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The chance of spending a few years abroad at the company's expense can seem like a dream come true. With the prospect of no rent or services to pay for, a fat yearly allowance of airline tickets, school fees paid and the chance to save some money, a spell as an expatriate can be tempting. But if you don't take time to consider the true impact your decision will have on your career, then mistakes can be made. In 1992 Paul Richardson was delighted to sent to the Middle East by his financial services company. With his wife and their new baby, and the opportunity to be General Manager, it all seemed too good to be true. He would be able to exercise his talents, implement new strategies and use his ebullient personality to make the company lots of money out of local businesses. Five years later he had achieved just that.

'I was a big fish in a small pond and enjoyed the lifestyle immensely, but it was time to come home,' says Richardson. 'We now had two children, my wife was keen to pick up her own career and there was nowhere else I could go careerwise and stay out there.'

'My achievements abroad count for nothing now,' he complains. 'I am now a Divisional Manager and work as part of a team. Being a tiny fish in a huge pond makes me feel really frustrated. My career has regressed. Before I went abroad I knew that the company had no definite career path programme for overseas staff, but chose to ignore it. Now I'm regretting it big time.'

Richardson blames himself. His success abroad had made him arrogant, and he ignored the need to network and research the new job back in England before he came.

'I wish I had been less gullible and more cynical,' he says. 'Two years down the road I am still unhappy.'

Anne Isaacs is a Director for Executive Action, a company who specialises in giving individual advice on career development to senior management. She is adamant that time abroad should be considered carefully and worked into the career development strategy.

'Try to go away for no more than two years, or else you risk losing touch with new developments and your vitally important network of contacts,' she advises. 'Unless you maintain contact in your home country you will find it increasingly difficult to readjust and reintegrate on your return.'

This is not true of all industries, of course, with the oil industry, perhaps being a good example of a career that is only enhanced by experience of a variety of countries.

'Consider your location carefully,' Ms Isaacs continues. 'If you spend too long in a place that has totally different working patterns from back home then you could find no market for those new skills when you return. Most European locations are tremendously valuable, however.'

People who gain too much experience in one area can find it extremely difficult to move away. Sales and marketing executives become so valuable once they have contacts in certain parts of the world that employers simply want to keep them there.

When you are thoroughly enjoying the lifestyle in foreign location it can be easy to ignore any worries about your career. Try to remain objective. Think very seriously about whether it may be time to go home or move on.