The Foreign Service Journal, March 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2019 87 in Prague, appreciates the independence an outside career gives her: “Women, in particular, forget it’s okay to promote themselves. When new people ask what I’m doing, I say I run a communications company. I find they take me more seri- ously if I leave it at that.” Julia said: Get your partner on board— her husband Paul was “a prime dish- washer and baggage carrier.” “I toldmy husband, ‘I’ll go with you anywhere in the world, but I have to have something for myself,’” says Beth Hoban, a talent development consultant currently in Manila with clients such as Pfizer, Heineken and the Asian Development Bank. “Your career absolutely needs to be a prime factor in bidding,” she advises. “Make your requirements clear: an English- speaking business community, access to high-speed internet—whatever you need to increase your chance of success.” Prioritizing both partners’ careers takes some compromise, but it has its own rewards. “For the first 10 years of our mar- riage, we took turns,” says Jessica Hayden, a corporate attorney. “We moved first to wherever was best for his job and then wherever was best for mine. This meant we bothmade sacrifices. But we were also able to get those early foundational experi- ences we needed.” Whenmy husband joined the Foreign Service more than a decade ago, I was a newmom, with one baby onmy hip and another on the way. I welcomed a break from the high-stress position I left behind when we moved to our first post. But I had invested a lot inmy career until that point. I still wanted tomake a contribution—and be rewarded financially for it. So withmy husband’s support, I began to designmy own work-life path, and never looked back. “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure,” as Child herself said of her work. “You’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” So let’s get cooking! n Prioritizing both partners’ careers takes some compromise, but it has its own rewards.