Login
IET logo - link to site homepage
Start of main content

Working abroad

A career in engineering opens many doors. This includes the chance to take your career overseas, temporarily or permanently. Working in another country and gaining new experiences is both personally and professionally rewarding.

Advantages of working abroad

You’ll be able to gain international experience, giving you a competitive edge. Most employers value international experience because its impact is two-fold:

Personal development

  • Improve your communication skills
  • Build on your confidence and independence
  • Expand your cultural awareness
  • Learn a new language.

Professional advancement

  • Colour your CV and stand out from the crowd
  • Gain new qualifications and professional skills
  • Impress employers with your initiative and flexibility

Still not sure? We’ve put together the things you should consider before digging out your passport...

Dealing with cultural differences

Cultural sensitivity is a very useful personal and business skill. Before you head off, spend some time researching the country and its restrictions, you wouldn’t want to find yourself unknowingly breaking the law!

Go to Cultural differences

Understanding your international qualifications

If you’ve decided to take your talents to new territories, you need to find out which qualifications are recognised internationally.

Go to International qualifications

The practicalities of working abroad

It’s not all fun and games, if you’ve decided to work abroad there are some important preparations to make.

Go to Practicalities of working abroad

We’re upgrading our contact centre to make it quicker and easier for you to speak to the right member of our team.

From Thursday, 30 to  Friday, 31 October, our phone lines will be temporarily unavailable while we upgrade our systems. For any urgent enquiries during this time, please email membership@theiet.org and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

From Monday, 3 November, we’re moving to one central phone number for all enquiries - which will be 0333 049 9123. This change will make it easier to reach the right team quickly and improve your experience. 

Thank you for your patience as we improve how we connect with you.

Close this message