Elevate your career potential with a global mindset

According to a 2025 digital nomad forecast, 39 per cent of Gen Z and Millennials intend to live and work overseas in the coming year. In Singapore, nearly two in three workers are willing to relocate abroad for work, according to Jobstreet, 72 per cent of whom are young professionals under 30.

There are many benefits to building a global career, says Dominic Ong ASA, CFO at Endowus, a digital wealth platform based in Singapore. Ong’s career has taken him to Taiwan, China and Australia.

“A global career shapes your perspective and sharpens your adaptability,” he says. “It forces you to operate outside your comfort zone — navigating different market dynamics, cultural nuances and communication styles. It teaches you to listen better, build alignment across diverse teams and lead with empathy. These are foundational traits for any senior executive today.”

What is a global mindset?

A global mindset is critical to accounting and financial professionals’ hopes for success when pursuing career opportunities abroad. It’s an outlook defined by the ability to adapt to new cultural norms, accept uncertainty, display a willingness to listen, build relationships and embrace different ways of doing things.

Ong says adopting the right mindset is just as important, if not more, than technical skills.

“Consulting early in my career taught me to be comfortable with ambiguity, but, more importantly, it taught me to embrace roles that might not look like an obvious ‘step up’ on paper. Some of my pivotal career moves — especially the international ones — felt lateral at the time, but each unlocked broader opportunities down the line.

“I’ve learnt that opportunity rarely announces itself in a straight line. You need to be in the arena, building relationships and capabilities, and be ready when the right doors open.”

Resilience is key

Resilience is an asset when adjusting to a new environment, says career coach Kate Richardson.

“It’s important to recognise that there are going to be periods of discomfort. It’s not going to be easy. You have to have a level of resilience and the ability to overcome the small challenges that will happen every day when you make that level of change,” she says.

“People often talk about these experiences as being some of the most important learning experiences of their lives because they are challenging on every level. From both a professional and personal point of view, it asks you to dig deep and to navigate uncertainty and change.”

 

"International roles often develop you in ways you cannot anticipate, and those are often the experiences that catalyse real growth. Step out of your comfort zone and you’ll grow into the opportunity faster than you think."

 

It’s a sentiment that resonates with Lana Bozhko FCPA. Now CFO at Warakirri Asset Management in Melbourne, Bozhko worked in finance for two decades in Europe before arriving in Australia from Russia in 2017.

“Entering the Australian workforce with a global CFO background but no local experience and limited language fluency was a great challenge,” she says.

“I applied for hundreds of roles, and rejections flooded in. I couldn’t even land an assistant accountant role.”

When she finally found a permanent position in accounting, she grabbed the opportunity to undertake an audit of financial processes and engage in business strategy development in her first month.

“Within two months, I was appointed the general manager for finance,” she says. “I worked in that business for five years.”

Cultural norms and skill sets

Working in a new country also requires adapting to new cultural norms and practices. As she started in her Australia-based role, Bozhko became aware of distinct differences between local and European workplaces.

Even an act as seemingly innocuous as chatting with colleagues was a source of culture shock. In her roles in Europe and China, small talk unrelated to work was considered “a waste of time”, she says. But, she learned, “in Australia, small talk is an essential part of work culture. It builds trust with your colleagues, managers and direct reports.” 

Bozhko had to adjust to other differences, too. She discovered that in Australia, soft skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and communication were often valued more highly than technical skills, and she had to upskill to catch up.

“I had to develop these soft skills to adapt to the Australian market,” she says.

Build new networks

Relocating to a new country often means establishing new networks from scratch.

“I always encourage people to ask for insights and advice from people who are in the role they see themselves in, so they can better understand the skills required to secure that role, and the ways they need to talk about themselves and present their experience, especially in a different market,” Richardson says.

Before she left Europe, Bozhko reached out to a range of recruiters to forge connections and arrange meetings once she arrived in Adelaide. “We met for coffee so they could get to know me and what I could do, my skills and how I could contribute to local businesses,” she says.

These networks can be personal as well as professional.

“Every move — whether to the US, Sydney, Hong Kong, Taipei or Singapore — meant rebuilding my network and re-learning the local way of working,” Ong says.

“What’s helped most is finding a tribe: people with shared interests, whether through industry, life stage or sport. Picking up the local jargon, even basic phrases, goes a long way.”

Be open

Ong recommends being open to opportunities, however left field.

“Don’t chase only titles or pay jumps — be equally open to lateral moves that stretch you. International roles often develop you in ways you cannot anticipate, and those are often the experiences that catalyse real growth. Step out of your comfort zone and you’ll grow into the opportunity faster than you think.”

It’s never too early to start networking. “The best time to start building a new network is when you first begin planning [to work overseas]. You’re planting a seed today that might sprout down the track, as well as gaining valuable insight and advice on how you might approach your shift,” Richardson says.

A commitment to continuous learning will strengthen the ability to build relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds and to work in different cultural contexts, Richardson says. “Make sure you’re continually open to being flexible and learning about different ways of doing things.”