Working in malaysia

Hi there, To be perfectly honest I doubt very much that your experience will help you in the field of tourism in Malaysia. Most guides are locals and tourism is not an easy field for a foreigner to get into. If you speak five languages then perhaps the better option would be to study hospitality and try to get into the hotel business. It's worth to spend the time and money to re-study as I believe you could become successful in hotel business. One of my relatives is in her mid thirties and began with the Accor Group working for Mercure, Novotel etc, then progressed to the Bonnington Group and is now a Manager for a Marriott hotel. So, if I was you then I would consider studying again rather than depending on just your languages and communications skills.

Hi Mike,

Thank you for replying and thank you very much for being honest. This is what i need an honest answer! The reason i took tourism was because of the fact i speak 5 languages but it could be easily another type of work. As long i can work with ppl! I've worked for 5-6 years in restaurants for as cook and waiter and in fact i'm actually a cook graduate but after many years in the sector i decided to changed and worked my way up to the immigration department in Brussels. You are advising me to restudy but wouldn't it take years (again) for me to graduate? It's not that i don't have patience but...

Well I was a Petroleum Geologist/Engineer for 7 years, then I studied Mandarin in order to come out to Asia. Then studied Mandarin in Taiwan with a scholarship for a year, then got a job as a Sales Manager in HK for a Freight forwarding company, then as a Marketing & Commercial Manager for a subdivision of a large Heavy Engineering Group in China/HK (because I could speak Chinese). After that decided to start my own garment business in HK including designing ladies ready-to-wear (if you can believe it) and then after 1997 when HK returned to China I became an importer/wholesaler/retailer in France, followed by being a buying agent for asian products to the West. Now running other businesses in this part of the world and the UK.

My point is, I don't think immigration experience is going to be all that useful. But your languages and pr experience and even your chef experience seem ideally suited for the hospitality industry. Sometimes we have to take a step back, re-study or take a big pay cut in order to move in a more promising direction. If I were in your position that's what I would do, but then that's just my personal opinion. And, if you can get in the hotel business and work your way into one of the top hotel chains you can have a great future 

Hmm what i can say about your job/life experience is the following... WOW!
My dear friend (if i'm allowed to call u that) it's from ppl like u that i rather learn because it's ppl like you who are going for it! I could easily say well yeah...it was a nice idea and leave it at that, or i could say i have to do it and try it out and if it doesn't work then is ok at least i have the experience!  Don't u need anyone working for you in Malaysia?

Well I just think that we all need to be flexible and prepared to do different jobs these days. I know so many people that have stayed in one field all their lives such as one of my best friends in the UK who is a local government CEO. He spends his time worrying about losing his job because the government is always restructuring and he has nothing to fall back on. And I always say that since we only have one life then we'd better enjoy it the best we can. When you are at the stage of having not much money and no job and living in a crappy place like the UK, then that's the time to make big changes in your life and see where it leads you.

It's funny for you to say that in the UK government leads to not being sure if u'll have a job tomorrow because of the  restructuring and such where we in Belgium are actually going to the government for the reason being secure of having a job!

Hi what 5 languages? If its French, German, English etc then less useful in Malaysia. As said above tourism is  a local job. Hotel jobs are given to foreigners, but those that I have met were all brought in or recruited overseas. The pay is low and work is hard.

As I always say it is madness to come to Malaysia to "get a job" as it often fails. With your lack of any really worthwhile (to the Malaysian economy) skills you either network like mad and get lucky, or move on to where jobs are easier eg Dubai or Europe where you won't have visa issues. I have an expat friend here who has been offered a job after a couple of months of hard networking and has a lot of senior experience in marketing (including China) and is fluent in English and Mandarin. That makes someone employable although it still took some time to find something.

Well it's always been the same in the UK. They keep on restructuring things, County Councils take over other councils and stuff like that and people get axed. It's not like in France where you can be as lazy as you want and never lose your job, so I guess Belgium follows France in a way. That's why more than half the workforce in France is government employed and why the french have that awful functionnaire mentality.

Yep the languages won't help much here unless you are lucky. By the way, my sis in law worked in Asia for the Accor Group (Mercure Hotel), then moved to Dubai and progressed to Accor's Novotel, then moved to the Bonnington Hotel in Dubai and finally moved back to Asia to manage a Marriott Hotel. Hospitality is just one decent option in my opinion. Good thing is that once you get to a decent level you can travel around the world.

If you are basically an administrator, it would be difficult to get into that type of work here because of the need for local languages. You could check your embassy here to see if they are hiring. But usually jobs go to spouses of nationals already resident in the country. As Malaysia is slated as a food paradise, perhaps returning to your initial career roots is the only way to work and travel.  I guess you know about Catererglobal.com and hospitalityonline.com

Many European chefs, who have probably already worked elsewhere overseas or in Asia, group together and set up restaurant businesses.  It's a tough market and even good restaurant come and go. So without importing and supplying activities, there is probably no pot of gold.

As you are in the civil service, you might want to see if you could work as an international civil servant in one of the UN agencies around the world. However, it is very competitive indeed and a lot of positions are based on geographic representation i.e. there can never be more than a certain number of staff from any one country. http://unjobs.org/duty_stations

Why would you want to leave a secure job and go on an adventure?  Guess the problem of going for security is that it sucks you in and holds you hostage.  To be an expatriate you need to have a different mentality and not be afraid of giving up security and comforts.

You are correct, u need a different mentality for being  expat i completely agree with you!
I have always been on adventure...maybe i didn't find my place yet or maybe i need more...i don't know.
About starting a business elsewhere, i had this in mind for a while till i came to the fact that... i need MONEY!
I don't own a house which i can sell and with that money start a business...So finally the only thing that is left for me to do is work.
Are there any programs for volunteering? U see i have worked for many years as volunteer in many places...i worked for about a year in another country in program called EVS. I don't mind working a s a volunteer in another country, as long i can help and learn. So i was thinking about doing the same in Malaysia and meanwhile i'm helping i can search for a job locally?

You can be paid at least a stipend and work overseas with UNV - United Nations Volunteers

http://www.unv.org/en/how-to-volunteer/ … rvice.html

The work is mainly with UNDP and can be a good stepping stone to working for any of the UN agencies.

In Malaysia volunteering is just that - giving free help.

Thank you for your  options gravitas, I looked it up but it seems that it's not even sure u can work where u want. The chances are that u might end up in another country which  would have been fine in case I just wanted to work as volunteer anywhere (which was the case 10years ago)
I don't mind not being payed in case of volunteering...that's the whole point in volunteering! But I would want to be sure ill end up in Malaysia of course 

If you make it to Malaysia, don't forget to let us know. Its always good to hear the end of a story.