Life is what happens when you are making other plans

People often ask, ‘Why did you move to Switzerland?’ So I figured I would write about it. Based on my post ‘Acting on Impulse’ you might think that it was my love for Europe that drove me there. Well partially, but not entirely. In fact, it was because I had spent time studying there that I actually did not want to go back.

Anyone, well maybe not everyone, who has travelled outside their home country becomes addicted, myself included, but for varying reasons. My personal reasons; mainly the sadistic pleasure of pushing myself outside my comfort zone, meeting new people and forcing myself to realize that there is a completely different way of living out there that my own culture and norms had never even considered. Not that I want to go move to a small village in the Andes Mountains and raise llamas, but I like seeing the world through somebody else’s eyes. You suddenly see unique details in the ordinary.

For professional reasons, this seed of desire was planted whilst studying in Vienna in 2002. The Euro had just been introduced and it was an exciting time – hey, this was a big deal! In my International Finance class, I had an Austrian banker, whose enthusiasm over the Euro was infectious. All of my classes had a European Union focus, and learning about Europe’s ability, or perhaps attempt, to cooperate under one government body fascinated me, especially when you consider the implications this has on the free movement of goods, services and people! The Financial Times Europe was like my version of a soap opera. May I remind you I was an Economics major and am now an MBA student so business and economic matters excite me? All that world drama jam packed in a few pink pages! And after having read the WSJ for so long with its US centric focus, I couldn’t help but having that ‘Oh shit’ feeling. I suddenly realized that whilst all this was going on outside the US, we were just puttering along as if events outside the US had no impact on us or our standing.

After learning all about Europe, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in the rest of the world. But at this point, I wasn’t going to find out because I had to head back to the U.S. to graduate and get a real job.

About a year and a half into my working career, I started to get restless. I was an auditor, how I fell into that profession is a whole other story, at a Big 4 firm and wanted to gain experience working overseas. Our firm had previously done an exchange in which our U.S. offices would send staff to Australia during their busy season (i.e. during their winter when it was summer, and therefore slower, in the U.S.). The firm’s recruiters had really sold us on the program until we realized after signing our offers that the program had been cancelled. I knew I wanted to have an experience like this, but didn’t even know where to begin to make it happen, so I did nothing - the worst thing you can do. But at least this time, I got lucky and someone else helped me get the ball rolling.

I will never forget that day, sitting outside with my team having lunch on our client’s patio on the bay and soaking up as much sunshine as possible before having to go back to the laptops for another eight hours of Excel spreadsheet misery. I mentioned to my colleague about how bummed I was that the program had been cancelled as I would have loved the opportunity to work in Australia.

My colleague, originally from South Africa and who had worked in New Zealand as well as done a three-month rotation in Sydney, simply said, “So, why don’t you?” My instant reaction was of course to repeat what I had just said – it was no longer possible because the firm had cancelled the program.

“Do you want to stay there longer than three months?” he asked. “Yes” I responded. “So why don’t you transfer there. I am sure they need qualified accountants” he suggested. And it was from this short conversation that I suddenly realized, and I have since put this lesson into practice many times, the importance of not giving up on something you are told is not possible – you just have to find another way. And I did; granted I had to try a few different ways.

The first approach; asking my firm to contact the Sydney HR office on my behalf to see if there was a need for someone at my level quickly failed. I waited months for the San Francisco office to get back to me, only to be told that our managing partner had made it a policy not to allow HR facilitate any transfers out of the SF office so as to keep staff in SF, and then I got a long speech about how I would be ruining my career in going overseas. I disagreed.

Second approach; after raising the issue with my South African colleague he fired an email out to his friends. As I watched the copied emails shoot back from London, Capetown, and Sydney I was amazed at the global reach, and finally, a contact for the Sydney office came through. I sent my resume over, and after an interview with one of the partners, received an offer. I had achieved my goal and was set on moving to Australia once I finished the last part of my CPA exam. But I never made it to Australia, and as of this moment, have yet to go.

One thing my father always told me was to always create opportunities, which I had just done, and to always ensure you have options. So when during the time I was waiting for my firm’s HR department to get back to me about Australia, my father rang me up and asked if he could send my contact details to a partner at a Big 4 Firm in Switzerland looking for auditors with my experience. I said sure – even though I had no interest in moving to Switzerland.

Life is full of coincidences and a month later, that same partner happened to be in San Francisco for business and asked to meet for a chat about me coming to work in Switzerland. I was very honest about my intention to move to Australia but figured I should at least listen to the alternatives. And listening to him talk got me thinking. Why was I going to Australia? What kind of experience was I trying to get, both personally and professionally? And so I agonized for some time over the decision. Australia would be fun. I could travel to places I have never been, live in a beautiful country, have the ease of living in an English-speaking country, and meet lots of friendly and outgoing people. Switzerland, now I loved living there, has a reputation somewhat of the opposite to that of Australia’s.

Cold, dark, people are conservative, and the Swiss language, Swiss German, is neither a written nor the most romantic of languages and is almost impossible for a non-native to learn. Everyone thought I was crazy to even be considering moving there over Australia.

Thinking about what I truly wanted; a completely different experience, working on a global client, preferably within the biotech industry, and with a global team –was only offered in Switzerland. Australia would be fun no doubt, but I wanted a challenge. In the end, I ended up applying to several other firms, taking a position at a competitor, mainly as they were able to offer me a role more I line with the skills I wanted to develop. And I had an amazing two years. So, next time someone asks me why I moved to Switzerland. My response? Because I was going to move to Australia.

Life is what happens when you are making other plans.