Get Ready For The Global Workplace
by Cheryl Matherly and Diane Robinson

When Quinton Nixon started his job search, he wondered how to distinguish himself from the pack of other newly minted mechanical engineers. He had a solid grade-point average and good work experience, but so did many other prospective graduates.

Mr. Nixon, a 1997 Rice University graduate, found that one resume item seemed to stand out: the summer he spent as a mechanical-engineering intern at a small electronics facility in Berlin, Germany. The international internship "had a most positive impact," Mr. Nixon says. "It's something that you don't usually see with engineers."

Susan Perkins, the recruiter in Alpharetta, Ga., who hired Mr. Nixon to work for Siemens Energy Automation, a U.S. subsidiary of a German electronics firm, agrees. "We're always challenged to find strong engineering students who can also speak German," she says. "Although our new engineers work in the U.S., we need people who demonstrate cross-cultural savvy and speak the languages of our businesses."

What's 'Global,' Really?

Thanks to his summer abroad and language skills, Mr. Nixon is an excellent fit in the global workplace. This term is often misunderstood. It conjures up images of globe-trotting employees who rack up frequent-flyer miles while living for extended periods in glamorous European, Asian or Latin American locales. Not so. Most new hires are like Mr. Nixon. They'll join the ranks of "domestic internationals," employees whose international careers are based in their home countries. If you're among them, you'll be immersed in many foreign cultures as part of your job -- without stepping foot overseas.

In a globalized workplace, most employees live and work at home, but use technology to customize products and services for clients world-wide, communicate with suppliers and collaborate on projects with overseas offices. In this arena, knowing how to work comfortably with people from diverse backgrounds is a requirement, not an option.

Companies also are becoming increasingly decentralized. Multinationals are relinquishing decision-making to employees in offices in key cities, regions and countries throughout the globe, who know best how to respond to the demands of their areas. To maintain revenues, companies are making customers a priority -- no matter where they are.

Costly Barriers Fall

Certainly, communications technology -- particularly the Internet -- has accelerated the pace of globalization. Now you can interact with associates abroad in ways that were too costly just a decade ago.

For instance, while designing a model for a power plant in Nigeria, U.S. engineers can work with project teams in London and Tokyo via the Internet. When the American engineers leave at the end of the day, their Japanese partners are arriving at their jobs to begin testing the model. The company is literally able to work around the clock to design the new plant.

"Globalization has significantly changed the rules by which the game of business is played," says Mr. Nixon.

Employers prefer to hire domestic internationals because they're cheaper to recruit, train and employ than foreigners. "You'll most likely start out working wherever your passport is from," says Lari Daily, a 1997 graduate of the American Graduate School -- Thunderbird in Glendale, Ariz., who's now an associate development analyst for Alltel Corp., a wireless-communications company in Little Rock, Ark.

But even new grads who stay in the U.S. need international savvy. Naturally, employers want new hires to have strong technical, problem-solving and interpersonal skills and prior work experience. However, they increasingly expect recent grads to have cross-cultural competencies and international experience, according to a study on corporate strategies for responding to the globalized workplace by the Rand Corp. and the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

"International experience is almost always a plus," says Sarah Delaney, a recruiter in Houston for BP Amoco P.L.C., a large oil company based in London. "It indicates an added dimension of appreciation for cultural diversity, [different] approaches to communication and different ways to solve common problems."

Multilinguals Preferred

In the global workplace, fluency in a foreign language is definitely a plus. Mr. Nixon, for instance, says being able to speak German is necessary to advance at Siemens. Learning a second language also is a strong indicator of future success, because it requires skill and discipline, says Russell Ross, a recruiter for Houston-based Compaq Computer Corp. Bilingual applicants "are easier to hire, retain and promote" than other candidates, he says.

Going abroad also may help you to improve your English-speaking skills, notes Andy Kaufman, a graduate of Texas A&M University and now a plant-projects manager in Houston for a subsidiary of Belgian-owned Solvay Polymers. As an undergraduate, he studied at the University of Nottingham in England. That experience forced him "to drop slang and jargon and speak in clear English," a tip he still values while working with foreign colleagues, says Mr. Kaufman.

Master Your Field

Of course, when hiring or assigning employees to work overseas or with international clients, technical expertise takes top billing. As a software consultant, Lucien Parsons, a graduate of Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., helps customers install, customize and use programs created by Alltel. In this role, he travels to help clients world-wide.

When he first started with Alltel, he realized that he needed strong technical skills to be selected for international assignments. This includes the ability to troubleshoot independently. "If you're in the Philippines and you've got a 12-hour time difference, you're never in the office when the home people are in the office," says Mr. Parsons. "If you can't solve a problem yourself, you're a day behind because it takes you that long to get additional information." Now based in Puerto Rico, he's spent time in Malaysia, the Philippines, Peru, Singapore, Hong Kong and England.

For many new hires, having international experiences helps add to the bottom line later on. Darrell Whitley, a 1993 graduate of Rice University and president of the Tennyson Group, a Houston information-technology consulting firm, studied abroad in Chile as an undergraduate. His company has since done work in Chile through a contact he met during that experience. European friends also have referred business to his company.

"It's a small world -- you run into [the same] people time and time again in your career," says Mr. Kaufman.

Gaining Global Credentials

To increase your marketability in the global workplace, start building an international resume now by applying for study-abroad and volunteer programs. Studying abroad is the most common and easiest way to gain international experience. Most colleges and universities offer study-abroad opportunities or allow students to transfer credits offered through international institutions. Several study-abroad programs also incorporate internships into the academic experience. Boston University, for instance, coordinates a program through which students take three academic courses while completing a professional internship abroad. Students can intern with multinational corporations and local businesses in fields ranging from advertising to law to journalism.

An increasing number of colleges also offer programs that prepare students to work in an international environment. The University of Rhode Island has a dual-degree program in engineering and German, French or Spanish. To graduate, students must complete a six-month co-op with a foreign employer. The University of Cincinnati offers a similar dual degree in Japanese and engineering. For five years, Rice University has sponsored a summer work-abroad program, which helps place students in internships or less formal job arrangements in Europe. Underlying all these programs: the belief that experience with an international employer is the best way to prepare you for the global workplace.

Nonacademic groups also help U.S. students secure work visas and find jobs overseas. These include the Council on International Educational Exchange in New York (www.ciee.org), the British Universities-North America Club (BUNAC) in London (www.bunac.org.uk) and the American-Scandinavian Foundation in New York (www.amscan.org).

Pilgrimage, Anyone?

Some students bypass study and work programs and immerse themselves in foreign cultures in other ways. Elizabeth Tufano, a 1998 medieval-studies graduate of Rice University, won a university-sponsored fellowship to participate in a program fashioned after a medieval pilgrimage through France and Spain during the summer before her senior year. She knew that a pilgrimage was unusual preparation for management consulting -- her desired career. When she began interviewing with financial and consulting firms during her senior year, she characterized the experience as an example of her initiative and flexibility. Her approach made her more attractive to recruiters, and she's now a consultant in Houston for Ernst & Young, a global consulting firm.

Other ways to get meaningful international experience are surprisingly easy, says Jenny Lockwood, a 1991 graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a former Peace Corps volunteer. Now the language-bank coordinator for Seattle-King County American Red Cross in Seattle, Lockwood recommends volunteering to tutor in an English as a second language program, attending social events with international students at your school or gatherings sponsored by local international groups, or even hosting an international student.

Globalization isn't a passing management fad, says Ms. Lockwood. "It's our heritage and our future. Everyone needs to address this issue when thinking about career potential."

To succeed in the global workplace, you need flexibility, openness to new ideas and practices, empathy with others' perspectives, commitment to quality work and an innovative spirit.

Ms. Matherly is director of the career-services center at Rice University in Houston, where she directs several international internship programs. Ms. Robinson, director of the Arkansas Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association, is a former career-development director for Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland.