I think it’s safe to say I’m a testament to the “go for it” approach. I came out here in January this year with my girlfriend, who had taken up an offer to do a post doctorate research project in Pardubice University.
I agreed to come with her and immediately set about doing a TEFL course as I thought it would be the only English language job I would get out here. After completing the course I came out here expecting to land a job in a language school teaching english to the people and workers of Pardubice. After a month of applications and little success I was at my wits end. I’ll admit I didn’t deal with it very well, I got quite upset a few times and wondered whether I had made the right decision.
I started this blog when we came over as a means of documenting our new adventure here in the Czech Republic and to let my family and friends know how we were getting on.
Because of this blog the director of an English company contacted me about potential freelance work, writing some content for their website redesign.
Getting on for three months later and I’ve been given more and more responsibility and I am absolutely loving it. I have a proper job now with a real opportunity to learn new skills and improve myself in a business environment. All of this from a blog! So those of you on the fence as regards the benefit of blogging just look at what it has done for me.
I worked in retail for 9 years, in the same shop, going nowhere, ceiling reached and nowhere else to go. Sure I could have gone into management and one of my former bosses often suggested it to me but I wasn’t interested. I wanted to get out and do something with my degree in journalism.
Now the job I have now isn’t exactly journalism related bit there are elements to it that I can utilise my skills for. I always said to my friends I’d never do an office job, but now I have one I love it. There is real scope for promotion and career development and honestly it’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.
I am hugely HUGELY grateful for this opportunity and I have to pinch myself every day I go into work as it really is amazing what has happened to me.
I’m going to embrace this opportunity and get the most I can out of it, they were kind enough to extend the olive branch to me, the least I can do is do my best to return the favour and do the best I can for them.
So yeah get out there, forget your worries and just jump into the seeming abyss. You never know what life may present you with.
Czeching Out Tasmania 
Congratulations! It’s wonderful to see how things are falling into place for you — and it gives me hope that the same will be true for me, whenever I finally muster the courage to take my own leap of faith. Great post!
Love it, happy for you James! It’s a cliché but so true: 90% of success seems to be just getting your ass out there. If you make an effort to treat people with respect and do your work well, fantastic things can happen. It’s too easy to sit around and expect life to come to you (which I’ve been guilty of plenty of times).
I recently got a gig as a tour guide here in Paris, which is something right up my alley, allowing me to stay in “Paris mode” while getting paid for it. It’s a relief to finally see my life moving in a direction that I wanted, rather than just another compromise to get by. Hooray for successes in a foreign land! God knows we expats need to catch a break from time to time. 🙂
That’s great to hear man! Sounds like a dream job and definitely something you’d be very capable of doing well. Enjoy it 🙂