How to Launch Your International Career. My Review of Stacie Berdan’s GoGlobal! for Ms. Career Girl
I’ve been chatting with Stacie Berdan about international careers for more than a year. She has been very supportive of my international professional and entrepreneurial adventures. I was delighted when she sent me a copy of her new eBook, Go Global! Launching an International Career Here or Abroad. I wrote the following review for Ms. Career […]
I’ve been chatting with Stacie Berdan about international careers for more than a year. She has been very supportive of my international professional and entrepreneurial adventures. I was delighted when she sent me a copy of her new eBook, Go Global! Launching an International Career Here or Abroad.
Stacie Berdan
Stacie Berdan's books
I wrote the following review for Ms. Career Girl, Nicole Crimaldi’s excellent blog for young professional women. Here’s the beginning:
If you’ve ever dreamed of building an international career, you must read Stacie Berdan’s Go Global! Launching an International Career Here or Abroad. I found myself nodding and smiling throughout this concise, convenient eBook.
Stacie draws from her own experience to give practical, step-by-step advice. She worked for a top global public relations firm in Hong Kong for many years, during which she gained the skills and experience to skip several levels on the corporate ladder. This is her second book about international careers. Her first book, Get Ahead By Going Abroad: A Woman’s Guide to Fast-Track Career Success, was published in 2007.
(And GoGlobal is only five bucks! That’s the price of one cocktail in a college bar! Consider it a cocktail with Stacie Berdan and her network of international professionals.)
Some of my favorite tidbits from GoGlobal!:
- You can launch an international career at home. You don’t have to move to another country, since the modern world of work is packed with international connections.
- Take an honest look at your own personality, to make sure you’re ready for the cross-cultural challenges of working in an international environment. To build your global mindset, study foreign languages, read foreign news, and watch movies from other countries.
- Avoid taking on debt. Debt limits your career options, at home or overseas. There are many ways to gain global experience without going into debt.
- As you prepare to apply for international jobs, begin by defining your global brand. From this you can craft an elevator pitch, cover letter, resume and online presence. I particularly like Stacie’s sequential, non-intimidating process, and suggestion to begin a resume with a Qualifications section that describes your value proposition and 4-5 memorable bullet points.
- Dismal events can lead to career opportunities. Uprisings in the Middle East led to new opportunities for communications firms like Twitter. The tsunami in Japan created new opportunities for construction firms. Both good news and bad news influence the international job market.