A new country, a new city, a new culture. Expat partner Tatyana Bulakh left Amsterdam for Boston over a year ago. Her tip: “Don’t sprint, take your time.”
Tailor-made
Tatyana had a great job in the Netherlands, their first child was four months old and Boston was just around the corner. “I was quite nervous. I wanted to put our family first but at the same time find a job. A partner program was offered from the company. I think a big advantage is that it is tailored to your needs. ‘What do you need?’ is the question they ask you. I greatly benefited from the cultural coaching program Cycles of Change in which I was made aware of the phases you go through when you have to settle in a new country. It gave me peace of mind that what you may experience is not strange.”
Own pace
“I was eager to get started in Boston. From the partner program, I chose to be paired with a coach. His first message: choose your own pace, come home to Boston and let’s start working step by step. That was what I needed.”
Practical tips
“The practical tips on what is important when applying for jobs in America were immensely helpful. For example, I was given the tip not to start talking about my personal life in job interviews but to switch directly to my work experience. The same goes for the structure of my CV. The emphases are just different. From there on everything went faster than expected, and before I knew it I had a job. Even with the contract, the coach checked with me to make sure there were no strange things in it.”
Different work culture
It didn’t stop there. Because I wondered how to behave in the American workplace culture. Positivism rules, and things soon become ‘fantastic’ and ‘great’ during meetings. Very different from the Netherlands. Here, too, I got the message: ‘be yourself and grow into it slowly’. After a month, I had some doubts about the job and was able to spar. My coach advised me to stand back for a moment, look at our family perspective and what I had achieved in a short time. That helped me see what is important and also feel proud. Now I am really settled with our family in Boston and enjoying my job. It’s just amazing!”
Photo: Tatyana Bulakh
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