7 Skills You’ll Learn As An Expat

There are many things you’ll learn and experience while living abroad. One of the many perks of being an expat is that you will definitely accumulate a few skills here and there to adapt to your new life, which will definitely help you grow.

Here are a few of the skills that most expats pick up while living overseas. If as an expat, you still don’t posses these skills, then take a cue from this list and try practicing these skills. You might find these useful for your expat lifestyle.

1. Language Skills

Sure, you may not be fluent in your current country of residence’s language, but you know most of the key words. Living in a country for at least a year should have gained you enough knowledge to know the most basic terms used in the language like the formal greetings, sales or transportation transactions or the most common expressions.

If you find that it will be of greater use for you to really learn the language of the locals, then you can also start taking a class. Knowing even the basics of the local language may give you an advantage not just in your expat work place, but it also gives you an edge in your industry wherever you are. Being able speak more than 1 language is always a useful skill.

2. Time Zone Management

An expat knows the time in more than 1 time zone. Most likely this is because you’d like to keep track of the time at your home country so that you’ll be able to call your loved ones at just the right time, or it could also be because you handle offices in other countries in other time zones and you just have to know what time is the best for sending an email or doing a conference call. Either way, if you live more than a year outside your home country, you will be conscious about more than 1 time zone. Unless of course you live so close by to your home country that you don’t even skip a time zone... in which case, you’re really stretching the term “expatriate”.

There are several apps that can make looking up the time easier for you, if you are a first time expat, but after a few months, you’ll glance at the clock and be able to tell which means you won’t need any apps to remind you.

3. Jetlag Endurance

This skill somehow connects to the earlier skill which is time zone management. Jetlag is something that most of us experience as expats. Whether it’s rushing to or from your home country and country of residence, or if it’s juggling your travel schedule from “home country-work country-other work country” Jetlag is part of the expat experience for at least once or twice a year.

As such, expats are great when it comes to beating or dealing with Jetlag. There many ways to fight it or deal with it, but if you have your own customized way of dealing with this, then you’ve been an expat a really long time. Most remedies include extra strong coffee for the “straight from the airport to work” scenarios. Some take a combo of a hot shower with a healthy meal. Some take a sleeping pill and dose off until their body clocks reset and some really just learn to suck it up and ignore it. Again, if you’re on the “suck it up and ignore it” level... you’ve been living abroad a long time.

4. Currency Conversion Expert

Now this skill can work for you or against you. A lot has more to do with economics, to put it plainly. An expat knows if it’s better to buy certain items such as toiletries in their home country or in their country of residence. Price difference can range to just a few cents to really significant amounts. This is a skill that is quite useful. Then again, it can also be confusing if you get used to looking at a price and thinking in GBP even though it’s actually in USD.

This is a double standard skill, as most people living abroad know. You have to double check the prices and know if something is significantly cheaper or more expensive if converted to your home currency. Same as a clock, upon looking at a price tag, an expat can see two or more prices. People living abroad always have a high alert for conversion rates.

5. Panic Packing

An expat knows how to pack in a hurry. There are only a few essentials in travel and someone who’s lived abroad long enough knows how to grab and pack the important stuff. Most expats (especially those who have more than one foreign office) or even those who like to travel regularly already have a special bag for travel handy. This bag contains the necessary documents needed for travel (passport, exit clearance and the likes) and the most basic items like one clean set of work clothing and one clean set of casual clothing including underwear and socks.

If you have been an expat for more than a year and still have some troubles packing, then maybe you should take some time to learn a few tricks to make your regular travelling easier.

6. Tolerance and Flexibility

One of the first things that you will learn as soon as you step out of your home country is that it really is a different world out there. Even just moving to a different city already shows you a significant change in culture, but moving to a different country is really an eye opener for most people.

Living overseas gives you the opportunity to learn more about different culture by immersing yourself in a foreign community. That being said, it’s not always easy to tolerate and adapt to a totally different culture. Most expats learn how to respect and adapt to the cultural differences they have with their current country of residence. Adapting and tolerating to different cultural behaviour and practices doesn’t necessary mean that you are discarding your own beliefs and practices, it simply means that you value respect more than being obstinate.

7. IM and Video Chat Master

This is possibly the most important skill for an expat, because being an expert on virtual communication is our best way to connect with loved ones at home. Yes, expats know the best time to make Skype calls (preferably late in your local time for less web traffic) and an expat also knows the best type of IM app to use in specific situations.

An expat has more than 1 IM/Video chat app on his or her phone and tablet and mobile data is a must, just in case they need to call your family without phone charges. Expats know if the internet connection is good enough for a video conference, or if it’s just good enough for a voice call.

This is most likely the skill that is most commonly used by all expats and you can only acquire this skill from experience. Of course, techniques may vary in different countries, but one thing is for sure. All the expats in the world are IM and video chat masters whether they are aware of it or not.