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Job Hunting When You Return is a short section describing how to sell yourself to employers after you return from time abroad. If you have spent time working abroad, you may not know how to describe the skills you have developed, or you may be unaware of concerns a potential employer might have about you. This short section offers some advice on the subject.

Top Tips

• Reflect on your time abroad: Just because your domestic employers have not worked internationally, does not mean the skills you developed abroad are not valuable. Think of the ways you have changed and improved since leaving your home.
• You may have fallen behind: While you’ve been abroad, there may have been computer software improvements, technical changes, updates to standard business models, etc. Consider hiring someone to teach you about these changes.
• Don’t be a show-off: Domestic employers want to know how your international experience prepared you for the position in question; they do not need to hear that your host country abroad is superior to North America!
• Be sensitive to a potential employer’s concerns: An employer may be nervous that you will want to go abroad again soon, that you have fallen out of step with Western business models or that you will have trouble re-adjusting to the fast pace of the North American workplace. Be sensitive to this and calm his fears.

Further Reading

Read the articles below, from The 4 BIG Things, to learn how best to describe the skills you acquired while abroad, and tap into your networks to continue your career after returning home.

• Coming Home
• Understanding & Explaining Your Skills
• Talking to Potential Employers