This is a YouTube video titled "The Benefits of Pursuing a Treasury Career Abroad with Brendan Boucher" containing a monologue or talk by Brendan Boucher recorded in 2023. Brendan shares his personal experiences and reflections on working internationally in treasury roles, discussing the challenges, rewards, and the importance of resilience and support when making significant career and geographic changes.
Having worked in gsk, very international group, that was a strength given the experience that I, that I'd had and something I'd already enjoyed. It's not just about the, you know, the occasional travel to some interesting places, but just the daily contact and interaction with colleagues from, you know, all parts of the globe. I really, really enjoyed that. So the international aspect was a bonus. It wasn't something I was absolutely looking for at the time. The more I thought about it, I thought this a, this is a great opportunity, but, you know, a leap of faith. You know, I think there's a, there are a lot of people that would say, yeah, I'd like to work internationally, but to, to do it as part of a change of company and a change of industry and a change of job level, in this case from, from 80 to, to group treasurer takes a little bit of courage. And you know, it was a step into the unknown and sort of looking back on it, it had a whole experience was probably the most challenging of my career and probably the most rewarding in my career in sort of equal measures. And it certainly requires a strong stomach to take that on. You have to be prepared to be out of your comfort zone. That's the number one I knew going to work in Vienna and you going to work in Dubai at the time, we're going to be different. But I couldn't articulate how they were going to be different. And you just have to be open minded and there's going to be some setbacks. My boss, when I moved to omv, was a very experienced cfo and he said, you're going to go home some days and say, what the hell have I done? Why did I come here? And my last day when I left the office, I sat with him, I said, I remember you telling me that. And there's plenty of days where I've gone home saying, how are we going to deal with this situation? This is stressful. But there isn't one single day I've gone home and said, I regret making the move to come here. So I think that's kind of the attitude you have to, you have to have. You're going to have some setbacks. It's going to test your resilience and, you know, test your sort of your family and your support network. Because this may sound like a small point, but you know, moving, if you've grown up in an area, you've got a network of family and friends around you, suddenly overseas, your only network in my case was my wife. So, you know, you become all things to each other. And you know, that could be good, it can be bad. It can certainly sort of test you out. But is a sort of family close together because you're more reliant on one another to help through the sort of the ups and downs. And I think that's what it is. You have to expect that the ups will be a bit higher and the downs might be a bit lower. Changing jobs might sound scary. It might not be the easiest. The easiest thing might be to do is to stay put. But I found it hugely rewarding as well. It's a steep learning curve each time you make a move, particularly if you're going into something unfamiliar, but something if you adopt it with the right attitude, one, it will benefit your career significantly. And two, you know, you find it hugely rewarding. You just have to be flexible and accept the ups and the downs.
