Build an International Employment Profile: International Careers and Jobs

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Build an International Employment Profile
International Careers and Jobs

• Mark Brostoff
• Associate Director
• Undergraduate Career Services Office
• Kelley School of Business
• October 2005

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International careers dont just happen

• They are carefully planned and built up over a
  period of time
• Gain international internship experience before
  considering work abroad
• The key to gaining international experience is to
  dive into all things international
• Build up a host of international experiences
  before you are ready to start applying for
  professional international jobs.
• And the great thing about building these
  experiences is that you can have a blast doing
  it!

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Getting Started

• International careers are built on experience in
  various areas.
• Preparation, preparation, preparation
• will improve your odds of getting a full-time,
  professional international job after you graduate.

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Academic Studies

• An MA is a prerequisite for most international
  positions
• social sciences, pure sciences, and business
• less important in health careers, engineering,
  and computer science
• A BA in any field with outside electives broadens
  your skills inventory
• Include language skills with all types of
  disciplines
• Other academic experience is important
• Attend or help organize a conference
• participate in a professor-led research project
• work as a teaching assistant
• participate in academic competitions
• become a tutor
• actively seek to work on team projects and
  preferably team up with foreign students.

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Networking and Cross-Cultural Experience

• Network with at least three international experts
  in your field of interest.
• For example, write essays that require you to
  speak directly to someone working internationally
  in your field of interest.
• Guide foreigners who are new to your country.
• act as a tour guide for visiting professors
  assist with foreign student orientation or teach
  English as a second language.
• Befriend foreign students on your campus.
• Join foreign student social circles on campus
• visit with them in their homes
• become familiar with their food and social
  behavior
• try to pay a visit to them and their families in
  their home country
• actively participate in foreign student
  associations.
• Become socially active and knowledgeable in a
  culture other than your own.
• ethnic social clubs
• become knowledgeable in one or more fields of
  ethnic music
• focus on the writing or history from one region
  or country
• learn ethnic cooking

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Overseas Experience

• Work internationally for 26 months.
• intern or volunteer, preferably in your field of
  expertise.
• Try for two professional internships
• Study abroad for one or more semesters
• Study abroad in your field and learn a new
  language.
• Travel for 26 months.
• Do not underestimate the value of backpacking for
  six months.
• Interact closely with people from other countries
  in order to learn the skills required by
  international employers.
• Add onto your experience with a short trip.
• Be creative.
• Extend the value of all your international travel
  by combining two or more objectives while abroad.
• For example, take four months off and study
  Spanish full-time in Guatemala while living with
  a local family and having a full-time one-on-one
  instructor for less then the cost of going to
  school

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Hard Skills

• Proficiency in a new language
• Be able to speak and read another language
• Be an active listener and learn to pick up at
  least 20 or 30 words in any country you visit,
  however briefly.
• Economic and geographic knowledge of the world
• Gain a solid knowledge of the political and
  social forces shaping the planet.
• Writing and analytical skills
• Demonstrate these skills outside of course work
  by participating in a research project or writing
  for a web site.
• Computer skills
• Business skills
• business backgrounds that include strong people
  skills.
• such as strategic planning, financial management,
  and systems analysis.
• Other management skills
• These include project management, accounting,
  training, research, report writing, evaluating.

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Soft Skills

• Organizing, people, and leadership skills.
• Demonstrate these through work and volunteer
  experience, preferably with an international
  group, organizing an event, or as an executive
  member of a committee.
• Intercultural communications abilities.
• Demonstrate these by being conversant in
  describing patterns of behavior in cross-cultural
  work and social environments. Learn to
  professionally describe these real-life
  experiences.
• Coping and adapting abilities.
• Demonstrate these with examples of how you coped
  when living away from your support structure of
  family and friends.

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International Job Hunting Skills

• Essentials for finding international work.
• Experience has shown that those who are
  successful at finding international work have all
  done something extraordinary to land their first
  job.
• They have gone out on a limb, acted boldly (but
  politely), have been entrepreneurial, have
  sacrificed certainty and taken risks to gain
  international experience and land that first job.
  
• International employers are looking for
  individuals who are fully committed to
  international work and living, and your
  job-hunting methods should reflect this.

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Make the Commitment

• International jobs require a long-term commitment
• you need to invest in yourself to build an
  international IQ.
• this becomes a lifestyle, an outlook on life, a
  commitment to internationalism and cross-cultural
  learning.
• Go forth and have fun with the exploration!

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Managing Expectations

• Finding overseas or more broadly-defined
  international employment can be a long and
  exacting, sometimes frustrating but also
  extremely rewarding process.
• When starting your search, it is important to
  understand both the possibilities and limitations
  before you.

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Understanding the process

• Many organizations do not hire students straight
  out of college for positions abroad
• such employment is typically reserved for
  employees with considerable experience in the
  profession.
• many firms start initial hires in domestic
  offices, offering the possibility of working into
  a position overseas.
• Some companies are increasingly less willing to
  hire expatriates for their overseas offices,
  looking instead to the local employee pool.
• This is largely due to cost/expense issues
  involved.

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Making the process work

• Dont give up
• research and target firms in your job search that
  do a great deal of work internationally and/or
  have overseas offices, knowing that you will need
  to work your way to overseas employment or work
  internationally from a domestic base.
• Your Resume
• resume and cover letter are key to your job
  search.
• make sure you understand the necessary
  formalities, style, language and format
  particular to the firm, field, and country.
• Do not apply for a position until you know how to
  tailor your resume to the position.
• Internship or volunteer opportunities
• If you have the flexibility, consider a
  short-term position overseas during the summer, a
  long break, a semester, or following graduation.

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Other venues to consider

• Your first jobs abroad need not be career-focused
  in any narrow sense.
• If you have the time and inclination, low-level
  jobs such as
• apple picking in Spain or bartending at a Greek
  resort can open the door to traveling with a
  purpose.
• these positions can earn you valuable experience
  living, working and navigating abroad.

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Finally

• Securing full-time, permanent overseas placement
  through an online jobs site can be difficult and
  time consuming.
• Patience is required!

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Resources

• http//www.4icj.com/
• http//www.transitionsabroad.com/
• http//go.global.wisc.edu/
• http//overseasdigest.com/scams.htm

Sources 1. The BIG Guide to Living and Working
Overseas (Univ. of Toronto, 4th ed., 2004) at
www.workingoverseas.com.