The world is your office: where can you find great international jobs when you're just starting out?

Career World, Feb-March, 2005 by Charles Piddock

Attention: You are now free to roam the world, live in a different culture, learn a new language--and, of course, earn some badly needed bucks.

You could get all that by winning a big prize on a quiz show or stowing away on a tramp steamer. But you'd have a better chance of learning about the world and building valuable work experience by getting an international job that allows you to work overseas at least part of the time.

Most international careers require an advanced degree, but you don't have to be an expert in world finance or possess a Ph.D. to get a great international job when you're just starting out. There are many jobs suited to students and recent college graduates. Here's where to look.

PRIVATE VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS

Private volunteer organizations (PVOs) try to make the world a better place. They fight poverty and hunger, promote health, and provide shelter for refugees. Some PVOs, such as Catholic Relief Services (www.catholicrelief.org), are connected to religious organizations. Others are independent. There are hundreds of PVOs operating in all parts of the world. Some charge a fee for participation as a working volunteer. But if you are interested in other cultures and are not afraid of roughing it a little, working with a PVO may be just the way to find out if an international career is right for you.

Oxfam International (www.oxfam.org) is a group of 12 organizations working together in 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering, and injustice. Oxfam interns and volunteers, many of them recent college graduates working for a fixed time period, ranging from several weeks to a year, don't just hand out relief supplies. Volunteers work with people in Africa, South America, and Asia to organize and empower them to improve their own situations.

Operation Crossroads Africa (www.operationcrossroadsafrica.org) is a cross-cultural exchange program between the United States and Africa. Since 1957, Operation Crossroads Africa has sent more than 11,000 Americans to a number of African and Caribbean countries and to Brazil. The Africa program has a three-day orientation in the United States and a six-week stay in Africa working on development projects in education, public health, and farming, followed by a week of travel in the host country.

Sonja Oakcrum, 29, who served in a fishing community in Ghana in 2003, found her work rewarding: "When you encounter a new cultural experience, it's like seeing [the world] in a totally different way."

Cross-Cultural Solutions (www.crossculturalsolutions.org) is a nonprofit international volunteer organization that operates programs in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Peru, Russia, Tanzania, and Thailand. It offers volunteers an opportunity to work with local people on projects for two to 12 weeks at a time. Unlike many other PVOs, Cross-Cultural Solutions has no strict educational requirement. In order to work alone on a project, however, a volunteer must be at least 18 years old.

THE PEACE CORPS

The best known of all international volunteer organizations is the Peace Corps (www.peacecorps.gov). It was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as a way of challenging young Americans to serve the cause of peace by living and working in poor countries. Since its beginning, more than 170,000 Peace Corps volunteers have worked and lived in more than 136 host countries. Thousands of jobs are available--among them, teaching children in South America, helping farmers in India, and helping those living with AIDS in Africa. Volunteers commit to a three-month training program and then serve in their assigned countries for two years.

A number of well-known people served in the Peace Corps: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who served in the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1968; broadcaster Chris Matthews (Swaziland, 1968-1970); and Donna Shalala, former U.S. health and human services secretary (Iran, 1962-1964).

For many volunteers, the experience of being completely immersed in a foreign culture was a life-changing experience. Ellen Florian, now a writer for Fortune magazine, served in Kenya from 1993 to 1995.

She told Career World that serving in the Peace Corps "opened my eyes to how people in developing countries live. Their lives are a struggle for a good grass roof over their heads, daily food, maybe a little extra money for things like laundry soap. It's one thing to read about Africa and another to be living there. I hope that what I did there helped."

Peace Corps volunteers should have a college degree, be enthusiastic about learning a new culture and language, and have a desire to succeed at an often-difficult job in conditions, that may be tough.

TEACHING OVERSEAS

Some of the hottest international jobs today are in teaching--specifically, teaching English as a foreign language. Most overseas teaching jobs involve teaching adults. There are a number of programs in the United States that prepare college graduates, regardless of their majors, to receive certificates to teach English as a foreign language.