GenXpat: The Young Professional's Guide to Making a Successful Life Abroad

By Margaret Malewski

Book Overview

This book is designed to help the young and internationally mobile embrace the opportunities and challenges of an overseas assignment while still holding on to the personal fulfillment they need to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1931930236
• ISBN13: 9781931930239
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: UNKNO
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.1" x 0.7" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Short and simple survival manual for young expats

Author Margaret Malewski has a clear thesis and works hard to prove it. She contends that Generation X (that's Gen X, born between 1964 and 1981) expatriates have distinct needs and concerns that differentiate them from previous generations of expatriates. Malewski provides a fairly comprehensive survey of the issues that most expatriates encounter on their sojourns abroad. She pays particular attention to those affecting younger professionals, especially relationship and romance issues. This is one of the few books about expatriate life that addresses, for example, the problems encountered by co-habiting partners and the sensitive issues of cross-cultural dating. Some of her conclusions may seem a bit obvious to the internationalized Internet generation, but we acknowledge that her warnings about culture shock and career challenges are well informed. This book certainly could be helpful to those sheltered Gen Xers when they go overseas to work. The author proves that they have a distinctive problem - and having defined the issue, she sets out solidly to address it.

A very good start

This book is quite a good start for anyone preparing for a life overseas. I'm in the middle of such an adventure; this book and "Expert Expatriate" have both been most helpful (supplemented by region-specific titles, of course), specifically in the strategic planning - grasping the multitude of details, professional and personal, associated with such a move. It framed a lot of questions in the proper light for me, starting with my reasons and expectations for moving overseas, down to the details of how to maintain my personal relationships after the move. She starts each chapter with an anecdote or mini-case study to introduce the larger ideas - a really great balance between readability and information. It is geared towards readers younger, or without families to move, and is written by someone who grew up with the internet (avoiding the inevitable and ridiculous phrases one might find elsewhere, such as, "The Internet is a wonderful resource for information. Email is a powerful tool for the traveler.") A good book for planning an overseas move, especially for the younger generation. See "Expert Expat" also.

Essential info for the global worker

Margaret Malewski provides some much-needed advice for a massively growing (but until now neglected) group - the have-laptop-will-work -abroad young person. The chapter on negotiating your contract is worth the price of the book alone. An essential part of the global worker's toolkit.

A must-have for any young professional heading abroad for the first time

When I moved to Milan several years ago, I thought I had everything under control. It's only now that I'm a relocation consultant I realise I could have secured myself a better expat package. The chapter on negotiating in Malewski's book is a must-read for anyone relocating to a foreign country (and not just for GenXpat either) and the rest of the book contains plenty of food-for-thought, too. This book not only gives a clear idea on the ups and downs on expat life, it also provides solutions.

A positive "preview"

I have pre-ordered a copy, but have not yet read it, so I am recommending this based on my high opinion of the author, who did not ask me to write this. Margaret helped me plan the research for Primacy Relocation and the Employee Relocation Council's annual survey "BBest Cities for Relocating Singles." Her guidance helped make our ranking of U.S. cities' adaptibility for transferring newcomers more accurate and useful. She understands her subject matter both professionally and personally.