International Dual Careers
- Moved for your partner's job without having secured a job for yourself?
- Trying to navigate how you can shoulder the main load of domestic and care responsibilities to support your partner's new role - without cornering your career aspirations completely in the process?
- Feeling undervalued, overlooked, or possibly a teensy bit resentful, that your career has come to a grinding halt?
I see you.
In 2004, I resigned as an anthropology lead with a Norwegian company in India to join my new husband in Oman, where he lived and worked. The marriage and my new host country turned out fabulously. Career growth for me as a high-mobility accompanying partner - not so much.
In the decade following our low-key wedding in Abu Dhabi, we welcomed three babies, created 11 (!) homes for our family, and moved from Oman to Syria, then to Borneo, and finally back to Oman, before repatriating to Norway in a constant cycle of change. Saying that my career took a hit is an understatement.
It took time and supportive advice from fantastic people who had walked that road before, to get back to work. I found inspiration in a tribe of fellow skilled internationals who walked alongside me: who shared research, networks, knowledge, understanding and compassion. This website is Paying It Forward.
The blog features a portfolio of texts, and you'll find research (summarized and linked), and resources on international dual careers here (note: the 'research and resources' page is still under construction and will be published as soon as it is ready-ish).
If you want to read more about me, head over here, or reach out for a chat.
If you are a skilled international in Norway looking for relevant work, I support our tribe professionally through my job as a program manager with Sammen om en jobb