Search:
July 31, 2010

Preparing for a Global Career

By January Green

This article was first published in NYWICI's print newsletter CONNECT in Spring 2007

Where does an interest in work that bridges the gap between nations originate? And how does someone inspired by such an interest prepare for a career that will realize her ambitions? To find out, I interviewed three exceptional young women who are on the fast track to satisfying careers in the global workplace. These are their stories.  

NYWICI student member Danielle Josephs is currently a senior at Rutgers University, double-majoring in political science and Middle Eastern studies. Josephs recently founded the Middle East Coexistence House at Rutgers, a living-learning community for Israeli/Jewish and Arab/Muslim women which is the first of its kind on an American college campus. The goals of the House are to integrate the two communities and to encourage women's involvement in international conflict resolution and negotiation.

“I have always been interested in international affairs and, in particular, the politics of the Middle East,” Josephs explained. “As the daughter of an Israeli father of Iraqi decent, I am fascinated by the political, historical, and cultural dynamics of the region. I would like to become a Middle East negotiator/policymaker on behalf of the U.S. government.” To prepare herself, Josephs has worked as a research assistant to a professor at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government for the past two summers, conducting research about Israeli-Palestinian peace frameworks. She has also interned at a congressional office and worked for a number of political campaigns

Rima Abdelkader, a 2003NYWICI Foundation scholarship winner, graduated from Pace University determined to find a position that would integrate her interests in humanitarian work and journalism. “Luckily, I found an opportunity online through www.indeed.com to work as a journalist at the United Nations as part of a one-time, unpaid, four-month program started by a journalist there. I covered least developed countries, specifically poor and vulnerable countries in Africa, on issues of poverty, hunger, and disease. I attended and summarized press conferences, wrote wires, covered press 'stakeouts' at the Security Council, and interviewed ambassadors.” Since then, Abdelkader has worked on the early stages of a documentary due to be released this spring and been a television news reporter and writer for Bridges TV. Work of hers that has been broadcast includes reports from the U.N. on Lebanon's humanitarian crisis and a feature piece about a Muslim-American family that lost their son in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Miraida Morales found that knowing a second language, or a third, could greatly boost her chances of being successful in the global workplace. After receiving her B.A., she earned a Master's from New York University's Institute of French Studies. “After graduate school, I started working for a publishing company in their national sales office – and after about a year, I segued into international sales for a different publishing company. I recently accepted a job working for a book distributor in Chicago in their special sales office, handling all sales of Spanish language books in the United States.”
 
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, and having lived in the United States and Mexico during her childhood, Morales has always been interested in book publishing, so she interned at a number of publishing companies as an undergraduate. “Considering that I am fully trilingual, I knew I wanted to use my language skills and international degree to my advantage. I am certainly interested in international rights, international book sales (export as well as import), as well as publishing books for an international market or for the Latino and Hispanic U.S. markets specifically.” Morales also credits networking with people in the international sales field for her success. Through a friend, she was able to interview with the VP of international sales at a large publishing house, which paid off a few months later when the VP called her about a job opening at another publishing company's international sales division.
 
So what can students do to prepare themselves for a career in the international arena? One possible route would be to enroll in an institution that offers a degree with related coursework and hands-on training. Berkeley College in New York City is one of many such schools. Daphne Grant, internship counselor for bachelor's degree programs at the college’s Career Services Division, NYC Campus, told me that Berkeley offers an associate degree program for students who wish to develop proficiency in a foreign language or other disciplines focusing on different people and cultures. In addition, “Berkeley’s international business major at the bachelor's level combines the dynamics of multinational and multicultural business environments, competing in an interdependent world, and managing cultural diversity with creative problem-solving, team-building, presentation skills, strategic planning, and using computers to solve business problems.”
 
As the preceding stories prove, there are many paths that can lead young people to success in navigating the global workplace. If you are interested in the international arena, you could set up a multicultural program at your university, enroll in a relevant internship program, learn a new language – or be the author of your own inspiring story. The world is yours!