Working in the local economy - not impossible and rewarding

So here I am, on Saturday following in my mother's footsteps - I am using amazing Trader Joe's Brownie Truffle Baking Mix to bake. I am not sure TJ's will appreciate this, but my mom made some substitutions. A few years ago my mother one of her moments to brilliance and replaced butter with Disaronno which resulted in out of this world fluffy, light and delicious - sadly not kid friendly - brownies. Thanks mom! Unfortunately Disaronno is unavailable in our commissary I had to substitute with Baileys and am experimenting with adding little pieces of pineapple for a little zing. While mixing the brownies I found myself musing about where I am and what it all means.

While my browser is open to about 20 different Indian microfinance articles - the subject of my next past - I want to step back and think about my life. When my husband decided to join the foreign service, I was rather apprehensive. We were getting a great life - my husband his dream job and we both would get a chance to explore the world in ways that many people cannot even fathom. Great! So here is the hitch, my own job prospects and earning potential would plummet as we crossed the border. You think unemployment in the US is bad - as far as I remember from my spousal orientation session out of all spouses and partners that want to work, about 45% actually succeed in securing jobs. However, I make up a tiny positive part of that statistic, because I am part of the tiny minority that works in the local economy. When asked about local employment, most people sigh and say that finding a job is impossible and working in the local economy turns out to be more difficult lower paid than its worth.

I am here to present the opposite case. Working in the local economy has its tradeoffs and is not for everybody. Personally, I feel I traded pay and vacation for my dream job. In the local economy you don't get both local and US holidays. Your pay, will likely not much lower than you are used to. I mean hell, I think I make less than a pimply teenager flipping burgers in DC. However, in my opinion, if you are willing to look at working in the local economy the payoffs, are tremendous. You can find your dream job, you can reinvent yourself professionally and your education and skills if you are outside of Western Europe - lets get real how many diplomats get to serve in Western Europe - are in high demand!

When I worked as a consultant in DC, I met with my former employer's India expert. She condescendingly informed me that my job prospects were severely limited. According to her, the best I can do for myself in India; teach English and write press releases for a company with business interests in the West. I was devastated, but when I got over the ego blow, I thought logically. I have a MA in international economics from a top tier US graduate school. English is one of two of India's languages of business, surely more opportunities exist in addition to teaching English? I worked really hard. I got out of my shell and networked like a crazy person. I spoke to anyone willing to listen and think about job options in India. I learned about the local job market. I learned about bilateral employment agreements - especially the one between India and the US. I bugged the local mission about work permit procedures. I went on informational interviews.

Finally I hit my professional jackpot - I was connected with a SAIS alum at a DC economic consulting firm and he passed on my resume to the firm's office in Chennai. The alum and one of the senior staffers from the India office interviewed me in DC and offered me a job - as an economist! This all happened before my arrival, so I advise; fulfilling your professional dreams takes time so its never too early to start. While the spouse trains in DC, the capital of networking - talk to people, think about your options, contact your mission's community liaison officer and local US trade representative. I love that I get to get out of the community to do something both challenging and rewarding. I am growing professionally and am satisfied with my choice.

With that said, I could not have done it without a few wonderful people. First of all my loving, supportive and patient husband - he was there cheering me on even when I felt completely insecure.  My wonderful co-worker from my DC consultancy - who is now getting his MIPP at the Kennedy School at Harvard - who connected me with a SAIS alum at my current job. The SAIS alum that made time for me and passed on my resume to the firm's Chennai office. The US Department of Trade officer and his spouse who both pointed me in the right direction, provided me with local economy information, salary levels and negotiation options, and took me step by step through an Indian employment contract, and supported me in my endeavors - even though they knew me via email. I could not have done this without kind and supportive people that I met in my journey to Chennai.

My point - don't give up your dreams and ambitions and settle. Look at your choices and frankly weigh each option's pros and cons. Don't let people tell you that you are not good enough and finding what you want is impossible. You have choices as a diplomatic spouse and choices outside of the mission might be more interesting and rewarding than you expect.

News at 11: Used Car Dealer Disappoints Consumer

I feel like the title of today's blog should be a headline in "The Onion." My husband tried to buy a used car. Since most diplomatic vehicles were already sold, we asked some questions, asked for recommendations of a reputable used car dealership, did our homework and ventured into the local used car market.

We looked at cars, we rubbed our chins and discussed cars. Although, I don't want to fool you, I know nothing about cars, besides the fact that their purpose is to get you from point A to point B. We engaged a mechanic to look at finalists and finally made up our mind. We settled on a modest 2008 Hyundai Xanto(?) with fairly low mileage. Relieved that we found a suitable vehicle to get us from many point A's to just as many point B's. We bargained and settled on a used car price that would infuse between 4 and 5 times an average Indian annual salary, which hovers at around $1200 USD. We gleefully gave a deposit of - gasp 50000 INR or just over $200 and started filling out an application with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to get permission to buy a car. The MEA permission is tied to the person, you say? Well, no that is not the case in India. MEA permission to buy a car is tied to the car. So we wait, and wait, and wait. We are told, "well, just another few days and everything will be settled." We hire a driver for when we receive...may I say it out loud....our car?

Approximately, seven weeks later we finally receive a "preliminary" approval for the sale. The MEA approval depends on one little thing. Nothing really, a document which the legal owner of the car has to obtain from his local police precinct. Basically, this document will say that there are no open investigations, tickets, ect in relations to the car. Indian law requires this document to approve sales of used cars to everyone living in the country foreigners and Indian nationals. A fairly straightforward and logical procedure, unless the owner will "under no circumstances" go to the police to get the aforementioned document, which invalidates our purchase. Since the MEA permission was tied to the car and not the buyer, to buy another car we start at the beginning.

After we found out we were not getting the 2008 Huyndai Xanto, we thought again. We looked at options that minimize our risks, albeit more expensive. We decided to buy a new car - from a factory. A few of my husband's co-workers traveled down that particular car acquisition road and we decided to follow them. This is where the situation gets more Kafka-esque. We need permission from the MEA for a car that does not yet exist. The factory cannot build this non-existent car without us obtaining permission to buy this non-existent car. We will also have to pay up-front before the non-existent car gets built. Sigh.

So here we are, waiting for permission from the Indian government to buy a non-existent car.

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In other news, I got my work authorization from the same agency lightening fast - faster than getting permission to dump 4 times the average annual salary into the local economy. The funny thing is that the MEA permission to buy a car was processed in the local MEA office in Chennai and my work permit went through Delhi. Go figure right? Government bureaucracies work in mysterious ways.

I will do a write-up on my employment process begging to end, because you know what fellow diplo dependents, there is a great big world outside of your local mission and I am living proof that finding a job in the local economy is in fact possible.

Stay tuned folks!

Partner Employment

As I read, “once you get on that plane and leave the US, your professional career is over” in a cautionary tale blog entry about EFM employment, I cringed. This, I have to admit, is my deepest fear right out there, in the real world, exposed. My professional career is over? Really, damn, I feel like I barely started…at 4 AM as I can’t sleep it seems even scarier. It is dark outside and the post about employment options that I was planning to re-read and publish tomorrow morning seems much more upbeat than I am feeling at the moment.  This quote ranks towards the top of the “shudder” list along with a senior staffer at my old consulting firm telling me that I was unqualified to work in the Indian market with the exception of “teaching English to businessmen and writing press releases for an Indian firm interested in breaking into the US market,” whoa really? There is no place in the Indian market I can use my international economics degree, hard to believe right?

Those are words which are much more powerful at 4 AM than they are in daylight hours, when I feel much more confident about my abilities to forge my own way. During one of our Shabbat dinners, a friend, with whom I spent the last two years studying in one of the top and toughest international economics programs in the country suggested that “well if you can’t find a job, India is I hear a great place to start a family.” While appreciate all the time taken to offer me sage advice, I will make that rather important decision with my own husband. 

My friend and I went to the same grad program, took identical classes and the difference between the two of us? He was one of the very few of my classmates that passed the oral part of the Foreign Service exam. For one reason or other, some of the smartest people in my grad program and I did not pass the oral assessment stage, at which point I decided to strike out on my own – since besides acquiring a number of stellar analytical, writing and quantitative skills, what SAIS taught me is that this world is a big place with lots of options. My friend also sent a calendar that the Chennai EFM husbands put together outlining their daily pursuits, because he thought it was really funny. 

EFM unemployment is not a joke. Out of a high 40^th percentile, the exact figure escapes me, of EMFs that want to work, only 25 % actually find employment. The overwhelming majority work at US missions abroad, while a much smaller percentage works in the local economy, bi-lateral employment agreements permitting, while an even smaller group telecommutes and runs online businesses from their homes. Local economy employment requires work permits, work permits take time. 

I seemingly achieved the impossible; I got a job offer to work in a local office of an American firm. I worked really hard to find the said job. Since August of last year, I have been talking to just about anyone that would listen that I was moving to India and I was interested in finding local professional employment offside the US mission. Personally, I feel that the local mission does not currently offer employment that fits my professional goals. I talked to friends, family, and former classmates asking for contacts and advice. My hard work paid off, I got an offer through an alumni contact. I feel incredibly lucky and grateful to the alumni and co-worker that helped me make that happen. I am in a privileged position, but I’ll leave you with this (as I hope to get back to sleep); spouse and partner employment ranks towards the top of concerns of those considering and entering the Foreign Service. Although one of the reasons that you see so many single income families in the Foreign Service (meaning one partner is in the FS the other takes care of the family) this is the only government service where you can afford to have a stay at home partner, but the other reason is that it extremely difficult to have two professional careers with one of them within the FS. Ok, I said my piece, time to get off the soapbox, and wake up confident that in fact the job offer will be there tomorrow and when I get my work permit from the Indian government. Good night and thanks for listening.