I am interested in a career in international education and exchange. I had hoped that my own personal experiences abroad – one year on an exchange program in Europe, three years of university, and one year of English teaching abroad – would be enough to land me a position in the field. I have applied to a number of positions in the field in the DC area, but am starting to feel that almost all of these entry-level positions give preference to graduate degree candidates. Do you have any recommendations for gaining pre-Masters, salaried work in the field?

Some excellent questions packed in here, ones that I hear regularly. My response to this reader went something like this:

It sounds like you’re building a good resume for work in the international education/exchange field—don’t let yourself by deterred or disheartened if you’re applying for but not landing these jobs. The difficult fact is that the people hiring for these positions likely received a large number of applications, including a lot of qualified ones (when we recently hired for an entry level position at my organization, we received 400+ applications). Just because you didn’t get those jobs does not mean you aren’t qualified for them, or other ones like them.

While some positions may prefer or even require a master’s degree, my honest opinion is that a Master’s is not the (or even a) key criteria most organizations are looking for, especially for entry/junior level positions. I think “Master’s preferred” has become something of a reflexive criteria included in many job descriptions, whether or not a higher degree is actually necessary to be successful in the position. For my part, I’d much rather hire someone who has the right combination of experience, skills, disposition, and who I feel will be a good fit for the team, regardless of their higher education situation.

A few further thoughts:

1. How well are you highlighting the skills and experience you do bring to the table? Sounds like you’ve had a number of varied experiences in the field—so ask yourself: why should they matter to potential employers and the specific positions you’re applying for?

   Cover letters are very important, and I’d encourage you to look back at your own and see if they truly convey what you hoped they would. A good cover letter should seek to impart not so much what you’ve done, but why you’re a good fit for the positions you’re applying for and why your particular skills and experiences are relevant. I often see cover letters that are nothing more than a recitation of a resume. No need for this duplication. Rather, use the cover letter to interpret your resume for the potential employer, to let them know why they should care about your particular skills and experiences–why those skills and experiences are relevant and will put you in a position to succeed in that particular job.

2. Do informational interviews. I’m not sure where you’re based, but if you’re able to meet directly with people at organizations in cities (like DC) where you’re interested in working, do that. I’ve seen firsthand how successful this tatic can be. People want to hire known quantities, candidates who they’ve seen in person and can judge to be good, reliable, quality people.

   People are also typically more than willing to talk with you for 15-20 minutes and tell you more about their jobs and their organizations. This is a great way to get to know organizations better, as well as to network and to put yourself in front of those who might be hiring later on. So don’t worry if an organization isn’t hiring at the moment (in fact, informational interviews often work better if it’s not attached to a job opening—makes the conversation more relaxed and natural, and the person you’re talking with doesn’t feel like you’re trying to get something out of them, rather just hoping to connect and learn). Target organizations you’re interested in working at and try to locate a mid-level person (not a CEO or senior leader) who is doing interesting work and you’d be interested in talking to. Email them and ask them for a short informational interview (at their office, or at a coffee shop convenient for them, or even via phone or Skype if you can’t be in DC). Then after your conversation, stay in touch with them by email. If a job does open at their org, they should be the first person you talk to before applying. And they may even pass along job openings to you that they learn about, since they know you’re looking.

For career development, though, these events can be important. And sometimes we just can’t avoid them if they’re a part of our jobs. We can’t always count on going with colleagues or running into people we know. So how can those of us who struggle with networking events get the most out of them? Here are three easy steps that might help:

1. Head straight to the bar. No, no, not because you need booze to make it through. This move provides you with an immediate destination when you arrive and something to do when you first walk into the room, other than stand there awkwardly. (Also, you never know who you might meet at the bar.)
2. Once you have a drink in hand, briefly survey the room. Look for someone standing alone, or a small group of two or three people. I usually look for people at a standing table, which provides a set location and somewhere I can set my drink or a plate of appetizers. It also makes it easier for other people to join the group.
3. Once you’ve identified a target, simply approach and introduce yourself. Do so not too aggressively—don’t startle or abruptly interrupt a conversation. But be confident. Don’t linger and wait for your target to notice you. Use body language to indicate your intention to join (like setting your drink on the standing table). This cold-turkey approach can be hard for some of us, I know. It is for me. But I’ve discovered, lo and behold, people go to networking events to meet other people (I know, a groundbreaking insight). Approaching a new person and starting a conversation is, in fact, something that’s kind of expected at networking events.

I’ve found that, while the vague idea of approaching strangers at an event and striking up a conversation can be daunting, having this strategy as my “entry plan” makes it easier. As an example, it worked well for me the other night at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s annual Tribute Dinner (affectionately known in DC as the “Smart Power Prom”). A huge event with more than 1,000 attendees, I was going on my own. I wasn’t sure if I’d run into anyone I know. So I used my strategy. Here’s how it went down:

Entered the pre-dinner reception. Headed straight for the bar (opted for a gin and tonic on that night, though sometimes I’ll do a beer, or wine, or a sparkling water). Turned and surveyed the room. Saw a guy about my age at a standing table by himself, checking his phone. Approached, set my drink down, said hi, and allowed him to finish what he was doing on this phone. We then introduced ourselves.

Turns out the one guy I chose to talk to, out of a room full of hundreds, grew up ten minutes away from me in Cincinnati, lives and works (at Proctor & Gamble) back in our hometown, and is good friends with two guys I was friends with back in high school. Small world, no? We had a great conversation centered on our Cincinnati connections, and then on our various international work. During our conversation, a colleague who writes for Foreign Policy magazine spotted me and joined us. I hadn’t seen him in more than a year, so it was great to catch up. Eventually the dinner bell rang, and we separated to head to our tables. But the cocktail hour, which I’d been apprehensive about given that I didn’t know anyone, turned out to be time very well spent. And all because of my three step process.

Next time you’re dreading a networking event—or thinking about not going because you won’t know anyone—give this strategy a try. I’d love to hear if it helps.

The University Club of Washington, DC’s 25th Annual Meet the Author Night and Book Fair!

Wednesday, December 3, 5:30 — 8:00 pm

The University Club of Washington, DC

1135 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC

If you’re in DC, come on out and meet Sherry, along with many other interesting authors. The event is free!

To that end, she began the Race Card Project, an effort to encourage these conversations. She asks people to distill their thoughts, feelings, and observations about race into one six word sentence. She challenged the CIEE audience to try. Mine came out like this:

Norris tweeted me back, asking to hear more. So here it is:

I grew up in a mostly white suburb north of Cincinnati, Ohio. My grade school was not diverse. I remember one black classmate in my year – we played baseball and basketball together – and one girl of Asian descent, but that’s about it. My high school was more diverse, but not by much.

When I was 15 and a half, going on 16, I enrolled in a driver’s ed course, as everyone at that age does. The driving school was in a diverse neighborhood that was also central to many other neighborhoods – so the school drew students from a variety of different places and backgrounds. Which meant a variety of races. Which meant I was in class for the first time with a lot of black students.

I didn’t think much about this in the broader sense of racial politics or diversity. But I do remember being aware of it, aware of the details, like the way my black classmates talked to one other, interacted with the teacher, and approached the learning environment – which was often different than what I was used to at my mostly white school. Not wildly or uncomfortably different, but different enough that I can, 18 years later, still remember being in that classroom.

One day in class, the teacher asked a question. I couldn’t tell you what that question was, but I guess I knew the answer, so I volunteered. I was correct, and the teacher said well done. I remember one of my black classmates turning around and praising me for my correct answer. I don’t remember exactly what he said, and I don’t remember his particular tone or intention. Meaning, he might have been actually praising me, or maybe he was gently giving me shit for being a know-it-all, or more likely somewhere in between. Just one teenager talking to another.

And anyway, that’s not really important. What’s important – and what I do clearly remember – is my reaction. I gave him the wink and the gun. You know, the wink and the gun: that gesture where you stick out both hands like mock guns, thumbs raised and pointer fingers pointed ahead, while winking and making a little clicking sound with your tongue and your back teeth. The reaction to this was instantaneous: raucous laughter all around. Someone yelled with glee, “Oh, he gave you the wink and the gun!” The teacher called for order, things quieted down, and class continued.

I was left burning with some combination of embarrassment and confusion. Why the wink and the gun? Why did I just decide on a gesture I’d ever done before and probably haven’t done since (at least non-ironically)? Did I think this was something black kids my age did? Did I think it would make me “cool” with him? Did I just not have any idea how to relate to a black peer, so I crashed around searching for something, anything, I thought to be appropriate?

In the grand scheme, a small moment. But one that has, for whatever reason, stuck with me. I’m not even sure there’s a broader point here. But if there is, maybe it’s this: when we’re getting to know people different than ourselves (different race, gender, neighborhood, country, culture, etc.), it’s probably best to just be ourselves. And maybe even more importantly, best to allow those we’re getting to know to be themselves too—and avoid imposing upon them our own (likely erroneous) notions of who they are.

Oh, and also, don’t give the wink and the gun. To anyone. It makes you look like an idiot.

In Working World, Sherry and I talk about a condition familiar to many, known as “the overwhelm” (a term also mentioned in Rosin’s article). The overwhelm may be not only something we all deal but also something many of us (perhaps unconsciously) strive for:

“Busyness of a certain kind…became a mark of social status, that somewhere in the drudgery of checklists and the crumpled heaps one could detect a hint of glamour.”

This makes sense to me. How many times have I responded to the question of “How’s work?” with the barely-thought-out answer of: “Busy.” And this comes whether I’m actually particularly busy or not. Why am I compelled to characterize things as busy, regardless of reality? Likely because answers like “slow,” “not too bad,” or “you know, I’m actually pretty bored at the moment” aren’t the right ones. I might come across as unengaged, lacking passion, like a slacker. It’s “busyness as a virtue…a conviction that the ideal worker is one who is available at all times because he or she is grateful to be ‘busy.’”

This trap is hard to avoid. We stay late at work or check/answer emails immediately not always because we need to or are required to, but because we think this is a mark of productivity. And this leads us down a path where we confuse being a hard worker with being a smart or talented or efficient one.

One aspect of the international nonprofit world that I am grateful for is a commitment to work-life balance. To ensuring that excess hours and unnatural email response time expectations are not a part of the package. Some of this stems from being in an industry in which salaries are typically lower, and thus some extra “compensation” can be gained from humane hours and expectations. But part of it also comes from working with and around a group of people who are innately curious, restless, and inclined toward a broad interest in the humanities. And what I mean by this is: the international education and exchange community is full of people who like to travel and do other stuff good too. So it’s often not a challenge to get them to listen when you say, “stop working and go do something else.” They’ve likely already booked a plane ticket.

Sherry and I try to give our own antidotes to feeling the overwhelm in Working World: Disconnect. Take a walk, read a book, see a movie, plan a trip (go on a trip!), spend time with family and friends. I think we’d both stand by these recommendations. But I also love this solution from Rosin’s article:

“The answer to feeling oppressively busy…is to stop telling yourself that you’re oppressively busy, because the truth is that we are all much less busy than we think we are.”

White focused on this topic of the global pro bono in her talk at American University’s School of International Service on October 14 (a talk organized by my co-author, Sherry). Deirdre (also a profilee in Working World) and PYXERA work with corporations around the world to develop and implement corporate, cross-border social programs that work to contribute the corporate employees’ skill sets to a local program or project. Since 2008, PYXERA has worked with 26 corporations, sending 8,000 employees (usually for a month) to 80 countries on five continents. This is impressive.These programs have immense benefits for the corporate employees who participate, White said. Participating employees face unique problems abroad, and learn how to solve those problems in completely different ways. They develop leadership and cross-cultural skills. They are exposed to new work-styles and different ways to innovate. The most common phrase used by corporate employees to describe their global pro bono experiences is “life-changing.”

Corporations also gain something—“they don’t only do this out of the goodness of their own hearts,” White quipped. The corporate business impacts of participating in global pro bono projects include strengthening brand reputation, spurring innovation, and opening new markets.

The benefits to these two groups made sense to me. But my immediate question was: what about the local host businesses/communities? In what ways do they benefit? How do you ensure that the out-of-towners don’t simply swoop in with a “we know best” attitude and implement a change or solution they believe to best, but isn’t actually going to do good for the local community, culture, or business? I think of my friend Karl Dedolph (another Working World profilee) telling stories of his time in the Peace Corps in West Africa, in which this kind of “outside imperialism” was typical. He was once asked, and then given supplies and a team, to build outhouses in his area of northern Togo. The thinking was that this would improve sanitation and hygiene, and thus health. The thinking wasn’t whether local culture was likely to use outhouses for sanitation and hygiene purposes. Karl noted that shortly after the outhouses were built, they were indeed being used regularly—as homes for goats.

So how can this kind of outside imperialist thinking be avoided? White was clear in her answer: it’s all about the transfer of skills. Believing you can simply enter another country or culture (or business) and drop-in a solution that has worked elsewhere is a no-win proposition. But if the focus is on the transfer of skills—meaning, in-depth collaboration on a specific and time-limited task, with a focus not on implementing this solution, but rather on working together to find the best solution—then there is immense benefit to local, hosting businesses and communities.

White described the model PYXERA uses with its corporate clients. They use their in-country contacts to target established organizations and businesses with progressive leadership and a commitment to innovation. These orgs and businesses are required to put “some skin in the game” via both financial resources and staff time, to show their commitment to the project collaboration. Then, both the international corporate staff and the local staff are required to collaborate electronically for at least three months in advance of the on-site work, to better gain an understanding of the project they are working on, the solutions desired, and the work needed to get there. White reiterated that this advance work is key to success. Once the international corporate staff arrives in-country to begin site work, the collaboration is well along the way and the transfer of skills is already happening. White noted that, many times, the solution the joint team originally aimed for is far from where they find themselves at the end.

This struck me as an interesting model—not just for global pro bono projects, but also for others doing work abroad. No matter what you’re doing in another country or culture—whether it’s teaching English or building outhouses or advancing corporate programs—it’s always going to be better if you look to understand those you’re working with, their culture and their needs, rather than trying to jam in the solution that you and your culture believe to best.

I wish I’d known this when I was teaching English in China and tried to get my Chinese students to write and perform skits, like I’d been forced to do in my high school French class. Talk about a bust.

Both of us have good jobs we enjoy. We are both married to awesome people. We have supportive families, good homes, plenty of books to read and music to listen to, a college football team that’s finally doing well again…so what’s with the complaining? Fair enough.

We realized this stagnancy comes from reaching the end of that first ladder, the “young professional” ladder, and not knowing where to climb next. As scary as being a young professional can be—with all of its requisite challenges and uncertainty—I’m realizing that entering mid-career territory comes with its own set of difficulties. I’m no longer worried about getting my first job, or paying my rent with a meager entry level salary, or learning how to move from operating in an academic environment to a professional one.

Rather, in an unexpectedly ironic way, the principle challenge in mid-career territory thus far seems to be finding new and fresh challenges. Brian and I realized that getting into our respective professional grooves was satisfying and rewarding, but ultimately encouraged a certain kind of stasis. Paraphrasing Seth Godin, Brian described it as “heading toward the melt.” Because once you’re in a situation about which you have no complaints, why would you upset that beneficial status quo? But when you avoid upsetting the status quo, you find yourself melting into a stasis and stagnancy.

What Brian and I are coming to realize is that career evaluation and growth can and should be a constant endeavor. As young professionals, getting to a place of comfort, to a level where we feel some kind of permanency and success—that’s a good thing. As mid-career professionals, though, we can’t be content to dwell in that success or comfort for long. We have to purposefully push ourselves to find challenges and continue to grow.

As I left Brian to head back to DC, he texted me: “Enjoy your adventure this week.” I’m not 100% sure what he even meant (Brian is renowned for his esoteric texts and emails). But based on our conversations of the weekend, I took it as: give yourself a goal of a weekly adventure, of seeking out and embracing at least one new challenge every week, starting now. And in my interpretation, these can be simple adventures: reach out to a colleague or friend you keep saying you should get lunch with but never do; do something in a professional environment you wouldn’t normally do (like, for me, asking a question at crowded conference session); make time for an activity at work that will be beneficial but always gets put to the backburner (like reading a long document you know you’ll enjoy and will be beneficial but isn’t absolutely urgent, or taking a colleague out for coffee to talk through goals or strategy for the coming months); make time for an activity at home that will be beneficial but always gets put on the backburner (like seeing a movie or going to a concert).

I don’t have a solution for staving off or reversing the mid-career melt—believe me, this will continue to be on my mind. But right now, I like the idea of enjoying my adventure this week as much as any.

In addition to its international development work, PYXERA is also the base for the Center for Citizen Diplomacy. I served as one of the founding board members of the Center and now am honored to continue as a board member of PYXERA Global.