“You’ve got the job, now pack your bags for overseas.” That is essentially what happened to me around six years ago, but I did know beforehand that some travel would be involved. More specifically, the initial training would be held overseas.
Prior to landing the job, I was unemployed and had been looking for work for several months. My daily routine consisted of browsing job ads online. One particular ad caught my eye. It was for a customer service role and mentioned that training would be provided overseas. As you can imagine, I eagerly submitted my application.
After completing two rounds of interviews and an online assessment, I was fortunate to be offered one of the positions. Around a week later, I met the other team members at a half-day induction session. The following day, the six of us departed Melbourne on a late-night flight.
We were headed for Oslo, Norway via Dubai (14-hour flight) and London (8-hour flight). After a quick stopover in Dubai, we boarded our flight to London.
Image: The modern side of Oslo, featuring the contemporary architecture of the Oslo Opera House. Source: office8 from Pixabay. Used with a Pixabay License. | Traditional Norwegian architecture in the city of Bergen. Source: Michelle_Raponi from Pixabay. Used with a Pixabay License.
We had been sitting on the plane (in Dubai) for maybe two or three hours, waiting to take off, when an announcement was finally made. The August heat had overheated the engines and we would have to disembark from the plane. We ended up leaving Dubai some five to six hours behind schedule, which had flow-on effects. We missed our connecting flight in London and had to be booked onto a new one. Anyway, we finally made it to Oslo around 10pm local time.
At the baggage carousel in Oslo our hearts sank when our luggage didn’t show up. All the airline could do was tell us that they would work on getting our luggage to us in the next few days. We were provided with a one-size-fits-all t-shirt (which I still have to this day) and some toiletries. It was around midnight by the time we checked in to our hotel.
In the morning, the team met up at the hotel for breakfast and we were given some good news for a change. Instead of going straight into a full day of training, we had been given the day off to rest and buy clothes and anything else we might need.
Later that morning, we took a lovely, scenic walk to a nearby shopping centre. Armed with clothes and other supplies, we returned to our hotel. That evening, we were reunited with our luggage.
The next day we commenced the first of six days of training. (Just to give a little bit of background, the Norwegian company had outsourced part of its customer service operations to the company that had hired me.) During most of the training days, we met with various members of the company including graphic designers, product managers and even the CEO. As the systems we would be using were fairly simple and straightforward, the main purpose of the training was to learn more about the company, its brands and expectations for its customers.
Our time in Oslo included a full weekend to spend entirely as we wished. I ended up visiting the Munch Museum (home to one of the versions of the famous artwork, The Scream), Viking Ship Museum, Fram Museum and the Nobel Peace Center. The weekend provided some respite from the long days of training.
With well-organised training, a comfortable hotel and free time on the weekend, it was an enjoyable experience overall. Even with the hiccups surrounding our journey to Norway and one of the team members unexpectedly quitting over the first weekend.
Overseas training/work trips can help to broaden one’s perspective of their work and create ties with overseas colleagues. I wish there were more of these opportunities within multinational companies. However, the pandemic has largely put a stop to this. With so many companies embracing digital solutions, overseas training and the overseas work trip may now be relics of the past.
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