recently I have been thinking of how to manage risks (and improve my communication skills) when interviewing with foreign companies.
Is there anything you would recommend to do, improve or look out for?
Risks I see are changes in schedule due to country policies and cross-cultural communication, especially in a corporate setting, which can be challenging. Examples can be the target country closing due to corona on short notice, necessitating a new apartment locally or flight cancellations.
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Long story motivating this question, as this is born from my frustration around my own naivety:
I wanted to move abroad for (at least) some years for quite some time, and last summer when finishing up my PhD I started interviewing all around the world. I got an offer from a company in Tokyo via relocate.me which was good enough for me at the time. The recruiter was upfront: Due to the pandemic, I should not cancel my job or lease, as the process would take quite some time and that last time it took them ~6 months.
After getting the necessary documents and certificate of eligibility and a lot of back and forth with new required documents by japan's government, I got somewhat lucky: In November the country opened up. The company instructed me to find a flight and book it for January. So I did. I also cancelled my lease as there is a 3 month cancellation period - although I didn't communicate this with the company at the time and I did not book travel insurance for flight cancellations, only a flight that can be changed to another day.
Unfortunately, omicron hit right after this and japan closed down, the communication from the company seemed to slow down and become more one-sided, but finally, I got the info that there was nothing going to change before the end of January - no new date for the flight in sight.
As I didn't want to end up homeless and reduce further losses from missed wages and flight tickets I decided to find a different job and a new apartment, cancel on the company and ask if they'd be willing to refund the ticket anyways. They told me they would look into it and I got in contact with a representative of the company. After some back and forth they stopped responding to me and I asked the recruiter if anything went wrong communication-wise. I was told the representative (who also received and responded to my cancellation email earlier) thought I got a different job and therefore stopped responding and that the managers decided the company was not responsible for my lost 1k$ of the flight, but they'll look over it again.
If you are moving to another country, often companies will give you flexibility on when you’d start with them based on the fact that you are moving. Some will have you work on site before your move and then let you go back and take care of your move. Others won’t do that but will give you time to adjust everything.
Leases are also flexible depending on what state you live in (if you are in the US), in some cases leaving the state or country the landlord or leasing company may be more flexible (it also depends on how hot the market is for them to lease it when you leave).
Never break your safety net until you have the job would be the best advice summing up the above.