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Knowing how to sell your international skills (no matter your experience level) allows you to maximize the career value of your cross-cultural experiences and put your best foot forward as you enter the international workforce. Before being able to sell your skills, you must take stock of your professional self, uncover your talents and "package" them for potential employers. Here are a few key tips on the process:

Top Tips

• Know how to sell yourself: Getting hired takes more than a good resume (although this is a prerequisite) – it takes charisma, networking skills, self-knowledge and confidence.
• Conduct a skill-search: Analyze your professional self and ask for the input of past employers and colleagues in order to come up with your defined skill set.
• Present yourself as a professional: Students have a tendency to talk in terms of what they are studying instead of in terms of the type of professional they hope to be. Have you just finished a master’s in economics? Then present yourself as an economist!
• Write an elevator pitch: You need to have a two-paragraph description of yourself fine-tuned and at the ready. You never know when you will be given a short opportunity to sell your professional self to a potential employer!
• Experience and skills are two different things! Make sure you incorporate personal international and cross-cultural experience as well as your professional history, academic achievements and skills.

Related Reading on the main MyWorldAbroad site (for registered users):

• Who Are You? What Are Your Skills?
• The International Elevator Pitch
• An Inventory of Cross-cultural Skills
• Marketing Your International Experience to Employers