Getting your resume read is your next objective. Ways to search for a job include asking friends, relatives and teachers to help you; answering or taking out newspaper or journal ads; using a state or private employment agency (these usually do not have internationally related jobs), a professional association or a union. The traditional job-hunting approach is to mail hundreds of resumes and hope for a response. Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute? and a critic of this method, claims it does not work: "A study of a number of different companies has revealed that they send out only one invitation to an interview for every 245 resumes that they receive on an average. But this average represents a range between companies which consent to one interview for every 36 resumes they receive, and companies which send out only one invitation to an interview for every 1,188 resumes they receive." By sending your resume cold, you are inviting rejection.
Statistics indicate that 70% to 85% of all jobs are never formally advertised. They are publicized instead to a few people by word of mouth. If you are not in touch with one of the people who heard about an opening, you are out of luck. That is another reason why conducting LIS and networking are so important.
Bolles recommends researching the firms you are interested in working for and then contacting people in those organizations who are in a position to hire you. Present them with your thoughts about the company and how you think you can help solve its problems, help it make more money, make it more productive. Bolles believes that if you really research an organization and if you are a bright person, you will be able to convince someone to hire you, even if no openings exist. His methods, it should be noted, work best for mid- and upper-level jobs.
Other specialists suggest a more pragmatic approach. For example, career counselor Kirby W. Stanat, author of Job Hunting Secrets and Tactics, believes that job seekers should avoid personnel departments: they can make negative decisions with impunity, that is, reject you, but they can rarely hire you. Try instead to go directly to department heads, who are the people who really make hiring decisions. If this is not possible, try to get an appointment with the personnel officer. If you cannot get an appointment, just go to the firm and wait, all day if necessary, to see the personnel officer. If you use this strategy it is crucial not to surrender your resume until you can hand it over to the personnel officer yourself. If you give it to a secretary, you may be told you are not qualified and turned away.
Different methods are necessary for different organizations. Some companies do not have a personnel office; others will take offense if you arrive without an appointment. Others simply will not consider you without seeing your resume first. The key is to try to see the people who can hire you and not to rely entirely on mail or telephones to get a job. The specialists agree that your strongest selling point is yourself-your natural brilliance, personality and intelligence-and not your resume.
Cover Letters
If you have to mail your resume, send a cover letter with it. Some specialists believe you should only send a cover letter; most agree the cover letter is at least as important as the resume. Cover letters should be straightforward, typed neatly, personally addressed and should say some-thing that will make the reader want to meet you. They should also be short. Explain why you will be useful to the firm and what experience you will bring to it. Avoid duplicating wording from your resume. In closing, suggest an interview and inform the reader that you will be calling him or her on a particular date. Then, don't forget to call.
Interviews
Once you get an interview, your objective is to demonstrate your knowledge of the organization, your understanding of where you fit in and how you can help. Never go into an interview unprepared. To research a company, read current business magazines, visit your library and use the research directories listed in the bibliography.
It is also a good idea to practice answers to some commonly asked questions. For example, if you have quit a job, be prepared to explain why without sounding negative.
H. Anthony Medley, in his excellent book on interviewing, Sweaty Palms, suggests some basic interview rules:
- dress neatly and appropriately,
- arrive on time or early,
- call the interviewer by last name unless told otherwise,
- be enthusiastic, alert, honest, confident and polite and smile,
- keep the interviewer's attention by asking questions about the firm and making eye contact,
- try to find out something about the interviewer during the course of the interview so you can try to make him or her like you,
- make sure you clearly communicate your career goals and why this company needs you.
Follow up Letters
After you have interviewed with someone, whether for information or for a job, write a thank-you letter immediately. If you have made some contacts in the field, you might want to keep them posted on how your job hunt is going. When you do find a job, let these same people know. These letters need not be long or detailed. Their purpose is to say thanks and to keep you in the interviewer's or the contact's mind.
Most interesting professional international jobs require at least a college degree. When given the choice of hiring people with internationally related experience or without, even for an entry-level job, most employers will choose the person with experience. The best way to get experience is to start with an internship or two during the undergraduate years. Majoring in an internationally oriented field also helps, as does studying abroad or writing for your school paper or an international journal. Unpaid internships are generally not difficult to obtain, and with one or two under your belt you will have an easier time finding a paid internship or a job. In most cases, despite your work experience as an undergraduate, your first job out of college will be on the entry level. You may find the low-level work demeaning, but you will be "paying your dues," just as many professionals have done before you.
In international fields, paying your dues can be a long process. In international business, banking, finance, law and consulting, no employer is going to send you abroad until you are well versed in the domestic side of the business. In some firms it takes a while just to be transferred to the stateside international department. It is expensive for businesses to send Americans abroad, so the few that go usually have been with the company for a number of years. Banking, law and consulting tend to send qualified people abroad sooner than business. Because you might spend several years on your firm's domestic side, it is important that you like your company and its work.
In most companies, overseas jobs are considered plums. When you are posted abroad, be sure to keep open your lines of communication with headquarters. Otherwise you could jeopardize advancement in your career. On the other hand, if you are assigned to a post that is frequently visited by the company manager, you may have more contact than ever with the company and this could push you up the career ladder.
In international communications, overseas jobs are definitely promotions saved for the best and the brightest. You will have worked stateside for a long time or have had a meteoric rise before you are sent abroad. In translating and interpreting, you might find yourself interpreting for someone on a trip abroad. More likely, you will remain in the United States and take trips abroad on your own time and at your own expense. Travel will be encouraged, however, so that you can keep up with developments in your language.
In the nonprofit field, being sent abroad depends on your position. If you are in development assistance, you will only be hired if you have had previous overseas experience and will probably be sent abroad right away. This is also true of jobs related to health care, except that if you are hired as a volunteer you may not need previous overseas experience. In research,education, population work and youth-related organizations, you will probably not go abroad unless you hold a senior position. Even though many nonprofit organizations are almost exclusively international in scope, few have the resources to pay for international travel.
For government jobs, if you are in the Foreign Service, you may be sent abroad as soon as you have received your training. Prior experience abroad may not be required. In many jobs with the United Nations and other international organizations, you may also go abroad right away. For UN jobs, however, you generally need previous experience abroad.
Remember that for many employers, the fact that you know a foreign language and have lived abroad is less important than your professional training and work experience. Many employers would rather teach you a language than teach you a job.
