Keynote Address by Jenny Pilling
Fall Career Workshop, 17-19 November 2004

• program coordinator at university area studies center,
• a corporate trainer for a U.S. company with international subsidiaries,
• a management consultant with international clients,
• school teacher at one of the many international schools,
• worker at a UN/international agency,
• a botanist working on non-native species,
• an aviation engineer,
• ad infinitum...

Internationalizing your academic experience

Consider a double major (minor/certificate) - ESSENTIAL

• Latin American Studies and Portuguese
• Economics and Chinese
• Engineering and Area studies...

• Study Abroad - ESSENTIAL

• Pilling did 3: high school (AFS-Brazil), College (UW/CIEE Program to Brazil) and Grad School (Summer School at the University of Coimbra in Portugal).
• UW has many excellent programs. If you cannot find a good match, perhaps you could negotiate with other Universities or programs.
• Go to any orientation sessions by the International Institute, or arrange for an individual consultation - get some basic information & ask questions.
• Do not wait until junior year to start thinking about junior year abroad. Ideally you should be abroad junior year.
• That said, if it did not occur to you during freshman or sophomore year, get international experience whenever, and however, you can.

• Coursework

• When you cover your foreign language requirement, consider one of the UN languages: French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic & English. Knowing these well, will give you much flexibility.
• Choose international topics for research papers, senior thesis, or honor’s thesis: comparative history/politics/religion, the French New wave, child soldiers in Africa, AIDS in Russia, conservation of drylands/wetlands/rainforest…
• General tip - Find out who are the best teaching assistants and professors and register for their sections.
• Take courses with Visiting Professors. The Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program, for example, has a fabulous program called Tinker Visiting Professors.

• Reference Librarians on campus are amazing. They can answer anything, so ask them.

Practical Experience / How to Prepare for an International Career

• Do at least one internship. How to find out which one?

• Read Bulletin Boards in your department/s.
• Visit the International Institute (website).
• Visit the Career Centers.
• Contact the Alumni Association.
• Visit Go Global!’s internship opportunities page.
• There is a inverse relationship between the cachet of your organization and the quality of your assignment. There is a trade-off: with a no-name organization you will typically get greater responsibility (writing policy briefs, op-eds, research reports or articles); whereas you'll be photocopying and making coffee and bagel runs for the summer at a large, well-known organization. Possible compromise solution: select small department within a larger institution or organization.
• Financially challenged? In some cases, see if you can negotiate the internship as a practicum or ‘independent study’ course; e.g., see if you can write a paper for academic credit. This might allow you to qualify for financial aid.
• Bear in mind that going someplace far away (i.e., with expensive airfare) might have a very low cost of living, and financially could have the same overall budget as a stateside internship in an expensive location (DC, New York, London, Paris - all famously expensive cities)
• What if you hated your internship? Could be considered a spectacular success. You will not pursue a career in something you cannot stand. Eliminated a major obstacle to professional satisfaction.

• Acquire on-the-job experience locally, which can be applied internationally. This can be paid or volunteer.

Select an organization, such as a women’s shelter, in Madison (or, even cheaper, where your parents or other family members live). You will get experience in:

• Legal issues
• Accounting and financial management
• Construction/building maintenance
• Fundraising
• Counseling
• Education/Training
• Social marketing
• Desktop publishing/newsletters/outreach/editing
• Contracts management/procurement

Although you may never have left Dane County, by the time you graduate college you could have 4 summers or, indeed, 4 years professional experience with a women’s shelter. That, together with a college degree, would prepare you well for work with trafficked women, victims of sexual and domestic violence, women in post-conflict societies, etc - anywhere in the world.

• Work or volunteer with the ‘target’ population living in the community/state/country.

• English as a Second language tutoring (ESL)
• Cross-cultural learning
• Working with community associations
• Being a Big Brother/Sister
• Teaching adult literacy

• Language majors - esp. graduate students - get private tutoring jobs.

Give your name to the Department secretary, who normally serves as the point of contact for queries like this. You will make some money; get teaching experience; and get intimate knowledge of the language. It is one thing to speak well; the next level is to know a language so well you can teach it.

• Summer Jobs. Do not do what Jenny did: waitress at Husnus. Get a relevant placement - city/state/national/internationally. That means you have to start searching early.

• Assist with events coordination on campus and in the community.

• Example: Brazilian Brown Bag Luncheon
• Cultural events (e.g., international film programming, theatrical performance)
• Community events (e.g., all Title VI federally-funded area studies programs have an outreach component; see if you can get involved)

• Draft a resume so you are prepared.

• Getting a resume is a bit like buying a car or getting a mortgage; it is a marker of ‘adulthood’
• Again, don’t do what Jenny did - wait until finals week
• Doing your first resume is time consuming
• The resume is a ‘live’ document; it grows with you and basically is never finished
• Be sure to update it periodically

• Temping, especially for recent graduates, is another way to get a wide variety of job domestic experience which can be applied in international work.

• If you are close to graduating, consider the job search to be an important independent study course led by you. Set aside 10 hours/week to research organizations, screen job listings, sign up on listservs (e.g., DevNet). If you are interested in working with the UN or its agencies, get onto rosters, such as the UN’s Galaxy E-staffing site, where you can fill out an electronic personal history profile. Look at the Junior Professional Programs at the various UN agencies or the World Bank.

Top Ten Tips for Pursuing an International Career

• Get a Study Buddy or even an International Study Team

• School’s hard work - share the burden
• Objectivity & a fresh perspective
• Encouragement

• If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. That is: apply, apply, apply. The more applications you send, the better your chances are. That said, my strong recommendation is that you research your range of options and target your search like a laser beam: in other words, select relevant job descriptions in areas/organizations of interest, research their websites, write a very good cover letter, personalize your resume, if required. You only have 15-20 seconds to make your initial impression on the personnel officer; it had better be good one.

• Sometimes not getting a position that you really wanted can be beneficial - admittedly, after some time has passed. Maybe you don’t get the New York job, but 3 months later you get a much better one in Nairobi.

• Get familiar with the Grant Information Center and its Foundation Directory.

• Ask for help when you need it. Especially women and especially when negotiating - e.g., salaries and benefits. Financial tip: make sacrifices - dining out; Ramen noodles; cappuccinos; CD purchases.

• Follow your heart - What Color is your Parachute?

• You are looking at a 60-hour workweek; do what you love.
• Talk to someone who hates his/her job for 15 minutes - that will be enough.

• Talk to people who are doing the work you think you want to do.

• Get their opinion.
• Find a mentor (try the Alumni Association).
• 4-5 years down the line, when you have a career, become a mentor.

• Women - beware of secretarial work. It is still easy to get pegged as an Adminstrative Assistant. Do not become the friendly office coffee/copy girl.

• International work is harder for women than men: though it is getting better. Wherever possible seek life balance: work/family, adventure/stability. One downside of this work is that many people who do it have stressed relationships.

• Believe in yourself.

About the speaker: Jenny Pilling is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (MA ‘92, BA ‘90) with extensive international and overseas work experience. She currently works in the Personnel Section of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, having served previously as a Civil Affairs Officer with the Mission for three years. She has worked as a program coordinator and assistant director at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Chicago, and with various government agencies and non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C.