Reader Email
I know I haven’t been writing lately. I am currently between jobs and living in New York with my family. When the next thing comes along I will get back to writing and probably revamp my blog to be a personal blog until I can get another international posting somewhere. For the mean time, here is an email from one of my readers who is considering going to Istanbul. If anyone else out there would like to ask me anything please feel free to do so:
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Hello Conrad,
My name is Mo and I am a New Yorker working in Finance. Having 3 years of corporate experience, I have recently begun exploring career opportunities abroad, particularly in Istanbul. While researching other’s work experiences, I came upon your blog, www.conradwoodring.com. Overall, it seemed as though your brief tenure was educational and exciting yet not up to mark with expectations. But I wanted to ask you directly - how did you feel during and after working and living in Istanbul?
Secondly, how would you advise individuals like myself to look for positions overseas? I know Turkey has a work and lifestyle culture dissimilar to that of the U.S. Because of my background, I find such an atmosphere even more attractive than that of say, the U.K. At this point, operating in an organization lacking a rigid structure actually interests me because I now know how a firm should be organized. I was actually in Turkey recently and in Istanbul for the majority of my trip. I realize visiting the city and potentially living in it are two different things. Nevertheless, I can see myself living and working there.
If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask. Reading about your experience was very exciting. I hope I have something like that to write about in the near future. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back.
Kind Regards,
‘Mo’
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And my response:
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Hi Mo,
I am glad that you have taken the time to look over my website. Depending on how much you read, I am no longer in Turkey and that is why I have let my website sit idle. I will do something with it, but for the time being passerbys read it and ask for my advice, which I am normally more than happy to give.
So first question, how did I feel about working and living in Istanbul. I am not going to lie, it was very challenging but also very much fun. I integrated very well and had a large group of Turkish friends. Until my 8th month there or so I didn’t have any non-Turkish friends. We had an awesome time together. Turks make excellent friends. My small group spent every evening together in cafes and we did things on the weekends. It was an excellent social atmosphere. My job however was not terribly wonderful. There was a glaring double standard between the family members of the owner and the rest of us. <section deleted> That, in addition to them not compensating me appropriately drove me to my wits end and I quit and left Turkey. They were responsible to pay my bills which they never did on time so I would lose heat, electricity, phone ect, and they never paid on time.
Because I got little help from my company integrating and living in Turkey, it was challenging. Figuring out really basic things was challenging at times. Where I was living, there were very few english speakers (if you took a job you would be in the financial district where everyone speaks english. I was in the industrial sector on the outskirts) so getting laundry done, dry cleaning, shopping, eating out, ect, were all very difficult. I eventually adapted, but it was frustrating to get no help. Dealing with traffic was also very nerve racking. All in all, it was an incredible experience, and I miss many many things about my life in Turkey. I would never work for my previous employer again, but I would love to go back there and get a different job.
I am not sure what advise I can give to people looking over seas. Both of my overseas jobs that I had found me more than I found them (I worked in the Republic of the Marshal Islands before moving to Turkey). If you are thinking about taking a position, I recommend you visit the place and see everything first. I went to Turkey before I moved there and checked out the company and where I would be living and gave everything a thorough looking over. I even drove around because I knew I would want to go into the city so I had to get a feel for what the drive would be like. Even though I knew I wouldn’t like living and working so far away, I decided it wouldn’t be so bad.
My biggest piece of advice is be PATIENT! I can not stress this enough. Whenever outside your own culture, it is very very easy to see only the negative sides of you host culture, and to become very frustrated. I think it takes a special kind of person to see only the good and to remain positive in the face of adversity. I don’t mean to make assumptions, but judging by your name, you probably have feet in two cultures, which should make you a lot more flexible. I have a lot of friends who went abroad and hated it. They complained all the time about their host culture and let culture shock get the best of them. I even caught myself doing that in Turkey sometimes, but I didn’t let it get the better of me.
I hope this answered some of your questions. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions, or clarifications incase I have not answered your questions in the way that you meant them to be answered.
Regards,
Conrad
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