One Student's Experience Preparing For An International Career

EDITOR'S NOTES: The following is one woman’s account of building an international career from university through to a professional career. We hope it will give you some tips and some ideas about the many exciting options that are out there. 

An Attitude Shift

I grew up in a small town, hearing about my mother’s trips to see her relatives in Eastern Europe, flipping through old black-and-white photo albums, and throwing a dishtowel around my head to pretend that I, too, was a Slovak villager in my peasant dress and kerchief. By the age of 16, I'd heard much about “the old country,” but never had a chance to go. So, in 11th grade French class, when I heard about an opportunity to go on an exchange to Europe for three months, I jumped at the chance to finally see this mysterious other part of the world. Yet when the time came for me to go abroad, it was as though I was paralyzed with dread. I was leaving my friends and family to live with strangers and go to school in French-speaking Switzerland! What had I been thinking?

In the end, I went and struggled. I realized that even though I had always been a good French student that I couldn’t understand what people were saying. And even more frustrating, I couldn’t express what I was thinking and had to resort to the old “nod and smile” for many situations. I kept comparing things to back home and became very frustrated. What was the point of putting myself through this? I was miserable.

And then things changed. Almost three-quarters of the way through my stay, I realized that the onus was on me. If I wanted to be miserable, I could be. If I wanted to stay by myself, I could do that. If I wanted to talk only to other English-speakers, I didn’t need to put in the extra effort to meet Swiss people. However, it was also in my power to push myself to approach others and get to know the Swiss culture and French language. By the end of the exchange, I was more confident and brave, and I found myself communicating freely with people.

And when I returned home I wasn’t just toting souvenirs. I had a suitcase full of self-confidence -- something I certainly hadn’t packed to take with me on the way over. Let me describe my story, framing each part with a tip that you can apply to your own life:

TIP 1: Take the first step and get some international experience. Chances are you will be scared and have reservations, but this is normal. Do it anyway, and realize that no matter what happens, you will come back richer for it.

When I started university, I was accepted into a co-op program where I could specialize in one of three areas: teaching French, international trade or arts management. I was interested in all three areas, but I decided that the area most likely to have secure job openings would be in the French-teaching sector. During the summer after my first year of university, none of the co-op positions appealed to me. None seemed to involve speaking French, and most were looking for photocopiers in the guise of co-op students. I applied to a number of them anyway, but didn’t receive any responses, let alone interviews.

So I set out to find my own placement. We had been told in our co-op preparation seminars that we should be spending at least eight hours a day on our job search so I would break from my studies to checked as many online job boards that I could find. I was determined. After a series of disappointments, I heard a rumor that Air Canada hired students as temporary flight attendants during peak season, so I began to regularly check their Web site, but to no avail.

Finally, one day I found the information I had been looking for—a small message on a Web site stating that the airline was holding interviews in another city eight hours away. I tried to call the company to confirm that the information was correct, but no one I spoke with seemed to be able to definitely back up the details on the posting. I took a big leap of faith and booked myself a train ticket despite my friends’ and family’s warnings that I was probably wasting my time and money.

There were many obstacles along the way. First, the train crashed into three cars! We were delayed by over three hours and missed the connecting train. (Luckily though, nobody was injured, and looking on the bright side, I did get a free meal and train ticket out of it!) When I finally made it to the interview venue the next day (with time to spare), I was shocked to discover that the waiting line already spanned two floors. I waited for five solid hours to get inside only to find out that it was just a room with a bunch of chairs where we could wait to enter the real interview room next door.

And in that room there were more tables and chairs where we could wait until they called us individually for language tests and interviews. After all this, at the end I was told that they might not actually have any openings for students that year! It felt like yet another rejection.

Then I received a call the following week: Could I come back in two days for the second set of interviews as they were indeed hiring students? It was scheduled for a day when I had a music recital that counted for the final grade for a class I was taking. There was no way that I could leave. My heart fell, but I asked if there might be any other way that I could still work things out. I was informed that it might be possible to have an interview later on in a city closer to where I was living. I managed to change the interview date, and no fewer than three interviews later, I was finally offered the position!

Over the next three summers I had flights to Frankfurt, London, Zurich, Paris and Osaka. These experiences were rewarding in that they broadened my cross-cultural awareness and allowed me to explore a great deal.

TIP 2: Don’t give up when you face obstacles. When applying for jobs you will get rejected. And you will get rejected again. Keep checking back with employers, and don’t give up.

The following winter I changed universities and decided to pursue a degree in French and anthropology in order to combine what I loved best: languages and travel. I applied to the Vimy Ridge program through the Federal Summer Work Exchange Program (FSWEP) even though I'd been rejected the previous year. After my unsuccessful application, I'd contacted the interviewers to see if they had suggestions on what I could improve. They mentioned that the students who applied were generally all quite qualified and that often those who were on the waiting list one year were chosen the following year. Persistence seemed to be the key. Sure enough, after a brief telephone interview, I was invited to work at Beaumont-Hamel, a war battlefield site in northern France. To be honest, I didn’t know much about it, but springtime in France seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up!

TIP 3: Always contact prospective employers after an unsuccessful interview or application. Inquire as to why you were not selected for the job, and what skills or experience you can acquire to make yourself a better candidate. This information could hold the key to your future.

During this time, I also applied for several other opportunities, since I knew from experience that I couldn’t count on everything working out perfectly and it was best to cast my net as wide as possible to see what I could catch.

I found out that I could go on archaeological dig courses in Tunisia and have them credited to my degree. Also, my new university offered a large scholarship for a year-long exchange to study in France. I applied for these programs despite the fact that the French exchange deadline was a few days before I handed in my application.

As it happened, this time I was actually accepted to all three opportunities. I was in the pleasant position of having to decide between going to work in France or paying to take classes in Tunisia. In this instance, the prospect of making money won out. I studied for two semesters in the French Alps.

TIP 4: Cast a wide net. Apply to many opportunities abroad. You never know which will work out.

In France, the cost of living was higher than expected and I certainly learned the famous lesson about packing half the clothes and double the money. By Christmas, I was flat broke and was living off couscous (with no sauce, meat or vegetables—just couscous). I let out the word that I was looking for a job.

Soon, another exchange student told me about an organization that matched foreign students to local high schools to teach culture and language classes for a few hours every few weeks for a large honorarium. Around the same time, one of my professors told me a local school board was looking for an English teacher. I headed to both locations and was hired on the spot. Getting suggestions from my colleagues and teachers really helped me land these jobs. And showing up in person seemed to have more of an impact than just sending a letter by mail.

The school board needed someone so desperately that they facilitated getting my legal paperwork in record time. This taught me that sometimes it’s easier to find a job while “on the ground” and then tackle the administrative hassles rather than the other way around.
 
TIP 5: Be as personable as possible when you apply. Face-to-face direct contact shows your interest and makes you stand out more than your resume does.

My first summer back home, I once again worked as a flight attendant. One day at the airport I noticed someone wearing an Education Foundation jacket. This particular company was one that had always interested me—I wanted to work for EF, as it seemed to be a dynamic company in the field of international education, exchanges and youth travel.

I approached the EF employee in the airport and asked if we could chat while she was waiting for her exchange student to arrive. I told her that EF had always appeared to be my dream job and quizzed her on how she landed her position and what her tasks were. At the end of the conversation, she gave me her boss’s contact information. I called her the next day, and—after an interview—I was hired on the spot and managed to sign an agreement where I worked at EF (locating host families for exchange students) on the days when I was not working for the airline.

TIP 6: Network. You never can tell who may know someone or knows someone else who is looking for someone exactly like you. Inform everyone that you’re looking for work.

While applying to go on exchange to France, I noted that there were other students who were also working at the office. I thought that this would be the perfect job for me, since I was convinced that travel and study abroad had expanded my outlook and improved my language skills and self-confidence. If anyone could sell the benefits of going abroad, it was me!

I inquired how the students started working at the office and found out that it was through a “work-study” bursary program that provided money for students to work on campus. Upon further questioning, one of the students mentioned that she was going to be leaving her position and that the office would be looking for a replacement.

Even though there was not yet an official job posting, I quickly drew up a resume and arranged for a meeting with the program coordinator who was in charge of recruitment. I was hired on for the semester before I left for my exchange and, upon my return, my boss told me that her supervisor was looking to fill a full-time assistant position the following academic year.

I didn’t quite have all of the qualifications or experience for the position, but decided to apply nonetheless. Family members criticized me for taking on a full-time position (not to mention one that didn’t pay very well) during my studies. I took a running leap and plunged forward anyhow.

And I got the job! Over the next year, I had many opportunities to take on responsibilities outside of my job description and as a result I made a number of contacts abroad as well as others who were working in the field of international education and exchanges. And as a side benefit, since I was working for a university, I received free tuition and did manage to finish my degree part-time and in the evenings, despite my family’s fears that I would never finish.

TIP 7: Listen to your inner voice. Others who haven’t yet caught the travel bug may not understand your desire to work abroad and they may not understand that certain kinds of international work may be on a volunteer basis or that salaries abroad are not necessarily comparable to what they are at home.

While studying in France, I took a few courses on translation and thoroughly enjoyed them. Translation also seemed like a very portable back-up skill that I could use on a freelance basis, in almost any country. So, after a year of working full-time, I went back to school in another city to do a qualifying year toward a master’s in translation.

I needed a job to support my studies and went to visit the international office on campus only to find out that they had completed their hiring for that semester the day before my arrival. This time, however, my commitment to gaining international experience paid off: an acquaintance mentioned my name to a local NGO dealing with international education since I had previous experience in that area. The university had been contacted to see if there were any students who might be willing to replace a secretary who was working only part-time in a full-time position. I spent a good seven months diligently licking envelopes and making photocopies and assisting others in the office when I finished all my required tasks.

My extra efforts and attention to detail were noticed and that summer I was asked to stay on full-time as a program administrator to run a Government of Canada–sponsored youth internship program where I created contracts and other reports, recruited and selected interns, trained them for their departure and counselled them during their time abroad.
 
TIP 8: Be willing to work your way up.

Getting your foot in the right door is more than half the battle. When you’re young, you may need to work at proving what you are capable of doing. If you are in a position that does not require much creativity, find ways to do your basic job well, but also show that you can go above and beyond. With time, you will likely be given the higher level of responsibility that you have shown that you can handle.

At the end of the contract I had three weeks vacation before going back to school. I had always wanted to learn a third language to make myself even more employable in the international sector, and this break was a great time to do it. I searched the Web to find Spanish language schools abroad. The least expensive was in Spain, so I headed there on a cheap student ticket and lived with a Spanish family and took intensive Spanish classes. Not a word of English crossed my lips in that time. My Spanish-speaking friends were amazed at how much I had learned in such a short time—and I was, too.

TIP 9: Learn another language.

It’s amazing how many new doors open up if you speak the right language. Almost all of my job opportunities have been due to the fact that I speak both of Canada’s official languages. Speaking several languages also shows that you’re good at this kind of learning; you might be able to land a job in a place where you don’t speak the language on the assumption that you can pick it up easily.

I spent the next summer working as a guide in France on another battle site, and then returned to my NGO job. Unfortunately, a month after my return I was laid off. During one of my last days at work, I ran into an outside consultant who told me that one of his colleagues was looking for a translator to translate a large number of texts for a government contract. The texts were country-specific and each place had two components—one text was written from the perspective of a Canadian who had lived in that country for an extended period and the other text was from the viewpoint of someone from the host country who was currently living in Canada. After a short test translation and a bit of bartering about the contract, I was in business—for myself, as an entrepreneur gaining translation experience while continuing to learn about international work.

After reading about so many people’s exciting experiences living abroad, I again felt that pull to go overseas and I began looking for other possibilities. Through an international job listserv, I found out about an opportunity for a three-month development internship in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was invited to Toronto for an interview.

On my way there, I felt that nothing could stop me from signing a contract, provided they offered me the job. When I arrived, however, the organization was very unprepared and disorganized and my gut feeling was that I would have little support once I was on the ground. Although I was offered the position, something told me that I shouldn’t take it. And it was more than just fear of going somewhere I had never been. I felt that with this particular organization, in such a short time abroad my contribution would naturally be small, but I also feared for my safety without a solid support network. Once again, I had to listen to my instincts. 

TIP 10: Research organizations carefully and listen to your instincts before signing a contract. Signs of disorganization and lack of planning might mean it will be difficult for you to do your job or even maintained personal safety in a high-risk posting.

Only a few weeks after the tough decision to not take the internship, I received another phone call. Months before, when I had been working during the summer in Normandy, I had put in an application for another internship at the Canadian Mission to the European Union. I had even arranged to take the train to Brussels one weekend to meet up with one of the diplomats to ask questions about a career in the foreign service. I had had a telephone interview in December and had been advised that my interview went very well, but they had decided to take someone who had more of a political science background. I had kept in touch with the diplomat and advised her that I had been taking courses to enhance my educational background. So, when another opening came up, they called me from Brussels with an offer.
 
TIP 11: Make the most out of disappointments. Although it may not seem like it at the time, there are always other options. A layoff can lead to new avenues such as self-employment, and a missed opportunity often makes room for something new if you’ve cast a wide net. Stay optimistic and be persistent.

After three months of hard work in Brussels, I was offered an extension to my internship, but ended up coming back to Canada, as I had been offered a job as a program manager back at the NGO that I had been working at on-and-off for the last few years. I had kept in touch with my former boss and sent regular reports back home about my work at the Canadian Mission, so he thought of me when a job came up. I worked on programs with people from all over the world who were sponsored by the United Nations to come for training in Canada, with students from the Middle East and I also helped organize a conference in Ethiopia.

Since finishing that job, I’ve been working as a freelance translator and teaching English and French at a private language school in my city. To get the job, I called almost all of the language schools in my city and followed up by faxing and e-mailing my resume. One of the institutes that happened to be in my neighbourhood contacted me; this has been a good place to keep a hand in the international sphere while thinking about my next steps.

My long-term goal is to find international work that’s based in Canada. In the meantime, since I’ve lived and worked abroad mostly in Europe, I’d like to gain experience in other parts of the world to have a more global perspective. At this point I’d be interested in a few different short-term work experiences overseas perhaps in Asia or in South America where I could continue improving my Spanish-language skills. Right now, I’m at the edge and am just about to jump forward again.