S5 Ep2: Brett Cooper

After 21 years with the one employer and a life across multiple countries in Europe and Asia, it is somewhat ironic that Brett Cooper has now ended up in one country with multiple employers.

Such is the adventure of an expat-repat!

Brett’s career with Phillip Morris started in Sydney and took him to Switzerland, the UK, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. He hadn’t been on a plane until he was 18 but certainly made up for it after seeing his colleagues take the leap and making the international move himself.

Taking career chances and moving countries allowed Brett to build skills across corporate affairs, human resources, and general management.

Despite having a breadth of skills, Brett was still concerned about coming home and started planning well in advance.  Turns out, this wasn’t enough time.

In this podcast, we talk about how Brett navigated the recruiter scene back in Australia and why he decided in the end to pursue a portfolio career.  We discuss how this style of career has been the best one to not only leverage his skills but to give him the lifestyle flexibility that he needs to manage his kid’s transition back to Australia – and to ensure they lose their American accents!