Build an International Employment Profile: International Careers and Jobs

1. Build an International Employment Profile: International Careers and Jobs C. Randall Powell, Ph.D. Indiana University Kelley School of Business

2. International careers don’t 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!

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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;

6. Overseas Experience • Work internationally for 2–6 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 2–6 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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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!

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Making the process work • Don’t 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.

14. 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.

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

16. 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.