1. Your position. Request a detailed job description, including the exact title, roles, responsibilities, and the key objectives by which your performance will be measured. If you have a team, be apprised of their levels and titles, years of experience, reporting lines if not 100 percent to you, and overall roles in the office or plant and on your team. You can use this document in your annual performance review. It will also come in very handy if management changes during your time abroad.
2. Length of your assignment. There should be a minimum and maximum time allocation for your assignment and a clear delineation of what happens if either is not met. It is in everybody’s best interest to have a plan in place should the opportunity to extend the assignment arise. To that end, determine what criteria would be used to make that extension, and leave yourself some flexibility in case you decide to stay on.
3. Your reporting structure. Find out specifically to whom you report and where that person is based. Although it is not part of the contract, you’ll also want to know your supervisor’s experience, background, and nationality and—important to try to determine—whether you can learn from this person.