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Even in this age of international insecurity, scores of cities and countries around our shrinking globe beckon Americans who have professional ambition and a taste for adventure.
Indeed, American workers -- be they recent college grads or mid-career managers on an executive track -- have lots to gain and little to lose in signing up for a stint overseas. For one thing, your new (if temporary) home may be a better place to live than where you are now: In 2008, Mercer Human Resource Consulting surveyed expatriate workers about quality of life in 215 cities worldwide. The top-ranked US cities -- Honolulu and San Francisco -- came in 28th and 29th, respectively.
But before you start dreaming of the top 20, you need to be realistic about your job prospects. "There's been a slight dip in the use of expats," says Imran Qureshi, international practice leader for human resources consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide in Chicago. "Cost is a bigger issue than security or safety."
So where is the action for America's new expatriates? "We're doing a lot more with startups, where companies are sending people abroad for the first time," says David Leboff, president of Expaticore Services LLC, a New York City firm that consults to employers with expatriate workers. Small and mid-sized firms looking abroad for growth are sending scouting parties from their US motherships.
But from the world-beating professional's point of view, one thing hasn't changed. "If you want to run a division, you want to spend some time in Europe and some time in Asia," says Chris Clarke, president of Boyden Global Executive Search in Hawthorne, New York. "You do best in sophisticated countries, not backwaters," even if those backwaters are experiencing rapid economic growth.
Here's where to go to make your mark on the globe.
Western Europe
The shock of the Madrid bombings notwithstanding, Western Europe is probably still the most popular destination for Americans looking to work abroad. And to employers based in Europe, the relatively weak US dollar means that "Americans look 25 percent cheaper these days," says Clarke.
“The new expats are going to Europe -- Denmark, France, London," says Leboff. Paris, Brussels and other major centers of global commerce continue to be among the destinations of choice for American expatriates.
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe, still recovering from the hangover of Soviet domination, is a riskier but still interesting place to work for US expats.
Of special interest are the 10 nations that were admitted to the European Union in 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. These countries "are probably going to do very well" economically, says Ronald Krannich, coauthor of Jobs for Travel Lovers.
But keep in mind that EU membership comes at a price for foreign workers. "There's quite of a lot of bureaucracy involved, and that will spread to the new EU countries," says Clarke.
Asia
Among the rapidly growing economies of Asia, "the hot location is China," says Leboff. "It's still very tough to do business there, but there's a growing expat community.”
The financial capitals of Hong Kong and Singapore, though subject to the fickle winds of the global economy, still top US expats' lists of Asian destinations.
Some very challenging management jobs are being expatriated to India, China and other parts of Asia rather than offshored in the traditional sense. "There are assignments to set up and manage offshoring operations," says Clarke. "They tend to be short-term -- one to three years."
Latin America
The nations of Central America and South America, particularly capitals like Sao Paulo, continue to be popular with Americans seeking work experience that's foreign without being too exotic, in a part of the world where the cost of living can be relatively low.
