Expats rank Switzerland as the best country in the world for career prospects, according to a new survey.
Two out of three expats say they earn more in Switzerland than salaries in comparable jobs at home, 53% say the working culture is good and more than 40% feel they have better job security, data from the HSBC Expat Explorer survey reveals.
Making up the rest of the top 10 best countries for a career are:
- Sweden
- Germany
- Russia
- Singapore
- United Arab Emirates
- Bahrain
- Hong Kong
- Saudi Arabia
- United States of America
The rankings were based on expats voting on eight factors, such as career prospects, learning skills, actual and potential income, job security, benefits and work/life balance.
Defining expat lifestyle
Although Switzerland gained the highest number of votes from expats, other nations won some categories.
Seven out of 10 expats in Sweden reckoned they enjoyed the best work/life balance, while almost two-thirds of expats in the UK felt the country was the best place to gain new skills even though Britain ranked 20th overall as the best place for expats to work.
Generally, the survey found that workers in Europe felt they had better job security elsewhere in the world.
The Middle East came out top for expat benefits and salaries.
Around two-thirds of expats in Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates earned more than they received at home.
Measuring career success
Many expats praised Singapore and Hong Kong for salaries and career prospects offered by employers, but felt both lack a good work\life balance.
“Career success has a different meaning for just about every,” said Dean Blackburn, head of HSBC Expat.
“Pay, the challenges arising at work and career progression are common measures for many expats, but others enjoy a better work\life balance. Everyone wants something different or a mix of the different options and sometimes making the right choices can be hard
“To help new expats make the right decisions about moving to another country, we’ve developed a career finding tool from the results of the survey so they can learn from the experiences of those that have gone before them.”
The survey asked more than 22,000 expats about the working and lifestyle experiences while overseas.
