Working World: Careers in International Education, Exchange, and Development

As a long-time foreign language educator and someone who has spent numerous years in study abroad and recently in international education, I recommend this book to students (and their advisors) seeking careers after graduation that build on their study abroad and foreign languages experiences and curricula. With comprehensive lists of sources and outstanding organization by field, as well as an introductory chapter to help the reader reflect on her needs and wants, anyone can get started investigating and networking to work in the world. Indispensable in our global society.

this is a wonderful book with great authors. very helpful and easy to read. highly recommend this book to people looking for advice in international education or anyone interested in international careers.

Once I was a lost young soul living in Washington, DC who knew that I wanted to use my college degree. I knew that I wanted to perform some service for others and work somewhere with a global reach. Basically, I wanted to work in a in a non-profit in the international field. Sounds easy, but where to start? And how to follow through and make my goal a reality? I won't go into the answers for you because this book takes care of all of that for me. I highly recommend that anyone interested in working in the international field (not only non-profits like me) take a good look at this book. It will help guide your way.

I highly recommend this resource. This is not a guide to "how to get a job", but rather an engaging discussion of "how to build a career". Although the focus is on international exchange, development, etc. -- the concepts are broadly applicable to most career journeys.

In short, this book appears to be useless unless you graduated from an Ivy League or are 'well-connected' - making it useless to many Americans. The majority of the contributors to the book seem to have either graduated from an Ivy League, or had connections to persons in 'high places' (which is beside the point). As an 'average' American who has gone on to an international career, I can safely say that this book would have been completely useless to me 10 years ago (a few years before I left the US). The majority of the career options mentioned are - especially in today's economic and job climate - limited to a very, very select few (and I'll say it, ELITE) individuals. Not a very practical book for us 'normal' Americans interested in establishing a career abroad. Case in point: the author Overmann's (a graduate of an elite university) account of how he just happened to establish a little international education newsletter that some how, some way became a large success. How did it become a large success? Likely the result of an established, elite network. Something a bit difficult for us rather 'normal' Americans to establish. Moreover, a large number of the organizations, and company/organization lists, in the book are widely known; you can find out about most of them through a bit of online research (i.e., "[field name] + [international career]", etc). With that said, I suppose if you are strictly interested in/planning a career in NGO and/or government work, the book could provide some value. I have nothing against the authors as they seem like they mean well; the information/strategy provided just seems a bit dated/irrelevant for today, and one-sided. My advice for a 20-something interested in establishing an 'international career' today? Go to China. There are tons of open positions, especially if you're interested in teaching. And it is beyond me why a book on international education fails to profile an international teacher!

Having studied and worked abroad, I was interested in starting a career in International Education and Exchange and thought this book would have provided some good ideas on how to get started. This book seems like a junior editor's glorified Googling project rather than a career strategy guide. A lot of the information is already present on the internet and while it may seem useful to have that information bound into a book, ready for perusal at your fingertips, it really isn't that helpful. For one thing, the information already requires the internet for use. Many pages are just links to websites where you can get more information and these websites are likely to pop up for you punch in a few keywords relating to international development, exchange and development. It would have been better off as a website since you would have to go onto the internet anyway. Secondly, appreciating the fact that the fields of international X, Y or Z are very broad and ill-defined, it is understandable that a lot of the information is also very broad and ill-defined. It's difficult to write a career guide for a field that has blurry edges. That being said, the most one can say about this type of field, is jump and make your own path... which is what this book says and it's a message that doesn't necessarily require a book that is backed up mainly by hyperlinks and a few well-to-do figures in the field that rose to their position mostly by connections. I do appreciate that the editors tried to include interviews from different people who are at different stages of their career but I felt that most of the interviews weren't that helpful and were more self-praising than anything. If you are fresh out of college, you may be a little confused at what your career path will be by reading these interviews because few of them actually started off in international education, exchange and development; rather, they somehow found themselves in the field later in the career. Again, this is due to the nature of the field and the changing international scene but it provides little insight for a fresh graduate or early career starter who wants to know how to get started from the bottom. Like any field, the best way to get in is to jump in. Get an internship, study abroad, talk to people who are already in the field. This books gives you the advice and the resources to do that (but so does the internet). Save yourself a few dollars and just get on the internet and start Googling away yourself.

For any college aged student with aspirations of studying or working abroad, Working World is a must read. I especially found the viewpoint of the young professional helpful and instantly relatable.

I found "Working World" to be a very insightful guide to how to shape a career. Everyone's path is different, but it's the people and your own drive that leads you down it. The connections and experiences of the different professionals adds a very personal dimension, which I appreciated. I feel motivated to learn from as many people as I can and put myself in the position to have the right job and the right time.