Career Issues in International Assignments

M uch research in international human resource management has focused on the selection and training of personnel for overseas assignments, such as the criteria for selecting candidates and training programs to prepare personnel for cross-cultural encounters. An often neglected area of research in international human resource management is what happens to the subsequent career path of the individual upon return. In other words, did the international assignment have a positive impact on the person's overall career development and subsequent advancement in the organization? In this article I will explore some of the career issues associated with repatriation. The findings presented here are based on in-depth interviews with the vice-president of foreign operations or the vice-president of human resources in 17 European, 18 Japanese, and 11 Australian multinationals. In many cases, people who have served on overseas assignments in their respective companies were also interviewed. These findings were compared with those from interviews with the director of human resource management in 20 U.S. multinationals and a questionnaire survey of 80 U.S. multinationals. (The multinationals from the various countries came from a variety of industries and services, including automobiles, banking and finance, steel and chemical manufacturing, general trading, and so on.) Career Issues in Repatriation