【Nikki Nova Archives】

Getting a job overseas is Nikki Nova Archivesthe dream for so many people, but it's hard to know where to start. New data from LinkedIn shows where Americans working abroad are already scattered, offering some guidance for the rest of us.

The most Americans working abroad are in London, with 18 percent of expat U.S. LinkedIn members stationed there for work.

Of the top 10 cities for U.S. expats, four are English-speaking: London, Sydney, Toronto and Melbourne.

Then there are the jobs in Asia: specifically in Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo.

Rounding out the list are Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam.

So what are all these people doing for work?

The most popular job abroad is as a teacher or language instructor. That's followed by sales managers, marketers, researchers, corporate strategists and consultants.

The industries overwhelmingly tend toward business and education. But the data is based on a sample of 25,000 LinkedIn members, so it is biased toward industries in which employees are more likely to use LinkedIn.

Fittingly, the most people working abroad are coming from Washington, D.C., followed by New York and Austin, Texas. But if you look at mid-sized and small cities, a lot of expats are coming from Tucson, Arizona, and Bloomington, Indiana. Who knew?

LinkedIn, of course, has rounded up the job openings available in each of the top 10 cities for U.S. expats, and London tops that list, too, with 80,000 open jobs.

But, hey, there are 40,000 open jobs in Tokyo if you want to look a little farther from home.

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