Archives for Relocations

Patrik Runald and his wife Susanne sold their things and left Sweden to build a global career. He and his wife, key employees of a Finnish security software firm, moved to London three years ago, resettled in Singapore and then tried Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

When the Runald’s pine for Sweden they go to the nearest Ikea store, which conveniently stocks Swedish meatballs and beverages. Whenever they want to see ice hockey, they watch games online. Whenever they miss their friends and family, they hop onto Skype or e-mail and exchange photos.

“You learn a lot about yourself when you live abroad and you learn things about your partner,” Patrik says. “Losing your safety net means you rely more on each other as a couple. It forces you to get new friends and make new connections. My relationship with my wife became stronger.”

The roundabout journey from Stockholm to a Muslim country may have puzzled some of their friends, but the Runald’s each come from a family of world-travelers. “I come from a family used to travel and living abroad,” he says. Patrik’s father lives in Singapore and Susanne’s family recently settled in Montreal. He has a sister who was born in the Philippines - fairly exotic for a Scandinavian.

Patrik has a pretty cool but demanding career: He is F-Secure’s security response manager, managing a team of experts who monitor internet based threats 24/7 and devise antidotes for viruses, spam and phishing attacks. He’s not sure where he will go next, but North America holds some appeal to him: “I have started over three times. I’m only 30 years old and I don’t feel ready to settle down.”

Here’s Patrik’s advice to future expatriates:

• “You have to be open-minded. You have to realize that things aren’t what you’re used to. You have to expect things to work differently [than in your] native country.
• “You have to have drive otherwise it doesn’t work. You have to make your own future and your own life. In some cases a company will give you a position abroad, but in most cases you have to make a case so the company will provide you with the opportunity.
• “Do research on country you’re moving to - it might not be what you expected. Having visited Singapore for one or two weeks every year since 1995, I thought I knew the place but I didn’t. On the Internet there are lots of expat discussion forums where you can ask questions [such as] how much salary do I need to live a comfortable life? How does the health system work? How much does a car cost? If you’re working for a company that can get you in touch with a relocation company - obviously that’s a great help.
• “This can put an enormous amount of pressure on a relationship. You learn a lot about yourself and your partner and your relationship. In the case of me and my wife it strengthened our relationship. We were fortunate that we both work for the same company and the company was able to provide work for us in both countries.
• “Moving to London was a great first step for us. It was different enough for us to learn about ourselves and what it is to live abroad and still close enough so that we could go home to Sweden on a weekend. We benefitted by not taking a giant step immediately. We have no plans to ever move back to Sweden - that’s how much we like living abroad.”