Overseas experience

Overseas Experience (OE) is a New Zealand term for an extended overseas working period or holiday. It is sometimes referred to as "The big OE", in reference to the extended duration of the travel: typically at least one year, and often extended far longer. It is however generally expected that the person returns after a few years with work and life experience and a wider outlook. This is considered important to career development, especially among professionals.

From the 1950s, OEs were often centred on London, and were described as "going home", a "working holiday", or an "overseas trip", until the term OE was popularised by New Zealand cartoonist and columnist Tom Scott in the mid 1970s.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ ...was coined by the father of Massey University lecturer John Muirhead, who used it in the 1960s. Writer Tom Scott heard it when he was a student as Massey, and later used the term freely in his "Listener" column, and it rapidly became part of the language., Max Cryer, "The Godzone Dictionary: Of Favourite New Zealand Words and Phrases"
  2. ^ "There and back again: The big OE", Shane Gilchrist, 9 Mar 2014, ODT
  3. ^ "Unpacking essence of the Kiwi 'Overseas Experience'" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 11, 2008. Retrieved 2009-07-24.