HERE WE ARE -The International Career Couple Handbook

HERE WE ARE – The International Career Couple Handbook (ICC) offers powerful ways to guide internationally mobile talent. From a foundation of deeply caring for a global workforce, the authors share real-life insights into the challenges and opportunities for International Career Couples and the organizations deploying them globally. With in-depth research and substantial HR experience, this book argues that the future of global careers requires a holistic strategic perspective on professionals living and working in international trajectories. Applying organizational methods and facilitating meaningful conversations are ways for ICCs to succeed and for organizations to retain them. This handbook is filled with practical tools for each ICC to construct its own map of the future.

Both authors are themselves each a partner in an ICC as well as parents. Therefore they have first-hand experience of the challenges and opportunities that mark the life of an ICC. They met through a network connection, which underscores one of the book’s main messages: Opportunities arise when you commit to pursuing a long-term vision and short-term goals on a global development path – while remaining open for unexpected turns. They firmly believe that a growth mindset and a supportive network are key for ICC success.

• A toolbox to map your future as an International Career Couple.

• Real examples of successful International Career Couples that will inspire both current and future couples.

• Practical advice for employers ready to attract, deploy and retain global talent.

• Learn how International Career Couples can be successful and sustainable in the long term.

• Discover game-changing best practices, strategies and tools.

• Understand what employers can do to dynamically support International Career Couples.

Order now in paperback or ebook for £17,99 from  Springtime Books https://www.expatbookshop.com/book/here-we-are/ 

Or your local bookstore : ISBN: 978-1-9993040-9-6

• LISTEN: Paul Vanderbroek: Int’l Career Couples

• WATCH: EuRA Presents - An International Career - For Two!

• READ: The complexity of being an International Career Couple

• READ: Episode-83_Transcript-Here-We-Are-Global

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR "HERE WE ARE -The International Career Couple Handbook"

“If only we had this toolbox earlier as an International Career Couple! It would have made our journey of many years in multiple countries a lot easier. In our professional and social networks, we often met couples who were struggling with the same issues of combining two careers, a family and international mobility. This well-researched, practical and inspiring handbook is a must-read for couples and employers alike!”

Nicholas Brassey Chief HR Officer, Ahold Delhaize Europe and Indonesia Jacqui Brassey PhD, Director of Learning, McKinsey & Company

“The authors offer useful advice, guidelines and exercises for couples who both work abroad in an international/multilateral environment and their employers alike. In my experience there are more and more of such couples. Not all Ministries of Foreign Affairs and multilateral organizations, like the UN and the EU, have yet entirely come to grips with the complexities of dual international career couples in their workforce.”

Jean-Pierre Kempeneers, Ambassador for International Positions,Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

“This book is a must-read for couples starting or having an international career. It provides both a holistic framework and a lot of practical tools; and describes opportunities and challenges that will be well recognized by International Career Couples. It clearly makes you reflect on how to find the necessary balance in combining a dual career, a family and social life and international mobility.”

Helena Vanhoutte, General Manager France, Vandemoortele

“The International Career Couple Handbook is an invaluable resource for today’s mobile couples. Packed full of lively case studies and engaging exercises its a handy guide for couples trying to juggle two international careers and a fulfilling relationship. A must-read for all international career couples! ”

Jennifer Petriglieri, Associate Professor INSEAD, author of Couples That Work: How Dual-Career Couples Can Thrive in Love and Work (HBR Press)

“After 30 years of my own research and that of others, it is clear that international assignments are the most powerful means of developing future global leaders and one of the most powerful forces in shaping individual’s lives. Having lived and worked overseas multiple times, I also know this from personal experience. However, international assignments for dual career couples can be both wonderful and challenging. Couples need a grounded but practical guide. Here We Are: The International Career Couple Handbook is just that—the handbook that any and every international couple should have. I highly recommend it.”

J. Stewart Black, Professor of Global Leadership and Strategy at INSEAD

“This book takes readers by the hand on the path of a new but very current topic that is turning out to be of a greater relevance for international couples, recruiters and workers all over the world. The clarity and passion of the authors makes the reading fluent and never closing into clichés. Written in a confident style, the book features a clever analysis, supporting practical tools and incorporates real-life examples. It simply deserves to be read.”

Paolo Boccardelli, Professor and Dean Luiss Business School.

“The International Career Couple Handbook is among the most valuable contributions to the discussions on global talent mobility that I have seen in years. It has provided me with tangible and practical advice as to how I can improve my support to ICCs in the future. It provides well-researched and best practices to help ICC’s take decisions and plan for a sustainable future together. It brings together the unique knowledge and experience that the authors have accumulated through decades of working with ICCs: A must-read read for anyone supporting a global workforce.”

Lone Skriver, Global Mobility Consultant

”As a leader in a knowledge intensive organisation specialised in change management we depend on international talent to serve the needs of our clients worldwide. The International Career Couple Handbook underscores the wealth of talent among globally mobile employees and partners. Their global mindset and unique set of competencies are attractive to any employer serving global customers. As part of a dual-career couple myself, I applaud the authors for taking the subject to the next level, i.e. internationally mobile dual careers. The book offers spot-on advice for organisations to embrace and support this special talent base strategically.

Caroline Mørck Jensen, CEO Nexum Group

"We love that the book coins the term International Career Couple. As an ICC, we have often talked about how we face different challenges than other couples. This book will do for ICCs what Third Culture Kids has done for our children. Thankfully, the book does not pretend that you can make a fixed plan – the need for regular revisits is in our experience a key message. Also, high sensitivity to each other’s needs and worries are essential in order to overcome the compromises needed along the way. This handbook offers a good structure for the deep reflections and discussions you need to have as an ICC."

Sandra Jensen Landi, Ambassador of Denmark to Singapore and Brunei Martin Landi, Senior Global Adviser

“Writing this book was an act of enormous courage. The topic of ICCs is incredibly complex. It requires addressing the intersection of career planning with a person’s personal and family life, compounded by dealing with two people versus one. Add to that the dimension of different cultures and languages coming together. The authors provide painstaking analysis and practical solutions derived from extensive research. In addition to those contemplating working in such an arrangement, this book has value for the HR leaders of global organizations who increasingly employ such couples. The reality, however, is that every couple would find enormous value in the practical, comprehensive recommendations the authors present for planning your life together with another person. This groundbreaking book is highly recommended to all who are, or who plan to live with someone else in a way that enables both to have a totally fulfilling life.”

Jack Zenger, CEO of Zenger Folkman, best-selling author of The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Great Managers into Great Leaders.

“Over the years I’ve seen many careers or couples derail because of the messiness of building an international life as a working couple. Paul and Jannie’s book bring valuable insights and rare practical exercises for international career couples (and professionals who support them) to “unmess” that process. A workbook that has arrived in due time!”

Rafael Altavini, Consultant and Leadership Advisor, Egon Zehnder

“Finally a book that recognizes the importance and complexity of International Career Couples. In it, the writers provide useful insights and tools for both: career couples and their employers to extract value of their investment in such demanding transitions and maximize their return for both individual growth and organizational performance. A highly recommended read for both international career individuals, their bosses, and Human Resources professionals.”

Shlomo Ben-Hur, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at IMD.

“Bravo to the authors for writing this exceptional handbook. Grounded in the latest research, written from personal experience and peppered with real-life examples, this book is a must-read for International Career Couples and employers alike. It offers practical insights, tools and tips for ensuring that couples can cultivate a shared vision, nurture a secure space for open dialogue and ensure clarity around mutual career development.”

Susan Goldsworthy OLY, Professor Leadership & Organizational Change, IMD. Co-author of three award-winning books.

“For couples who jointly embark on an international career journey this book will serve as a powerful resource for structuring important conversations and making vital decisions.”

Konstantin Korotov, Professor of Organizational Behavior, Faculty Lead Executive MBA, ESMT Berlin

“My own international HR career happened in a traditional model of expatriation. Fast forward two decades and it’s exciting to see how those with an international paradigm can now better prepare themselves as an international career couple. The frameworks and exercises in the handbook enable a pathway for the couple to navigate and negotiate how they can thrive internationally, professionally and personally, often within a family framework. This is a personal, self-managed guidance system. This handbook would have been invaluable at the beginning and indeed, throughout my international career journey.”

John Rason, Group Head of Consulting, Santa Fe Relocation

“This book is extremely relevant and will just continue to be so as the world is globalizing and people meet across borders and boundaries. It feels that as part of evolution we keep meeting people with whom we have a common purpose and with whom we might yet be different from in terms of country in which we grew up in. Travelling the world and exploring it together is not only exciting and a way to learn, it can also be challenging when our careers is what moves us. This book brings you insights from the authors who besides having researched the topic, have lived it too. Go get your copy.”

Kristin Engvig, Founder and CEO, WIN Women’s Global Leadership Journey