Maastricht.

Connect with Colleen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenreichrath/

Book: Jo Parfitt and Colleen Reichrath-Smith (2013): A Career in Your Suitcase - A Practical Guide to Creating Meaningful Work… Anywhere.

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