You might not know this about me but one of my besties Iris and I had the idea for Global People Transitions on a hilltop above Perth in 1996. I had just completed my research on an engineering company that assigned engineers on short-term projects to Malaysia, Kazakhstan and other countries without any support. My thesis revealed room for improvement in preparation, process, and policies. They also offered me a job right away but I wanted to return to Europe to be closer to my family and finish my German university degree.

In 1999 I finally landed my first official role in the Global Mobility world. Honestly, I did not have the required HR background at the time and the role was at least one shoe size too big for me. My assistant had a burnout after two weeks and here I was talking to expats who had been with the company for 20 years or more, who represented the company in remote places such as Colombo and who had families of six in places like Vietnam. I had done well in the interview, showed a lot of passion for international HR topics, and my future boss was probably desperate, so I landed my "dream job" which was to be the HR International Advisor for the Asia Pacific responsible for around 80 expats and representatives of a large global bank. The region was always my favorite as I had studied in Australia and learned a lot about different Asian countries and even studied Bahasa Indonesia for a semester or two.

I was about three months into the role when my manager paid for me to attend a seminar. I sat in the last row of the seminar room in a hotel in Berlin and ...was completely lost.

This seminar was a waste of money. My brain could not digest the very specific information because I hadn't handled enough cases yet. I am happy that at least I remembered when to apply the “183-day-rule* in a case of double taxation. A piece of half-knowledge that helped me a great deal many years later...when I noticed that many managers and HR colleagues have a total misconception of the "183-day rule".

We are NOT relocation professionals.
Global Mobility is often confused with relocation only. We often engage relocation professionals and we are aware that relocation is a critical component of the expatriate experience. However, apart from the exceptional emergency, we don't go househunting or shopping for an expat spouse. What we do is a different part of the process.

If you say you work in the field of "Global Mobility" a lot of people think you are doing the relocation or that you are driving taxis. In reality, we often compute the packages, we create a complex balance sheet, we clarify immigration, legal, tax and social security issues depending on various country combinations. We instruct providers, payrollers, HR colleagues in other countries and usually we are on 24/7. In my lectures, I tend to refer to GM Professionals as "eierlegende Wollmichsäue". 

When talking to other HR Professionals and Senior Managers they often underestimate the complexity of Global Mobility. One of the remarks that still makes me angry is when Global Mobility Professionals are called admin staff and when they are shoved into a Shared Services Centre because what we do requires an enormous amount of knowledge and a hard-to-acquire combination of skills. If you are one of my colleagues you probably share my view that Global Mobility Professionals have to be

• Highly analytical (you are a number cruncher, currency, compensation and cost expert).
• Highly technical (you are an expert on tax, social security, immigration, employment law).
• Highly experiential (you have to have moved 200 expats to know your job).
• Highly sensitive (you work with talents and their families in a phase of high stress).
• Highly intercultural (you speak at least four languages and deal with numerous cultures).

One of our challenges globally is that there is no formal Global Mobility education. As mentioned in my recent article in the International HR Adviser, Spring 2018, we need to build up our own professional standards while we need to learn to work more in line with the businesses and clients we serve. We need to step up and become real consultants. We have come a long way already and I wish to guide you further. Two immediate ideas for you:

1) Please contact me if you want advice on the upcoming Global Mobility Master Course at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Holland in collaboration with our cherished Expatise Academy. 

2) Sign up for the free upgrade of The Global Mobility Workbook, 3rd Edition (2018). You’ll also be the first to know when the book will be published.

3) Join our RockMe! Retreat in Lindau in Germany in November and get even better at what you do.

If you liked this post please share it with a colleague in the Global Mobility World.

Kind regards
Angie

PS: If you wonder why I am telling you a story that started almost 20 years I would suggest that you read my book. It all makes sense in hindsight...