Quintessential Careers:
Myths and Mistakes of International Job-Hunting
by Ronald L. Krannich, Ph.D. and Wendy Enelow
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Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from Krannich and Enlow’s book, Best Resumes And CVs For International Jobs: Your Passport to the Global Job Market. Impact Publications.
Much of international job-searching and resume writing is centered in a series of myths and mistakes that take job-seekers down a long and frustrating path where they encounter many failures and lost opportunities. Many of the myths and mistakes are generic to the job search process while others are peculiar to international job-seekers who operate in a very different employment arena than their domestic cousins.
Myths and Realities
We've frequently encountered the following myths and realities with international job-seekers
who mean well but misunderstand how the job market operates:
Myth #1: The best way to find an international job is to submit a resume and cover letter in response to classified ads, respond to job postings on the Internet, post one's resume online, and use employment agencies specializing in international jobs.
Reality: Your chances of landing an international job using these traditional "application" methods are not very good. This is the advertised job market of high competition. Many of the jobs in this market are not so great and many may be nonexistent. While most job-seekers spend a disproportionate amount of time exploring this market with resumes and letters, the results are usually very disappointing. In fact, you should not spend more than 20 percent of your time looking for a job using this approach. The international market is a highly personal job market where who you know is often more important to landing a job than what you know. The best way to land an international job is through the hidden job market of networking and recruiters which tend to maximize the highly personalized nature of this job market. Use your resume as a calling card for letting people you know -- friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and cold-call contacts -- that you are looking for a job. The single best approach will be networking by way of informational interviews. This method is spelled out in great detail in Ron and Caryl Krannich's The Savvy Networker: Build Your Net for Success and Bernard Haldane Associates' Haldane's Best Answers to Tough Interview Questions. If you only learn one job-search skill, make sure it's networking. It will be your lifeline into and around the international job market. This skill will serve you well throughout your international career. [Editor's Note: You can also learn more about this key job-search tool by using the Quintessential Careers Informational Interviewing Tutorial.]
Myth #2: A good international resume will get me a good international job.
Reality: Resumes don't get jobs -- they advertise candidates for job interviews. Landing a job interview can be a function of several factors, including the quality of one's resume. Make sure you produce a first-class resume. After all, it is your calling card. It tells potential employers who you are and what you are likely to do for them. It may also become the basis for asking you questions during the job interview. But don't assign some magical quality to your resume. As noted for the reality of Myth #1, your networking activities, in conjunction with an outstanding resume, will most likely land you the job interview which hopefully will result in a job offer. [Editor's Note: Find multiple tools for writing or fine-tuning your resume in this section of Quintessential Careers Resume Resources.]
Myth #3: The best qualified candidate will get the job.
Reality: The candidate that impresses the employer the most will get the job. Many people with top-notch qualifications produce weak resumes that fail to communicate their major strengths. The so-called "best qualified" candidate is the one the employer likes the most. Above all, you must communicate to the employer that you have the requisite skills, personality, and enthusiasm to produce expected outcomes. Once you get to the job interview, you must convince the employer that you have the necessary focus, personality, and enthusiasm
Myth #4: Employers are in the driver's seat. They control the outcomes of the hiring process.
Reality: Many employers don't know what they really want and they often make bad hiring decisions. Many of them let candidates define their hiring needs by examining resumes and interviewing candidates. If you produce a first-class resume, chances are you may help such employers define their needs around the skills and capabilities outlined in your resume.
Myth #5: Most international employers want CVs which run several pages.
Reality: It depends on the employer and the position. A well-organized one- to two-page resume will suffice in many cases, especially if you are dealing with multinational corporations which prefer achievement-oriented resumes. In fact, you can achieve the best of both worlds -- the American-style one- to two-page resume and the more detailed CV -- by combining the two. Write a very powerful one- to two-page resume and then attach additional support pages that approximate the traditional CV. In so doing, your one- to two-page resume, in effect, serves as an "executive summary" for the more detailed information on your experience.
Myth #6: Most international employers want a photo and a great deal of personal information on a resume or CV.
Reality: It depends on the employer and the country. You are well advised to ask about resume and CV requirements before submitting your resume or CV to an international employer. Unlike the United States where photos, age, gender, marital status, religion, weight, references, salary requirements, and other personal information are considered inappropriate to include on resumes, in many countries this information may be required or eagerly sought as part of the initial screening process. You'll have to decide if it's really worth pursuing a job that requires such personal information. Not including such information on your resume or CV could disqualify you from consideration.
Myth #7: International employers don't like American-style resumes.
Reality: International employers you will most likely want to work for have no problems with excellent quality American-style chronological resumes. These resumes, which usually run one to two pages and are rich with action verbs and keywords, follow the principles outlined in this book. These resumes succinctly emphasize what you have done, can do, and will do for the employer. Like most employers, international employers don't want bad resumes that only describe in chronological order past duties and responsibilities which normally are assigned to a position. They want to know what you actually accomplished in the positions for previous employers. Ideally they would like to know about your predictable pattern of performance.
Myth #8: You must understand the culture of other countries before you can write effective resumes for those countries.
Reality: It's not necessary to get hung up on culture when seeking an international job. The only thing you really need to understand is the particular needs of the employer which are more likely to center on the requirements of the position than on cross-cultural literacy. You acquire this understanding through your networking activities which center on the 5Rs of informational interviewing -- reveal useful information and advice, refer you to others, read your resume, revise your resume, and remember you for future reference. You'll learn a great deal about what should or should not go on your resume by conducting informational interviews. If you think the employer has unique cultural requirements for resumes, you should be able to uncover these by asking questions about the particular style of resume required by the employer.
Myth #9: It's not necessary to include a cover letter with a resume.
Reality: Cover letters are essential to the job search process. A letter should always accompany a resume. However, make sure your letter goes beyond just repeating the contents of the resume. The letter should help sell your resume and you by emphasizing your personality and enthusiasm -- important hiring qualities that cannot be well expressed in a resume and that are usually the subjects of a job interview. [Editor's Note: Find multiple tools for writing your cover letter in this section of Quintessential Careers: Cover Letter Resources.]
Myth #10: It's best to broadcast your resume to as many international employers as possible.
Reality: Broadcasting your resume may make you feel like you are doing something to further your job search. However, this approach to resume distribution is largely a waste of time and money, unless you have an especially good mailing list that puts your resume into the hands of key employers or recruiters. Few employers ever interview someone who sends them an unsolicited resume. Employers have particular hiring needs. When needs arise, they start looking for candidates through a variety of sources, from personal contacts and recruiters to classified ads, Internet job postings, and searches of online research databases.
Myth #11: Most of the job search can be conducted over the Internet.
Reality: The Internet is a very seductive job search tool which is frequently over-hyped by individuals who operate Internet employment sites. It's especially effective for employers who can inexpensively post job listings and search resume databases online. It's less effective for job-seekers who often waste their time responding to online job postings which produce few if any results. In fact, fewer than 15 percent of job-seekers in the United States get interviews based on their Internet job-search efforts. Use the Internet wisely in your job search by focusing on research and networking activities and communicating by e-mail. Don't spend more than 20 percent of your job search time on the Internet. Interpersonal networking by using the phone or meeting face-to-face with contacts will prove to be your most effective job-search method. Use your resume as a marketing tool for opening the doors of employers through networking. When it comes time to communicate directly with international employers, e-mail should play an important role, although faxes are still commonly used by many employers. You'll most likely use e-mail to transmit your resume and cover letter, answer questions, and engage in an online screening interview.
Myth #12: Once you send a resume, there's nothing much you can do other than wait to hear from the employer.
Reality: Waiting seldom produces positive results. You need to take the initiative in following up on your correspondence. Give the employer four to five working days before you make a follow-up telephone call or send an e-mail or fax. In fact, rather than close your letter with the standard throwaway line "I look forward to hearing from you," close it with an assertive follow-up statement that says "I will contact you on Thursday morning to see if you have any questions about my candidacy." Be sure to make that critical follow-up contact. It can make a big difference between never hearing from the employer versus getting a job interview. [Editor's Note: Learn more about follow-up in Follow Up All Job Leads: Don't Wait by the Phone (or Computer).]
Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
Be sure to check out all our great global job-search tools and tips in this section of Quintessential Careers: Job and Career Resources for Global Job-Seekers.
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