For fun or not? - looking for a job abroad - maybe New Zealand?

[Hedwig]

I have been playing with the idea for some time to go to a foreign country again for 2-5 years and work abroad.
My boyfriend is in it too and we are starting to play around with ideas.

We are both actuaries and work in insurance risk management where it is normally no big problem to find a job. At least not in Germany.

our first idea was New Zealand but I haven't found a lot of job offers there.
I would like it to be a country that is not too hot in summer - not like, for instance Portugal, where the working and living conditions are reasonably good (I don't want to bribe my way around to get an apartment for instance) and of course a job that is interesting.

These is a very very vague description - I just wonder if you have ideas where to look or if by any chance you work in human resources and are in desperate need of experienced actuaries.

[ArtisticFan]

I was offered a job in Ecuador a year or two ago. The conditions, cost of living and climate were all things that made me want to do it. Personal circumstances prevented me, but I'll probably always regret not doing it.

[pingu]

What about Canada? (but here I'm a bit biased because I would like to live there...)
You can apply for a temporary work permit, this is the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.asp

[Hedwig]

I think my problem is mostly to look for jobs without wanting to look at every single country. I tried to find a search engine that would show me jobs for actuaries world-wide. But it seems like I would have to find a job search engine for each particular country I might be interested in and then search again.
This is a bit time consuming like I found out in the case of New Zealand where I found a whopping two jobs in the end which are both not tailored to me.
As long as I am playing with the idea and are not set on a specific country I would love to have a world-wide search engine just to get ideas. But that is naive I guess. Sigh.

[ice dance]

Two job sites in New Zealand are http://www.seek.co.nz/ and http://www.trademe.co.nz/jobs . Had you seen them before?

[moebius]

San Franciso is not hot in the summer. In fact it's pretty much around 65F all year round with a couple of hot/cold days in between. And if you don't mind the fog most of the year. Outside of San Francisco in the Bay Area also has mild weather all year round and rent is cheaper. I remember my sister's friend was an actuary in San Francisco. She said it was stressful job.

[Erin]

our first idea was New Zealand but I haven't found a lot of job offers there.

New Zealand is a beautiful country with a great climate (especially for someone like me who doesn't deal well with extreme temperatures either way), but not a great place for job opportunities, so it doesn't surprise me that you've had a hard time finding anything. New Zealand was in a recession even before the rest of the world and a lot of their post-secondary graduates leave the country to find more opportunities (they have a disproportionate amount of expats).

If you're looking in that part of the world, what about Australia? It seems that there are more opportunities there, and I don't know a lot about climate across the whole country, but Sydney was not too hot when I was there in summer.

[Allskate]

I love New Zealand, though you'd probably be most likely to find a job in Auckland, which is not the nicest part of the country.

I would really like to work in New Zealand, but I couldn't ever get a job/visa there.

I'd suggest narrowing down your search by first figuring out which countries have a language/visa barrier.

For me, most countries are off limits for work either because I don't speak the language or I couldn't get a visa. I'm currently looking for a job and my sister --who lives in a different country -- needs child care when her maternity leave is over, so she suggested that I be her nanny. But, that's not likely to be feasible because, among other reasons, I wouldn't be able to get a visa that would allow me to do it.

You may have more options than I do, both in terms of languages and work permits/visas, but you might start there. If you eliminate a bunch of countries that way, that might then make your search a little less overwhelming and more focused.

You might also consider which locations have not been hit as hard by the recession. San Franciso has mild weather and is a wonderful city, but it also has a horrible job market right now. Worse than the majority of the U.S.. Even if you could get a visa, you'd have a hard time finding a job. It's also a very expensive place to live.

[joeperryfan]

...
I would like it to be a country that is not too hot in summer - not like, for instance Portugal, where the working and living conditions are reasonably good (I don't want to bribe my way around to get an apartment for instance) and of course a job that is interesting.

I really hope that the bribing part isn't referring to Portugal , finding an apartment here isn't that difficult and doesn't require bribing (maybe in Algarve it does, I wouldn't know that, everywhere else it's fine).
Unfortunately it is too hot... I remember last summer, when I was in my birth town on vacation, one day it was 34º C and everyone was commenting that it was kind of fresh that day, so you can have a clue how hot it was on the other days. But that's in the south.

I live in Coimbra and I'm feeling very tempted to propose house swapping to you guys, I sure wouldn't mind going to Germany.

[Hedwig]

No, the bribing part was more referring to countries like Russia.

34°C would kill me so yeah, that was the reason why Portugal is not on my list for possible countries. So no house swapping.

San Francisco sounds interesting but like New Zealand it seems like all the interesting places are not really good at providing interesting jobs.

We are still in the idle thought-phase and dreaming around. So maybe by the time we are actually doing it, there will be a huge demand for actuaries in New Zealand and/or San Francisco.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

San Franciso is not hot in the summer. In fact it's pretty much around 65F all year round with a couple of hot/cold days in between. And if you don't mind the fog most of the year. Outside of San Francisco in the Bay Area also has mild weather all year round and rent is cheaper. I remember my sister's friend was an actuary in San Francisco. She said it was stressful job.

San Francisco sounds interesting but like New Zealand it seems like all the interesting places are not really good at providing interesting jobs.

We are still in the idle thought-phase and dreaming around. So maybe by the time we are actually doing it, there will be a huge demand for actuaries in New Zealand and/or San Francisco.

The US is a country where you'd have a visa issue. It may be possible for you to apply for a work visa from your home country, but it may also be the case that you'd need to be sponsored by a US employer. In order to be sponsored for a visa, the employer needs to prove that they've tried to hire US citizens for the job, but couldn't find someone qualified. People have told me that the job market for actuaries in the US isn't all that great right now. There aren't enough jobs for the available supply of actuaries. While this could change in the future, and it may be regional/skill specific, if this is true, then it's unlikely that you'd get a US employer to sponsor your visa.

If you're an EU citizen, the easiest place for you to be able to work is the EU. If you want to get out of the EU, then the countries where it's most likely that a skilled, degreed, English fluent person might be able to be allowed to settle and work, *and* where the recession isn't as bad as it is in some other countries, are Australia and perhaps Canada. I do not know if actuarial science is the same in those countries as it is in yours, or if your actuarial exams would allow you to work in those countries... or would you need to take their exams... You'd need to do some research. If there is a society for actuaries that is international, you could join. They may be a good source for this sort of info, as well as for international job listings.

[joeperryfan]

No, the bribing part was more referring to countries like Russia.

Ah that's better, I was afraid we were getting that kind of bad rep abroad now.

34°C would kill me so yeah, that was the reason why Portugal is not on my list for possible countries. So no house swapping.

I'm the opposite, extreme cold freaks me out, I'm not used to it, but I guess that if it's a dry cold I can take it, my biggest peeve is with humidity, my house is extremely humid(and so is the town) and I believe it's slowly killing me, hence I need to move.

Good luck with your searches, it seems we are on the same boat, not yet moving but dreaming about it.

[Garden Kitty]

Is Bermuda too hot? I thought insurance was big in Bermuda, so you might find it easy to get a job there.

[Hedwig]

Is Bermuda too hot? I thought insurance was big in Bermuda, so you might find it easy to get a job there.

Yes, too hot.
You are absolutely right though about insurance in Bermuda. It is one of the countries were I regularly get job offers via head hunters but I always decline because of that and also because I am not that much of an island person.


Garr, thanks for your thoughts. There is no international actuarial society but most exams are accepted (sometimes with extra tests) in other countries.
interesting that the US is saturated with actuaries. I didn't know that and just extrapolated from the dire need of Europe to the rest of the World. I know Australia is another country that needs more actuaries but I have lived in Sydney before and while I loved the city, the summer was also pretty unbearable for me...
I am a figure skater for a reason. I should probably only look at countries like Norway or so but then my boyfriend is

[GarrAarghHrumph]

As recently as 1-2 years ago, the US was also in need of actuaries. People tell me that's recently changed. I'd imagine it may change back again, once the recession turns around.

[MikiAndoFan#1]

How about Azores? The living conditions are reasonably good here, things aren't as expensive as in Continental Portugal and you don't burst into flames. I don't know about any job offers for actuaries, though.

[nerdycool]

Try this site. It's a recruiting site with worldwide listings, though most are in the US. I'm sure you've ran across it before, but on the off-chance you haven't, here ya go!

[Allskate]

I am a figure skater for a reason. I should probably only look at countries like Norway or so but then my boyfriend is

Check out Canada. You'd probably have better chances at a visa there than in the U.S.. Vancouver is a great city and summers don't get too hot. But the winters aren't outrageously cold, either. They also like skating. You might try to figure out which part of the country tends to have more need of actuaries, and see if that area appeals to you.