Working World

This made me laugh (both the exchange, as well as the clarification that we are indeed meant to find it “humorous”):

“How many people work here?”

“About half of them.”

—Answer, to a journalist, of an American ambassador regarding the staff at her embassy; anecdote meant to be humorous

From John Brown.

I’ve had this post in my queue for some time now, but have continually neglected it—partly because as the pace of things slowed down here in DC during August, the pace of my posts followed suit, but also because I began to rethink what I wanted to say. The post was prompted by an article from several weeks ago from the BBC: in an effort to give unemployed graduates something to do, the British government is paying 500 people under 24 to travel abroad and take part in projects “such as building schools”:

It comes as graduates face an increasingly tough job market. Forty-eight graduates are chasing every job on offer this year, according to a study by the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

The 10-week expeditions – to Borneo, India, Costa Rica and Nicaragua – will enable graduates to work on community and environmental volunteering projects in remote communities.

Reflecting on this story, here’s what I initially wrote, again, several weeks ago:

“It’s no surprise that I agree with one sentiment behind this initiative—that abroad experience is good prep for our careers, international and otherwise. But my main query to the organizers of said British government program would be: how well have you thought this through? Harkening back to our various debates of the merits of international volunteering, I think it’s fair to ask what the benefits of this program will be, beyond giving graduates in a rough economy something (worthwhile) to do. That is, how will the program benefit the communities in which these graduates will serve? Have the programs been fully fleshed out? Or will these 500 folks just be plopped into their host countries and given a hammer, with little consideration as to the local workers they may be displacing and the learning curve inherent in any development project that may make their efforts, while well-intentioned, potentially fruitless? The following comment from Wes Streeting, the National Union of Students president, doesn’t give me hope that much of this has been considered:

Funding opportunities for skills development is surely better than the soul destroying experience of sitting at home, watching Jeremy Kyle, on the dole.

While I have no idea who Jeremy Kyle is and am only moderately sure I know what ‘on the dole’ means, the sentiment that we might as well plop our youth down in poor places since they’ve got nothing better to do seems a bit ill conceived. Gaining valuable skills and career preparation by working/living abroad? Very nice. Giving no thought to the community you will be working in while gaining that experience? Not as much.”

For some reason, though, I was hesitant to push the publish button. I realized this was because I wasn’t sure I agreed with what I was saying. I thought back to my own volunteer experience in China, an experience I decided to plop myself down into, yes, partly because I wanted to learn Chinese and add another abroad experience to my resume and help a community, but also, I can admit, because it sounded a lot better than the alternative (which for me, at that time, was the soul destroying experience of working as a real estate sales associate for a grocery store corporate office). So how could I condemn people for doing what I had in fact done?

So: On the one hand, I do generally think it’s a bad idea for volunteers to be blindly plopped down where they may not end up accomplishing the good they hope to accomplish, or even end up harming locals by taking away jobs, etc. On the other hand, though, getting plopped down in a spot that you know very little about and being asked to do work of which you have very little experience can be incredibly rewarding, for both the volunteer and those in the local community. This belief comes from my personal experience: I showed up in the Yanbian region of China to teach English with zero knowledge regarding Yanbian, China, or how to teach English. Yet my struggles with language, regional culture, and how to be an effective teacher were an indelible learning experience and have benefited me enormously, personally and professionally. And I believe I ended up being an effective teacher (and even a role model) for my students, despite my initial struggles (I still keep in touch with several of them and they have commented how I was their first foreign teacher and our classes for them were formative in their study of English—I take great pride in comments like these).

The particular nature of the volunteer assignment, as well as the length of time spent in a place, can affect all of this, of course. Some assignments can be learned through on-the-job training and experience, especially given enough time (say, a year, as in my case:  a TESOL-certified teacher may have been “better” out of the gate, but I think I eventually morphed into a quality teacher). Others require more specific training and skill and couldn’t be learned on the fly no matter how long you keep at it (if I tried to volunteer with one of the international environmental evaluation projects my friend Derek works on, I’d be horribly lost and would probably do more harm than good).

The conclusion is, per usual, that there’s no cut and dry answer. And while I tend to agree that good intentions aren’t always enough when it comes to a volunteer project, especially an international development one, I still heartily believe that arriving in place with everything to learn can be a formative experience for all involved.

August in DC is a slow motion month. The air thickens up like a wet sweater. Congress is in recess. Office buildings empty out as people burn those hoarded vacation days, fleeing for cooler, less sticky pastures. And everyone who remains in town moves slowly through the streets with pained and uncomfortable expressions, as if they’re walking in a winter jacket through a locker room sauna. If there’s ever a time to not get things done in DC, it’s in August. 

Yet on the other hand, and in an odd way, it is a time to get things done—the slowness of everything allows you to tackle those projects you’ve been putting off, to take quality time to do those things through which you might normally rush. For me, in a very specific sense, I’ve discovered August is a wonderful time to sit down with Hill staffers for unrushed, genial, let’s-really-get-to-know-each-other chats.

Hill staffers have such full agendas and are so pressed for time that the typical Hill meeting is a condensed and very rushed affair—no time for small talk, get down to brass tacks, what do you want please tell me now. This isn’t mean to be a criticism of Hill staffers—in fact, I generally admire their ability to juggle so many complex issues and demands. Yet such rushed meetings rarely ever leave the time to actually get to know the Hill staffer and to find out more about his or her interests and the actual interests and priorities of his or her boss.

Yet, in August, things slow down to the point that meandering meetings of the get-to-know-each-other sort can happen. It’s refreshing, and I think highly beneficial, when my dealings with staffers can be less focused on ‘what can I do for you?’ and more focused on ‘how can we work together?’

So, the point is…?

1) Your networking shouldn’t always be focused on ‘how can this person help me?’ Rather, get to know someone for who they are and how you connect with them—you never know what might come of it.

2) Make your friends before you need them. When the time comes and you need to ask something of someone, it’s always better when the relationship has already been laid and you’re not shaking their hand hello at the same time you’re asking for a favor.

Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, writes in the latest issue of eJournalUSA about the value of international education as career preparation:

In an ever-changing world, being a global citizen requires constant adaptation to new ideas and circumstances. This is why the process of transformation that foreign students experience as part of a U.S. education is so important: It prepares you for the constant transformation that will be required in a 21st-century career.

Dr. Goodman is writing in reference to foreign students studying in the U.S., but I think his larger point of international exposure as essential to that “process of transformation” required of a modern career extends to any student of any nationality living and studying in any country other than his or her own.

David Comp got the same email I did: an alert that the 2009 International Education Week website is up and running. Start planning your activities for November 16 to 20. I’ll be going to Tulsa to talk about careers in international affairs. More on that to come.

Average Americans, in their natural state, are the best ambassadors a country can have.

So says “The Ugly American,” the 1958 novel by Eugune Burdick and William Lederer, with a film version starring Marlon Brando following in 1963. When I was an intern at NCIV in the summer of 2004, one of my assignments from Sherry was to read “The Ugly American” in its entirety and pull from it ideas that might be crafted into an op-ed extolling the virtues of international exchange. Brando had just died that July, and Sherry’s thought was that recalling one of his lesser known roles might make for an interesting article hook. 

Our finished article (I thought it was pretty good) didn’t get picked up by a paper in the end, but it was still a useful exercise—not only for the chance to write with Sherry but also because I got to read a book and get paid for it. And “The Ugly American” is a good read, quick but incisive, and still highly relevant. Yes, it provides fodder for us exchange types and our argument that it’s only through direct contact that barriers are broken down and misunderstanding conquered. But the book’s real contemporary value lies not necessarily in its recognition that Americans must engage the world (in many ways this has become a foregone conclusion, especially among the younger generation) but in its understanding that this engagement must been done thoughtfully, respectfully, and (not to put too fine a point on it) well. 

In other words, “The Ugly American” recognized in 1958, when it lambasted its diplomatic characters who never bothered to learn Sarkhanese, the language of the fictional country it portrays, what is still imperative today: when engaging the world, whether through our post-college year abroad or our official foreign policy and aid programs, it’s not enough to just show up. We’ve got to put in the time to learn the language too.

Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.

[...] A big draw of working in China, many young people say, is that they feel it allows them to skip a rung or two on the career ladder.

The Times profiles a bevy of young Americans who shipped out for China, both because of the lack of jobs at home as well as the feeling that China affords faster career advancement.

Not to be overlooked as well is the idea of China as a place that affords tremendous opportunity for personal and professional growth:

That said, Mr. Woetzel added, someone who has been able to make a mark in China is a valuable hire.

“At McKinsey, we are looking for people who have demonstrated leadership,” he said, “and working in a context like China builds character, requires you to be a lot more entrepreneurial and forces you to innovate.”

Most experiences living and working abroad build character, self-reliance, confidence, etc. (also see: How to convince your parents that studying and living abroad is good for your career). And not to take away from the virtues of living in any other country, but after having lived and worked in China myself, I can attest that the Middle Kingdom in particular provides character-building experiences in spades.