Sandra and Anthony met whilst on their individual Expat assignments - Sandra had actively sought an international assignment which Anthony was an ‘accidental’ expat. Over the course of 10 years their expatriate lives took them through Hong Kong, the USA and Africa...but not always at the same time. Theirs is a story that shows you can manage your careers when you take time to understand what you both want, gain the support of your companies and collaborate to make it work. 

In this episode, Sandra and Anthony share the factors that determined transition periods in their career. For example, Anthony knew that he needed to make a move or he would have disappeared under the radar. However, Sandra was pursuing a close to a long sought-after promotion. 

The whole decision around should you stay or should you go was real. In this episode they share how they locked themselves in a room with flipcharts, did a value engineering exercise on them and decided not to buy a boat and sail around the world! 

Some of the key criteria they considered were financial implications, their relationships and work life balance. Ultimately, they knew they were strong enough as a couple that they could follow their career paths in separate countries for some time. 

Their companies knew everything and both companies were incredibly supportive. They were able to provide the infrastructure that ensured they could retain their highly valued employees. 

I share some of my own thoughts around our current relocation and how coming together to really think about what we wanted for our future lives has led us to take a less obvious route back to Scotland.