International Experience, International Skills

What are the benefits of international experience?

Whether you have studied, worked, traveled, or lived abroad, chances are you’ve begun developing intercultural competencies that are extremely valuable in today’s global economy. With that said, I often find that people have difficulty recognizing and articulating these transferable skills. Not to mention putting them to practice.

In Dr. Bruce La Brack’s web site “What’s Up With Culture?” you will find an extensive list of “Seventy-Five Positive Long-Term Outcomes from an International Experience,” categorized by the following:

1. Intercultural/Communication Skills, including a list of “Transferable Intercultural Skills useful in the workplace and often sought by employers”
2. Enhanced Worldview Understanding
3. Personal Capabilities
4. Increased Understanding of Own Culture

Also included are examples of how to translate these competencies into resume language.

By identifying and articulating these competencies, you will not only increase your marketability to future employers, but you will also consciously expand your learnings during future travels and intercultural exchanges. In other words, you will be more attuned to the importance of identifying and understanding culture-specific nuances that will help build bridges across cultural boundaries.

Check out the following article called “Doing Business in China”—What great value it would be to know and apply these tips when conducting business with Chinese clients and partners. This past year, I had the opportunity to spend one month in Shanghai and visit with community leaders and business professionals throughout the city. As I learned more about local values and customs, I was amazed as to how much more meaningful my exchanges became and how much more effective I was at establishing relationships. What’s even more exciting is that I still have much more to learn! Believe me: It’s worth the time and worth the intention, both professionally and personally. And in order to keep up with today’s world of work, it’s absolutely necessary.

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Career Planning: Where am I, and how do I move forward?

Many people think they have to know what questions to ask in order to seek career coaching. Au contraire. The career coaching process itself not only uncovers the “answers” but also the questions you may be seeking. Through my experience, I have found that people generally identify with one or more phase of “The Career Planning Process”:

1. Self-Assessment
2. Career Exploration
3. Decision-Making
4. Self-Marketing/Action

Read below to gain a glimpse of each phase and steps we might take to help us move forward.

Phase One: Self-Assessment

You may be in Self-Assessment if you are asking the questions:

• Who am I?
• What are my interests, skills, and work values?

How do we move forward?

• Career Intake: I developed a Career Intake to use during the initial career coaching session. For me, it’s the most instrumental part of the coaching process because it allows me to gain a clearer sense of who you are (i.e., educational background, experiences, etc.). Clients really enjoy going through the intake for two reasons: 1) It allows them to reflect on and articulate their experiences. 2) It provides a very personalized approach to career coaching.

In addition, I use a number of self-assessment tools, including the following:

• Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator®: Identifies your personality preferences. Helps you learn how to maximize your strengths in the workplace and during your job search.
  

• Strong Interest Inventory®: Identifies your career interests and compatible occupations.
  

• There are also a number of free online assessments—Check out the University of Waterloo’s Career Development eManuel.

Phase Two: Career Exploration

You may be in Career Exploration if you are asking the questions:

• What are my career options?
• What do these options entail?

How do we move forward?

As mentioned above, self-assessment instruments like the Strong Interest Inventory® can help identify compatible occupations. There are also exercises to help you clarify the type of work you want to do and the work setting in which you want to do it.

Once you have identified the options you want to explore, there are many approaches to researching them. You can use online informational resources like the Occupational Outlook Handbook and O*NET, and you can conduct Informational Interviews with people who are in the job or industry you are exploring.

Phase Three: Decision-Making

You may be in Decision-Making if you are asking the questions:

• How do I prioritize my career options?
• How do I decide which career option is the best one for me?

How do we move forward?

There are many reasons people become stuck in Decision-Making. In fact, I recently wrote a blog entry called “Decisions, Decisions” that addresses this very topic. As a Career Coach, I first work with clients to identify the source of the issue: i.e., a conflict in values, a lack of information, fear of making the wrong decision, pressure from others, etc. Depending on what the issue is, we would talk discuss what it is you need to move forward, whether it’s filling in missing information gaps or clarifying your decision-making criteria. The Florida State University Career Center also has a great guide to assist you with decision-making.

Phase Four: Self-Marketing

You may be in Self-Marketing/Action if you are asking the questions:

• How do I write a Resume/CV and cover letter?
• What are effective interviewing techniques?
• How do I adopt a networking approach that fits me?
• What are successful job/internship search strategies?
• How do I select and apply to graduate school?

How do we move forward?

The UC Irvine Career Center has great Quick Tips to assist you with all of the above. For those who would like more personal assistance, you can also gain coaching on customizing your Resume/CV and cover letter to each job and practicing sample interview questions.

Keep in mind: You may be in more than one phase of “The Career Planning Process” at a time. That’s not a cause for panic. It just means you are working on multiple areas simultaneously. And if you know what those areas are, you will know what you need to move forward. Also note that “The Career Planning Process” itself is cyclical, and we go through it several times throughout our lives. Why? Our career, just as our life, is ever-evolving. Our interests and skills evolve, our values become re-prioritized, and our life circumstances change, which ultimately cause us to re-evaluate and re-direct. Thus, the cycle continues!

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Layoff, Alarm Off?

Has your recent layoff sent you into a panic? It’s time to turn off the alarm!

Although sometimes welcomed, more often than not, layoffs can send people into panic mode. And understandably so. Why? The reasons may vary, including:

a) You “fell into” your first career without really knowing why, and now you are faced with the question, “What do I really want to do?”

b) You worked in your last career for a number of years, and the idea of marketing yourself again (or for the first time) feels daunting.

c) You have bills to pay! You need to find a job ASAP!

d) All of the above.



What to do? Let’s address “c” first. How do people financially sustain themselves during this transition? Some people receive a severance package; others may file for unemployment or look for temporary work.

Then what? While the post-lay off period can be challenging, it’s also an opportunity to re-evaluate your career path, make conscious career decisions, and learn effective self-marketing strategies that will serve you in your current job search and beyond. Doesn’t that sound appealing?

You’ve probably heard endless clichés about how “attitude” makes a difference. But before you roll those eyes, think about this: Your situation is what it is. You now have two choices: Seize the opportunity or wallow in doom. You can probably guess which one is more productive. Allow yourself a brief period to grieve and re-group, then start preparing to move forward. Your career is not ending; it’s shifting and evolving.

Whether you were working in the mortgage industry, sales, education, etc., you have developed transferable skills that can be applied to a number of industries and jobs—ones of which you might not have been aware. And exciting ones at that! Remember: As society changes, so do jobs—Some may become obsolete, but there are always new ones that develop.

Some tips to get you started:

First, refer to a skills list to complete the exercises below. (Visit the UC Irvine Career Center web site, and under “Independent Investigation Exercises,” download the “packet of self-assessment activities.” You will find a “Functional/Transferable Skills” list on p. 2 and 3.)

1. Highlight the skills you developed in your last career. Chances are you have more than you realized.

2. Write down the skills you want to use in your next career.

3. Create a summary statement integrating all the skills you identified in #2. For example, “I am seeking a career that will allow me to utilize/apply my…”

4. Also, make a separate note of any additional skills you would like to learn. This might be a good time to further your professional development. Consider taking a class, watching a webinar, or reading online and print informational resources.

Second, make a list of all the industries about which you would like to learn more. Schedule informational meetings with people in these industries to learn about the most recent qualifications being sought. Refer to Quintessential Careers’ Informational Interviewing Tutorial. Utilize social networking sites (e.g., linkedin.com, facebook.com) as a way to get connected.

Third, create or update your resume based on your industry research. There are a number of online tutorials and resources that can assist you. Download UC Berkeley’s Job & Internship Guide. Review the section on “Resume & Letter Writing.”

Still feeling lost or stuck? You are certainly not alone. It’s normal to feel that way when making a big transition, especially one you did not anticipate. It might be helpful to consult with a trusted friend, mentor, or career coach to provide you with the resources and support you need to move forward. Because you will move forward. In Ken Kragen’s book, Life is a Contact Sport, he tells a great story about the Cartier jewelry company during the nineties recession—They simply decided “not to participate in the recession.” Just some food for thought.

For more insight, check out the following Career Journal article.


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