Hi Karen,

MyWorldAbroad is a big site. And building high-level international skills is a big undertaking. But to answer your question: We have options for users who are in a rush and just want the essentials, and we also have options for those who are able to invest slightly more time in order to get the comprehensive experience of our full range of advice and resources.

From our perspective, the ideal approach to MyWorldAbroad is to learn with the guide over an extended period of time, revisiting topics, re-evaluating your skills as you build experience. For this, you would visit “The 4 BIG Things” menu item on the top line of our homepage. This will guide you to the most comprehensive version of the site.

It’s also possible to access crucial information in a shorter amount of time. For this, you’ll visit the “What do you want to do?” menu item from the top bar of the homepage. This version of the site allows you to access only the information you absolutely need for your chosen international adventure.

Wishing you success in your international endeavors and we hope you visit us often! You can also check out the articles listed in In a Rush? (for registered users) for the most essential, quick-to-access international advice.

All the best,

Jean-Marc

Dear Allison

There are always risks associated with being abroad. In my personal opinion, the rewards are generally much greater. When I meet college students, I can quickly tell that some of them are not risk tolerant and they should therefore travel or study only in more Westernized nations, in order to ease in to the process of cultural adaptation. For other students, I know at first glance that they could thrive no matter whether they were in Kenya, India or Hong Kong.

Each individual must assess his or her personal level of risk before traveling. Get up-to-date with the latest areas of major conflict or tension. Maintaining a level of caution is always wise, but I would also suggest not to get caught up in the paranoia created by media sensationalism of bad events abroad. The world has never been more accessible, and there have never been more opportunities to travel, work or volunteer in unusual, challenging and interesting locations. In the end, it is up to you to decide your tolerance for risk, based on careful self-examination and an assessment of your possible destinations.

For more information on coping strategies while living overseas, see [chapter:13] and [chapter:15] (for registered users).

Hope this helps,
Jean-Marc

Hi Chantal,

This is a great question, but the answer really depends on your personal profile. Are you able to be adventurous and a little bit flexible? Do you have a good sense of humor and know how to cheer yourself up when things are tough?

The hardest part about going abroad is staying adaptable, self-reliant, open-minded and prepared for surprises. For you personally, the hardest part might be that you can’t get your favorite food from the grocery store, or it might be the fact that you are many miles from your family members, or it might be that you have trouble learning and pronouncing your new host language. There are always small difficulties when heading abroad, but the personal and professional outcomes are worth your efforts!

Don’t worry about the fact that you haven’t gone abroad yet. It’s never too late to start building your international profile. We know plenty of people who head abroad for the first time at your age, get hooked and build international careers for themselves. Anything is possible! Check out the links below (for registered users) for some more advice:

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Good luck with your first adventure!

Jean-Marc

Hi Ariana,

Everyone has heard the term “culture shock” but many don’t know about its twin “re-entry shock.” Did you know that the cross-cultural learning experience continues when you get home after your time abroad? We’ve heard from so many students, interns and volunteers who have had the very same experience. Coming home from an enriching and life-altering experience overseas is difficult. You feel like you have changed, but everything at home is still the same. You want to talk about everything you experienced, but people from your home country might get bored of hearing about it. And, as you say, all you want to do is go abroad again, but you just can’t.

But re-entry is a process, just like adapting to your home in India was a process. Now is the time when you learn more about your home culture, build your adaptability skills, and put all that you learned abroad to use.

Did you know that MyWorldAbroad has an entire section dedicated to the experience you are going through? We recommend that you take a look at it. Don’t despair! You will adjust to your new life at home, and what’s more: you’ll find cross-culturally enriching activities and job prospects within your reach.

• Top Tips: Re-Entry (for registered users)

Good luck!

Jean-Marc

Hi Katie,

Absolutely! Throughout MyWorldAbroad you’ll find quotes and sample applications from students who have successfully lived, worked, interned, volunteered or traveled abroad. And we’ve collected over 80 Q&As with them in our popular Stories from Abroad section. We are sure that you’ll find plenty of inspiration in this section. And when you have your own adventure abroad, we hope you contribute your story to the section! See the full collection here.

Good luck!

Jean-Marc

Hi Ali,

Sounds like you’re looking to start an international career. That’s great! Trust me, it is an incredibly satisfying way to live and work. International careers are built step-by-step, as you build up your international credentials.

International employers hire people with high International IQs. You need to assure your future international employers that you understand the cross-cultural workplace and that you have the skills to navigate and be successful when working in places that are different from your home.

A word of advice: I strongly suggest that you broaden your horizons in terms of your ideal destination for future international work. By limiting your desired location to Uganda (where you have been before), you may be cutting off extraordinary opportunities in your sector in other areas of the world. I highly recommend that when the time comes to conduct your international job search, you do it based on sector-specific approach, rather than a country-specific one.

By volunteering in Uganda, you are well on your way to gaining strong international skills. Continue building international experience while studying at home by taking every opportunity to work in cross-cultural environments or to go abroad. Take internationally-focused courses. Align yourself with professors who have international interests. In law, you will need to decide if you want to practice private sector law or public international law (PIL).

One key element towards the end of your studies is to land a professional international internship. There are hundreds of internships available for Americans and Canadians alike, start researching them in your first year of law school. I know a number of law students who have created their own internships by writing to well-known international law practitioners (based in Hong Kong and London, for example) and offering their research services in exchange for basic living allowance. You will need this type of experience to crack the market. Be bold (while being diplomatic and gracious) in your pursuits for an international internship. Read International Law Careers (for registered users) for more insights.

All the best,

Jean-Marc

There are fewer and fewer free volunteer NGO experiences to be had. Students almost always have to pay an NGO or a private company to find a volunteer placement position abroad. Some NGOs (especially faith-based NGOs) require that you fundraise to meet your travel and accommodation expenses. Students can save money if they arrange their own placement directly with a third-world NGO, but this is only recommended for those who are very independent and have a high degree of risk tolerance. Students who do choose this route, however, often have more powerful and meaningful cross-cultural experiences.

If you are short on funds and want a more structured experience (with less risk), consider teaching English abroad to finance your stay and seek out volunteer experiences while living in your host country. If you want to teach abroad during the summer months, consider Chile or another South American country. Think about intensifying your cross-cultural learning by pursuing language learning, travel and professional networking while you are abroad. All of these experiences can help students maximize the “professional value” of their time abroad, and the experiences can be subsidized by teaching English.

A summer abroad usually entails periods of two months or less abroad, and while it can be a great start to building your International IQ, it should be noted that this short amount of time is usually not enough to get the experience of full cultural immersion. Students who wish to gain long-term cross-cultural skills should go abroad for four or more months. Consider working in the US for the first two months of your summer break to save some money, and then go abroad for four full months (i.e. take the fall semester off and create a gap semester abroad for yourself).

Check out Volunteer Abroad and NGOs & International Development (for registered users) for more info. 

Hope this helps.
Jean-Marc

Hi Colin,

Thanks for your interesting question. You’re right: It’s not possible to learn everything about a country from a guide book. And it’s not possible to fully prepare yourself for all the unexpected experiences you’ll have abroad. But your advisor is right: preparation is a key part of a successful go abroad experience.

From planning your finances to finding out everything you can about the local language and culture of your host country – you will not regret putting in the time to research and learn what you can. Even if your plans and perspectives change in the first days of your journey, you should still invest time and effort into preparing yourself beforehand. (And don’t forget that understanding your own culture and potential biases is also a component of preparing yourself for an international experience.)

From our perspective, the ideal combination for a globetrotter is a mix of preparation, ambition and adaptability. Being prepared and informed before traveling doesn’t close you off from having new or unexpected experiences. In fact, by being better informed and more aware of the social and working cultures of your host country, you may be open the doors to opportunities you would not otherwise have had.

MyWorldAbroad has plenty of information that might inspire you to learn before you leave. Check out the following articles (for registered users), and search through the sections in our guide that are associated with the type of experience you will have abroad (e.g. intern, work or volunteer):

• Before You Leave: Researching Your Host Country
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• [idlink:0093: %title]

Good luck on your journey.

Jean-Marc

Hi Macey,

There are few recruitment agencies that will find you an international job unless you working in a highly specialized area of expertise such as: senior executive, engineer, health care worker or some types of teaching position. You may be able to find some placement agencies working with casual or manual labor positions, but these aren't going to give you the maximum professional development potential while abroad. You may have to find work on your own by making direct contact with international employers in your line of work. If you head abroad to find work on your own, make sure you plan in advance. Save some money, make some contacts, research your destination. The more you know in advance, the better positioned you will be to make headway when you land on the ground. You will find the suggestions in Landing a Job: The Road to Teaching Abroad  (for registered users) pertinent to your queston.

In terms of your second question, it is your international employer who will be responsible for your health benefits and general well-being when abroad, not the recruitment agency.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc

You should definitely question this offer. There are similar situations in which unsuspecting new employees are asked to process financial transactions to ensure their position. This, of course, turns out to be fraud. Your offer contains none of the normal parameters expected from an international employer. Even though it looks attractive, you should proceed with much caution and undertake a thorough background check, including references from other recruits. My first reaction would be to ignore this “to good to be true” offer. For more information, consult The International Job Search (for registered users).

Good luck,
Jean-Marc

Hi Julia,

This is an important question, because a lot of people go abroad with a similar perspective.

To be a successful international individual and cross-cultural worker, you must understand your own biases and put your own cultural baggage in perspective.

North Americans have a particular way of looking at the world, especially the working world. In general, we believe in progress, hierarchies, upward mobility, individual agency and the separation between work and personal lives. These beliefs are not held worldwide, and by refusing to adapt your professional mindset, you may be setting yourself up for unnecessary hassle.

In some cultures, personal relationships are prized over deadline orientation. This may seem foreign to those with the “time is money” North American mindset, but that does not necessarily mean that this way of looking at the world is wrong. It is simply different.

If you are planning to work in an international environment for any length of time, you will find that the skills you need most are adaptability, flexibility, open-mindedness and cultural sensitivity. Check out the articles linked below (for registered users) and good luck!

• Top Tips: The North American Identity in the International Workplace
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• The North American Attitude Toward Work
• What We Need to Improve On

Best wishes,

Jean-Marc

Hi Ana-Maria,

A significant proportion of US-based jobs already require international experience, and the trend is only getting bigger. With each year, Internet technologies move us further and further towards a new global economy, and students in all fields are going to have better job prospects if they have international skills when they graduate. Almost every profession will soon require workers to have global career skills.

With the increasing strength and reach of the global economy, every size of business is being transformed – from large international corporations to small local firms. Employers of all sizes are purchasing goods and services from around the world, and they are asking employees to work online with people located in other countries. Whether you work abroad or at home, students will need international skills to succeed in this new world of work. From a career point of view, students in every field should be gaining international experience and embracing international skills so that they can perform their work while based at home or abroad.

Need more proof? Look no further than the White House itself! The US Government has made clear and decisive moves over the past months to ensure that more students are going abroad in order to gain that all-important global perspective. See former First Lady Michelle Obama's endorsement here. And check out Why You Need International Skills (for registered users).

Good luck,
Jean-Marc

Hi Salima,

First and foremost, even though the prospect of more school seems daunting at this point, if you want to make a career as a lawyer and have the option of living and working in Munich, it may be worth going that extra mile and getting certified in Germany. But, that is a choice you will want to make after you have spent some time there, so here are a few ideas for you in the meantime. Some do involve teaching English, but it may not be in the context you are imagining:

• Teaching law at a university. English is the language of instruction at many institutions of the world these days, especially at the graduate level.
• Work online as a contract lawyer with a US employer
• Take language courses in Munich while teaching English to executives part-time. I have a friend in London, UK who earns $1,200 per day teaching English to executives one-on-one.
• Alternatively, teach English to German lawyers and use these contacts to make links in your field of work.
• Specialize and become an international law consultant [in Public International Law (PIL)] or private sector law. Europe is at your doorstep; your client could be any international organization. You could start by pairing yourself up as a junior consultant with an international law expert in your field of work.
• Law is surely not your only interest. Consider interning, volunteering or working in a field that interests you, but where your skills will come in handy. Consider an NGO or private firm.
• Consider freelancing ideas listed in The Traveling Spouse: Why Work? and Why 50+ Workers Should Go Abroad (for registered users).
• Take time off and enjoy Munich!

Good luck,
Jean-Marc

Hi Patrick,

There is good news: The 50+ generation has never been healthier, more active or more qualified to work or volunteer overseas.

Retired and soon-to-retire individuals like yourself are now looking for adventure in addition to security; they want professional satisfaction as well as personal rewards. Whatever your reason for going abroad, we highly encourage it. And the opportunities are more numerous than you might think. In an age when countless young people are seeing the value in gaining international experience, many international organizations, volunteer operations, NGOs and businesses are actually happy to make contact with workers who have extensive experience and know-how. As a 50+ worker or volunteer, you bring with you the value of maturity and experience, and the determination to go abroad and make your goals a reality. Isolate what it is you really want to do or achieve abroad, and then start making contacts. 

Check out our articles (for registered users) on this very topic, and search through the guide for success strategies:

• Why 50+ Workers Should Go Abroad
• How to Acquire International Experience Later in Life

Best wishes,

Jean-Marc

Hello Mike,

The perspective of North American employers has been changing rapidly over the past decade, in response to changes in the new global economy. With the realization that the world is only growing more interconnected, global career skills have now become truly important in almost all fields of work. If you are abreast of Internet technology, attuned to North American cultural norms, and adaptable, you should have no problem. These days, international experience is anything but a hindrance when looking for work.

One last thought: Start job hunting while you are still abroad. It is often impressive for an American institution to receive an application from some far-off land. Make yourself available for telephone or Skype interviews and alert them to your return. Congratulations on having been so successful abroad, and we wish you continued success as you return home! Check out Coming Home (for registered users) for some general tips on re-entry. 

All the best,
Jean-Marc