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International Jobs: People Who
Go Abroad Are Different! Take note of your International IQ
By Jean-Marc Hachey, author of THE BIG GUIDE TO LIVING AND WORKING
OVERSEAS.
You’ve just returned from a five month internship in Dushanbe,
Tajikistan. You braved a back-packing stint in Uzekistan (and survived),
and then relaxed for a while in Provence to improve your rudimentary
French. You’re now considering getting an MBA, perhaps in
Barcelona while learning Spanish, or at Goteburg University in Sweden
where tuition is, yes, free! Whatever your specific situation, if
you are traveling abroad, your doing the right thing – augmenting
your International I.Q. and paving the road towards an international
career and more international living.
People who live abroad are different than those who have not traveled.
International employers recognize this and so do the expat families
who make a living – living overseas. I remember being uneasy
meetings diplomats when traveling to Lagos, Nigeria after taking
my first flight and first excursion outside of my home province
of New Brunswick. These diplomats alarmed me off with their “we
are different than thou attitude”. But after a few encounters,
I realized that they were different, their spouses were different,
and even their children were different. Their unique set of skills
set them apart from the average Canadian. I now identify these unique
skills and traits with the commonly known term “International
IQ”.
YOUR INTERNATIONAL IQ
Just imagine yourself in a few years looking for an international
job, applying to study abroad, or selling your skills as an international
intern. Below are four categories that will help you understand
how international people are different. The insights highlighted
here will help you understand what international recruiters are
looking for in their next recruits and will help you learn how to
join the ranks of those working and living abroad.
Political, economic and geographic knowledge:
Imagine a dinner conversation taking place around a table in a lush
garden terrace — your home in Wagadoogoo, the capital of Burkina
Faso. Your seven guests are from France, Belgium, the US and Burkina.
The expatriate conversation is rich in world politics, economics
and geography. The conversation is lively and intellectual. Even
if you are on a beach drinking beer in Thailand, you’ll find
yourself engaged in worldly conversations with other travellers.
You enjoy the dialogue, and you know these conversations are so
much better than the typical Canadian conversation about weather,
neighbours, or the costs of house renovations. International people
can converse intelligently about international news, world events,
multiple countries and their ethnicities. So, if you want to be
an international person, start traveling and reading up on your
world politics and geography. YOUR FIRST TEST QUESTION: How many
countries are there on Earth?
Knowledge about the international aspects of your field:
There is an international aspect to every field of work, to every
area of study, to each and every field of interest. If you are going
to be international, you have to have a good knowledge of the international
aspects of your area of expertise. Know which organizations work
internationally in your field, what the types of jobs are, and what
aspects of your work have an international application. Knowing
how your specialization is practiced in an international setting
allows you to focus your education, your job research, your networking
contacts and your discussions with peers on landing the right overseas
job for you. A bit of research will uncover the international aspects
of your area: the umbrella organizations, the web sites, the trade
magazines and international conferences – all in your field.
YOUR FIRST CHALLENGE: Talk to people in your field who have worked
overseas to find out what skills they have and how they broke into
working internationally.
Cross-cultural knowledge and skills: Do you know
when to burp at a table or when to hold it in? Can you figure out
how close to stand next to a stranger in an elevator, or while holding
a conversation at a cocktail party? Can you tell that someone is
only being polite when they agree to your proposal but know that
they will not follow through? International people have the cross-cultural
skills and knowledge to be effective in another culture. They study
the country’s belief systems, modes of behaviour and attitudes
before they arrive. International people are like cross-cultural
detectives. If they are thrust into an unfamiliar culture, or meet
someone with an ethnicity they have never encountered before, internationally
experienced people will be adept and skilful — they will quickly
display the appropriate cross-cultural traits required to make any
new relationship work. Their skills are portable and can be carried
forward from country to country, place to place, and culture to
culture The ability to utter a few words in a country’s primary
language is important to those living there. YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT:
Acquire these skills at home by seeking out people from other cultures,
becoming active in cross-cultural groups, and learning a second
or third language.
Personal coping and adapting skills: Can you deal
with change? Can you deal with having to eat soup each morning for
breakfast instead of sitting down to ham and eggs, as they do in
some parts of India? Can you sleep in a room with a humming fan,
a stifling mosquito net, and the constant belching of goats and
chickens just outside your bedroom window? How about being so overwhelmed
with a continuous stream of well-meaning visitors, so many that
you fake the need for prayer-time just to have two hours alone?
These are just a few of the numerous cross-cultural challenges that
require so many small adjustments that you may think at times that
you are going mad. With practice and insight, you can improve your
personal coping and adapting skills to help you deal with culture
shock. People who enjoy living and working overseas are adaptable
and tend to embrace challenges. You will face changes in culture,
friends, work, climate and food. Therefore, having a sense of adventure,
as well as humour, curiosity, and a great deal of patience, is invaluable.
To prepare yourself, you can do volunteer work or participate in
organizations that put you in contact with other cultures either
in your home country, or by visiting a country where the culture
is radically different from your own. YOUR TEST QUESTION: Do you
like change? Your ability to enjoy change may be the biggest
single factor in assessing your suitability for overseas work and
living.
CHARACTERISTICS FOR OVERSEAS WORKERS (Jeff, this
could be a side bar, if so change first 1½ sentences in “A
LAST WORD” section.)
This list of characteristics will help you assess your suitability
for overseas work and assist you in preparing to live in a foreign
environment. Self-knowledge is power in today’s job market.
When you understand your skills and career objectives, and when
you have a professional self-assessment of your cross-cultural work
skills, you will be much more effective and focused when dealing
with international recruiters.
- General traits: enjoyment of change, desire for challenge,
street smarts, sense of adventure, open mind, patience and curiosity
- Adaptation and coping skills: emotional stability and ability
to deal with personal stress, understanding of culture shock, receptivity,
flexibility, humour and self-knowledge
- Intercultural communication skills: tolerance, sensitivity,
listening and observing skills, nonverbal communication skills and
second language speaking skills
- Overseas work-effectiveness traits and skills: independence
and self-discipline, training experience, resourcefulness, versatility
in work, persistence, organizational and people skills, leadership,
energy, calm demeanour, project planning skills, writing skills,
verbal communication skills, diligence and dedication, loyalty,
diplomacy and tact, and philosophical commitment to your field of
work
A LAST WORD
International recruiters are looking for people who are different,
people with a high International I.Q. By carefully assessing your
own international skills and traits against the cross-cultural blocks
of skills described in this article, you can compile a stronger
skills inventory and convey these qualities to recruiters. Keep
your international skills inventory in mind when applying as an
overseas volunteer or intern, for international scholarships and
full time work overseas. If you can professionally explain that
you have a high International I.Q., your next hot assignment abroad
will be just a short flight away.
Jean-Marc Hachey is the Toronto-based author of the best-seller
THE BIG GUIDE TO LIVING AND WORKING OVERSEAS. He is recognized across
North America for his practical career advice and encyclopaedic
compilation of resources on all aspects of international careers.
A writer, consultant and engaging public speaker, Hachey has helped
launch thousands of international careers. For more information
on his seminars, or to access his guide on line or purchase a print
edition, visit www.workingoverseas.com.
Copyright by Intercultural Systems / Systèmes interculturels
(ISSI) Inc., publisher of The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas
www.WorkingOverseas.com
Reprinted with permission.
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