When your partner goes abroad: why not study?
August 26, 2015 | 1 min read
When your partner gets a job in another country, why not use the time abroad to study. That’s what Beatriz Cavalcanti de Alcântara thought. She decided to quit her job in Brazil and traveled with her husband to the Netherlands. In 2012 started an International MBA at TIAS with the idea: “If I get a degree from a school here, then I will increase my chances of finding a job in Europe.”
“I was working at the bank Banco Santander as a credit risk analyst when my husband got a job in the Netherlands. I decided to go with him and use the time to study and leverage my career”, says Beatriz, now working as a Risk Policy Advisor at ABN Amro. Beatriz lived abroad when she was younger, had five years of work experience, but hadn’t an international resume. “I decided to use this time abroad to take my career to the next level. That’s why I decided to do an international MBA.”
Really work oriented
“The advantage of the MBA is that it is really work oriented. I now see the application of everything I learn. It’s really a different level of education. I constantly learned from top lecturers and from the interaction with my classmates, experienced professionals from 19 different nationalities. I could have done an MBA in Brazil, but now I have something special on my resume. Something that is more remarkable, because I did my MBA abroad.” She chose the business school very carefully. “I wanted to study at a school that was really well listed and well-known in Europe. That’s why I chose TIAS.”
Studying in the Netherlands has more advantages noticed Beatriz. The first months in the Netherlands she hadn’t found a study yet. “I was all day waiting for my husband to come home. Now I have my own thing here. My husband and I can exchange ideas when we come home and we introduce our friends to each other.”
Important career decisions
After finishing the MBA Beatriz searched a job in the Netherlands. She got help from TIAS. “I had a coach who helped me making important career decisions. And I also got help to develop my resume or my LinkedIn profile. The personal development program was one of the reasons I chose TIAS.” Beatriz thinks the MBA will prepare her for the next steps in her career. Where ever that will be. “When my husband gets a job in another country I want to be prepared to follow him and continue my career there. Or maybe he will follow me next time.”
Are you an expat living in the Netherlands? Together with The Hub Eindhoven TIAS organizes International Career Day on September 8. With workshops about how to get a job in the Netherlands, the added value of executive education and how to improve your LinkedIn account. More information?