Think Twice Before You Pursue Overseas Contractor Jobs
You can find highly profitable overseas contractor jobs out there due to our continuing involvement in the middle east. This probably isn’t new information to many people. LOGCAP, the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, is a US army effort that employees civilian contractors to work on engineering projects which support the United States’ military goals allowing the military consequently to focus more exclusively on those goals in Afghanistan and elsewhere. These positions are hazardous due to the fact that they are taking place in and around areas where there are active military objectives being pursued. They are arduous due to the fact that they are taking place in the punishing conditions of the middle east and in cramped, overcrowded and substandard conditions. They are demanding, requiring long hours in harsh conditions, thousands of miles from friends and family. And competition for them is ferocious. Why is that??
## The pay is good. Very good.
These are high paying jobs. There is no denying that fact. Afghanistan jobs with LOGCAP would otherwise simply be impossible to fill. A qualified individual will be making much more money than he or she could ever dream of making for the same job stateside.
## Opportunities at home are not what they once were.
When the economy is suffering (which it certainly is at the moment) and opportunities at home are scarce, people are forced to consider options they might not otherwise consider. There are many individuals with families to support and bills to pay applying for LOGCAP jobs who would gladly consider a less lucrative position that allowed them to stay home with their families if those positions existed. Sadly in many cases they don’t exist.
## Individuals sometimes hear only what they want to hear.
It’s so easy to get seduced by an idea (like a lucrative pay check and a path out of debt for example) and only listen to half of what you are being told. There are thousands of skilled ambitious and genuinely brilliant men and women who are told straight out that conditions overseas are dangerous and difficult but who’ve little or no frame of reference and have never really had to work and live in hazardous, challenging conditions. Many of them, because of this, feel certain that they will merely have to suck it up.
## Some individuals may have idealistic assumptions about what is going on over there.
There’s nothing wrong per se with patriotism of course, or self-sacrifice, or contributing to the greater good. What is inevitably a problem though is when you mistakenly assume that the people with whom you’ll be be working share those ideals. Often they do not.
Those considering securing overseas contract jobs should know that the salary is often for many men and women not sufficient to compensate for the conditions they end up facing. Know too that when people who’ve worked and lived in far tougher conditions than you ever have warn you that conditions are tough they should be taken seriously. These careers are a fantastic opportunity for the right kind of people however competition is not limited to the right kind of people and so if you want to apply be prepared to compete.
About the Author:
Are you planning to apply for one of the overseas defense jobs available? Find out more about defense jobs and contractors like Fluor, DynCorp, ITT and KBR on the LogCap4Jobs website. Information on KBR Par is also available.
