Helping You Shape Your Future
Portable Careers
"A portable career is a career that you can take with you, wherever you go. It can gracefully move with you to a new city or new country - be it for several months or several years." (Megan Fitzgerald, Career By Choice).
Kathy Hansen of Quintessential Careers researched the topic and offers the following resources:
On LinkedIn Answers, respondents listed the following as the most portable careers:
- Medical (“Nurse aides and nurses, especially RNs, are in short supply everywhere.”)
- IT (“Technical skills are needed everywhere.”)
- Teachers (especially math and science) (See: http://bit.ly/codHH0)
- Administrative professionals can usually find work fairly easily (at least in years gone by).
- Anything that can be done online or via phone/Skype (e.g., virtual assistant; see http://bit.ly/da1Oj9)
- Freelance writer
- HR jobs (however, another respondent refuted that: “HR doesn’t work so well because of some of the radically different employment laws in various countries.”)
- Cosmetology
According to Military One Source, examples of high growth, high demand portable careers include:
- Business/Management
- Construction trades
- Education
- Financial services
- Health services
- Homeland security
- Hospitality management
- Human resources
- Information technology
- Real estate
A lot of material on this topic is out there. Here’s a list of selected resources:
- Transferable Skills: http://bit.ly/cWo1rW
- More Portable Career Opportunities for Milspouses
- Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA) (http://bit.ly/bslTFn) “provide portable career opportunities for military spouses. A portable career is a credential recognized in multiple states and helpful for obtaining job opportunities across the country. Portable careers will make it easier for a military spouse to find a job following a military move.” Also a PDF on this subject: http://bit.ly/cIQZVC (However, a source http://bit.ly/aat469 says this program was halted for review in Feb.)
- Prepare For a Portable Career - Use Existing MyCAA Military Benefits http://bit.ly/dqE6ev
- Home Staging - An Excellent Portable Career Option for Military Spouses http://www.evancarmichael.com/
- Military Spouse Help/Resources http://bit.ly/a6ixSK
- Military Spouse Careers http://bit.ly/bMzuAR
- Finding a Career You Can Take with You: http://bit.ly/cRbte7
- Book (2009): Married to the military: a survival guide for military wives, girlfriends, and women in uniform
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