Sections
Gaining Experience
Internships, part-time work, entry-level jobs, volunteer work, and research are all types of experience. Although students often think they must focus on getting internships, it is important to recognize that employers are primarily interested in the substance of your experience, not what it is called.
Employers want to see that you have taken the initiative to gain experience and have developed knowledge, both general and in your field of specialization, as well as the ability to communicate effectively and work collaboratively in a professional capacity.
So start early, envision where you want to be in your future career, and seek out experiences that will lead you down that path. Don't limit yourself to the types of experience we discuss on this website; experience can be any application of skills to a real-world setting. Think about how you would like to have an impact on the world or on your society, and find other like-minded individuals and groups to collaboratively affect that change.
What is a Global Career?
In the past, a global career required work or travel abroad. That is not necessarily so anymore, thanks to extraordinary information, communications and other technologies. Today, corporations, organizations and governments increasingly communicate and make transactions in cyberspace, greatly expanding the geographic domain within which information can be retrieved and work can be done. This state of affairs enhances the value of global knowledge, experience and perspectives that bring successful cross-cultural negotiations. Of course, there continue to be many opportunities that require travel and living abroad, and we have listed some resources in our Internships and Volunteering section of our website. What’s important to remember is that a global career is global because of its geographic scope and inclusion of people and phenomena from across and beyond national borders, and that many careers, due to our increased technology capabilities, are increasingly global.
