The Foreign Service Journal, April 2012

22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 1 2 including France and Japan, that (at least in theory) allow spouses and partners to find local jobs. The Family Liai- son Office recommends that in those countries, spouses first secure employment offers, then host-government work permits, before starting work. You risk getting in trouble by doing otherwise. No bilateral work agreements of any kind exist with four large Asian countries, however: China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. FLO’s director, Leslie Teixeira, says she sees little prospect of Beijing or Jakarta changing its position, but she’s more hopeful about Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, State has continued to implement its Global Employment Initiative, which now has 17 advis- ers who offer guidance on finding local jobs to family members at 65 posts. The program gets mixed reviews from participants, however. FLO also acknowledges that a partnership with the U.S. headhunting firmManpower Inc., aimed at providing on-the-ground support and job placement services for eligible family members, has proven less successful than hoped. In seeking work on the local economy of a foreign country, spouses face all the usual hurdles facing job- seekers anywhere, as well as others arising from their sta- tus as Foreign Service spouses. The chief barriers are a lack of language proficiency and an inability to commit to long-term employment. Sometimes businesses are in- trigued by the idea of taking on an American employee for a short-term stint, but oftentimes the other factors preclude it. Security and safety concerns, as well as the low wages paid by businesses in the developing world, can also act as disincentives for Foreign Service family members. For all these reasons, the number of spouses working on the local economy remains small: just 665 in 2011, ac- cording to FLO. Of these, 179 had positions with local companies; 416 worked in education, which continues to be the most prevalent source of outside employment; and 70 landed jobs with nongovernmental and international organizations. The Role of Serendipity Foreign Service family members who have made it work, like Diane Holt, say there are things one can do to distinguish oneself from other potential candidates: learn- ing the language, studying the country’s history and pur- suing positions in niche markets where your skills or U.S. background are all desirable. But Holt, who has practiced law in Prague and handled mergers and acquisitions for an Italian electric company — all while accompanying her Foreign Service spouse overseas — says there’s “a lot of serendipity” involved, as well. When Holt moved to Prague in 1993, the country was rapidly changing following the fall of communism, and her U.S. legal background proved appealing to potential employers. She ended up joining, and later managing, a legal and consulting firm in which 80 percent of her col- leagues were Czech or Slovak. Several years later, in Italy, Holt parlayed an informa- tional interview with an executive she’d met through a mutual acquaintance into a position as an in-house coun- sel for the country’s electric monopoly. She was one of only two foreigners in a large headquarters office. As with any job search, contacts and networking mat- ter. In 1987, Ann La Porta found work in New Zealand much as Holt did. “My husband, Al [who was deputy chief of mission in Wellington], happened to sit next to a lawyer at a meeting who was looking for someone to re- place a lawyer in a railroad housing case. He volunteered me,” she says. Later, La Porta continued to work with a Maori lawyer she’d met through that case. When La Porta couldn’t find paying work, she built up her network by volunteering. In Sumatra, for exam- ple, she worked with the local university to help set up a legal aid department. And in Mongolia, she helped es- tablish a shelter for women who were victims of domes- tic violence. “I made it my job to meet the people in the country who were prominent members of the legal pro- fession,” she recalls. Teleworking Though it is not yet a major source of employment, teleworking with firms or government agencies back in the U.S. offers perhaps the greatest potential. Last year, FLO says, 129 family members teleworked from overseas. FLO Director Leslie Teixeira recommends that spouses who are hopeful that their U.S. employer will allow them to continue to work from abroad prepare their case well. It’s much harder, she says, to convince a brand- new employer to bring on a teleworker, especially from overseas. Though telework continues to carry a stigma in many offices — the notion that working from home is not re- ally work — there’s plenty of evidence to help aspiring F OCUS