Students always ask a standard set of questions about international job hunting:
• How do I find a job in a specific country?
• How do I get a visa to work in that country?
• How do I write a country-specific resume?
• Where can I find a list of employers abroad who hire international staff?
• What should I study to better my chances of finding an international job?
All of these questions point to major myths about the international job hunt.
What Are The Myths?
• A country-specific job search is the most effective strategy to go about finding professional work abroad.
• Domestic employers in foreign countries often hire young professionals just graduating from university or college.
• There are a limited number of fields in which a young professional can find international work.
This Quick Guide lays bare many of these myths and will help steer students and young professionals toward a more effective international job search.
Low-Skilled, Country-Specific Work
For The World Traveler
Backpacking world travelers can generally find low-skilled temporary work in their country of choice. Legal work permits are a challenge to obtain, and often travelers end up working under the table for local firms, but there are organizations (e.g. BUNAC in the US and SWAP in Canada) that can secure short-term work visas for many destinations. Short-term or short-notice jobs in specific locations tend to be low-skilled, in retail or service sectors, and are often seasonal and/or tourist-oriented (working in a pub, hotel, or picking grapes). These experiences are great for building global perspective and cross-cultural skills, but not necessarily career experience.
A job seeker’s main goal in scoring this type of work is to understand the domestic job market and how to write a resume geared to the norms of that country. As an outsider you have many challenges to overcome, and the traditional approaches to job-hunting, such as communicating with employers via e-mail, are generally not effective. Impress employers directly with your charm, personality, and an in-person sales pitch.
International Work For The Young Professional
While the goal of country-specific work can be practical for a backpacker looking for low-skilled work, students serious about scoring career-building experience need to ramp up their job search skills. Professional international job hunting is different, and you need to know the lay of the land to navigate successfully. This is not only true when looking for your first professional job, but also when seeking a career-focused internship abroad during your final years of college or university.
Most often, when young professionals attempt to get jobs with domestic firms in foreign countries, they don’t even overcome the first hurdle of gaining a work permit. Not only do these young professionals have to convince the targeted domestic employer to sponsor their visa application; they often have to prove to the government that no other native citizen is qualified to do the work that they plan to carry out. This makes a country-specific job search difficult, if not entirely impossible.
Major myths surrounding international job hunting can be debunked when we identify who the key international employers are. It may come as a surprise, but young professionals almost never work abroad directly with domestic foreign firms. The great majority of Americans who work internationally do so with US-based firms, US-based NGOs (non-governmental organizations), the US government, and, to a lesser extent, international organizations. The same is true for Canadians. It is very rare for North American professionals to work abroad with local firms unless they are well-established in their careers.
Most international employers are based right here in North America. Eighty percent of people who go abroad do so with a US or Canadian-based employer. As job seekers (rather than low-skilled workers) you will not be doing a country-specific job search, researching visa requirements, or writing country-specific resumes. When you are going abroad with a home organization, it is the employer who arranges the visa and, in most cases, designates the country in which you will be working.
So how do you find an international job when the employer is based in your home country? Carry out a sector-specific rather than a country-specific job search. With a sector-based job search, you target your search and find out who the international players are within your field.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to study a particular field in order to find success abroad. Every field has an international component, and you can research companies and organizations operating at that level.
You must identify employers who regularly send employees abroad. Contrary to conventional thinking, large multinationals like Pepsi or General Motors rarely send people abroad, and, if they do, they tend to send only senior or long-term employees. You need to identify organizations whose mandate is “international,” such as international engineering, health, finance, disaster relief, teaching, research, etc. Don’t ignore small and medium-size firms, since they often send junior workers abroad. Hunt for international consulting firms in your field as well.
Where To Start
To begin your search, decide what type of organization you wish to work for: private firm, NGO, government, or international organization. The BIG Guide Online offers the largest list of international employers available in any publication (over 2,100 organizations are profiled). And, contrary to the convention of many international job books, the guide is organized by sector, not by country: US and Canadian NGOs, US and Canadian private sector firms, international organizations, and government.
Once you have identified your target field and the type of organization you wish to work for, research exactly who the international players in your field are. It can be helpful to track down international experts in your field and ask for career advice: Who are the players? How do people traditionally break into the field? Your goal is to uncover the international hierarchy of organizations within your area of work.
Begin by identifying the world umbrella organizations representing your field and the international organizations regulating your industry. These organizations will have regional bodies, national associations and, most importantly, institutional members (private sector firms, NGOs, government departments) that are located in your home country. At each level in this hierarchy, there is a rich layer of potential international employers.
As you research, you’ll uncover a wealth of information. Web sites and trade journals focused on the international aspects of your field will point directly to internationally active organizations. They will also list job openings and point you towards other job boards. The organizations themselves will list current projects, provide lists of member organizations and describe areas of specialization. Names of international experts, detailed lists of firms with active international contracts, and lists of international consulting opportunities can also be found. There will be postings for internships and scholarship programs, research grants, professional courses, and international conferences. These are the resources required for scoring big in the international job search process.
And now - go that extra mile!
With your abundant research material, you must now apply extra entrepreneurial zeal to your job search. Be bold and forthright when contacting employers. Entry-level job seekers are most successful when they do a series of small extraordinary things during the job search process, finding jobs using alternative or back-door strategies. Read more about these strategies in our other Quick Guides, and good luck with your search!
