228 GET THAT JOB! FROM BACKPACK TO BRIEFCASE I was raised in California. Besides surfing, I have a passion for travel and all things international. From an early age I have been exposed to foreign cultures through family travels abroad, and I was able to develop fluency in Spanish as well as English. Then, during my years as a university student, I would save money during the school year in order to travel during the summers. I studied abroad in Spain for one quarter during my junior year and also used that opportunity to travel a bit elsewhere in Europe. My career goals are to be involved in start-up business projects and to own and operate my own business one day soon, preferably one that will either be located outside the United States or require extensive international travel. My international work experience began after graduation from high school, when I received an opportunity to intern with an NGO nongovernmental organization in Peru, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Later, while at university, I had the good fortune to find a job in Nicaragua as a property management liaison at an upscale resort community by the ocean. I decided to push my university graduation back a term in order to work in this management position for six months. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life, resulting in the most enjoyable experience abroad I have had so far. In Africa and Latin America, I was involved with an NGO that needed someone enthusiastic about working in foreign countries and was fluent in Spanish. My job in the Dominican Republic consisted of relationship management between a micro-finance institution and the donor partner from the United States. I also reviewed the financial operations of the Dominican partner and translated from English to Spanish for business meetings and field visits. While working in Nicaragua, I really developed an appreciation for that country’s people and also for working with the land. Maybe it’s my southern roots, but I really enjoyed planting trees and even overseeing a farming project. The people there were so wonderful, and I still keep in contact with some of the people who worked with me as well as people I lived with. My experience in Nicaragua also taught me quite a bit about management, corporate politics, and communication. On the management end of things, I learned how to delegate tasks to anywhere from 6 to 24 men and to manage the tasks they were doing at different places on the property at the same time. As for corporate politics, I learned a lot about the political factors that drive the decisions of upper management and the importance of communicating effectively with subordinates. Immediately after graduating from university, I worked for a couple of months in Africa in the area of microfinance for schools, helping promote greater affordability in the educational sector. It was an excellent learning opportunity. At the same time, the language barrier there was a challenge. In Ghana and Rwanda, you will always find quite a few nationals who do not speak English—even when English is the country’s official language. I dealt with this by hiring a local intern for US$100 a month. He was able not only to translate proficiently but also to assist in my work, making it money well spent. There are only so many things you can do to prepare yourself for living in another culture. The most important is to have an open mind. Once you are able to achieve this, along with understanding that most of the rest of the world does not run on the Western orientation toward time, business is much easier to conduct in foreign countries. My advice to those who are interested in exploring international business: go travel, step out of your comfort zone, and see what unexpected opportunities life will throw your way. If you can, consider going to a country and simply hanging out for a month or so. You could support yourself by signing on as a volunteer with an NGO that provides room and board. You would be amazed at how many opportunities there are for Westerners in the developing world once you get involved in the local scene. However, most of the time you have to be in that specific country to hear about them. It’s not as if job opportunities like these are posted on craigslist.org or jobs.com. You might check out GoAbroad.com (http:// jobs.goabroad.com/search/finance/ jobs-abroad-1) and Kiva, a global organization devoted to microfinance (http:// www.kiva.org/). Andrew Crane: Develop experience with financial forces by traveling and working abroad!
Geringer_InternationalBusiness
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