Review: Captivating advice for women working abroad

ByABC News
October 8, 2007, 4:35 AM

— -- Landing an overseas assignment is a lot like winning a role on Broadway: You'll be in the spotlight, the stakes are high and you darn well better know how to act.

Along with pressure comes potential for great reward, and good reviews can catapult a career. That's especially true for women, according to Get Ahead by Going Abroad: A Woman's Guide to Fast-track Career Success by C. Perry Yeatman and Stacie Nevadomski Berdan.

Yeatman, now a vice president at Kraft, grabs readers right away with her enviable personal experience. At 25, she was making $25,000 a year as an account executive when she took her first job overseas. Upon her return 10 years later, after stops in Singapore, Moscow and London, she was earning more than $500,000 a year. She tells of having an office off of Red Square, touring Bangkok with Margaret Thatcher, shopping in Istanbul and scuba diving in the Maldives, none of which would have happened had she stayed in the USA.

Berdan moved to Hong Kong the day after her wedding. She spent three years in Asia with public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller, leaving the USA as a 27-year-old vice president and returning as a global managing director.

Yeatman and Berdan combined their experiences with those of dozens of other women to offer thorough advice ranging from how to get an overseas job to dealing with culture shock and paperwork. They cover the personal side, too, including shopping deals and tips for those who bring "trailing spouses" (husbands) and children.

Gender stereotypes that limit women from being considered for overseas assignments still exist but are diminishing, the authors say.

Snagging the first international assignment is the hardest part. The right combination of professional or academic skills, perseverance and good luck makes it simpler, they say. Raise your hand for more assignments, make contacts with international leaders and network, they advise. Be sure everyone knows your desire to work abroad, including your immediate supervisors and the international players in your own organization.