International work has a certain lure and mysticism which was once reserved for itinerant missionaries, anthropologists and soldiers of fortune of decades ago. Indeed, there are probably more myths about international jobs than of any other type of work.

Most job seekers are unprepared and naive in approaching the international job market; some might be best termed "job dumb." They play around the periphery of this job market with little success in penetrating it successfully. They muddle through the job market with questionable perceptions of how it works. Combining facts, stereotypes, myths, and folklore -- gained from a mixture of logic, experience, movies, nightly news reports, and advice from well-meaning friends and relatives -- these perceptions lead job seekers down several unproductive paths. They are often responsible for the self-fulfilling prophecy and lament of the unsuccessful international job seeker: "There are no jobs available for me."

Some of the more important myths preventing individuals from achieving success in the international job market include:

MYTH 1: International employment pays extremely well compared to salaries in the States.
MYTH 2: International jobs are very challenging and interesting.
MYTH 3: International work involves exciting and sometimes exotic travel.
MYTH 4: International development work is personally rewarding because of the positive changes one is able to make in the lives of others.
MYTH 5: International lifestyles are better than back home.
MYTH 6: It's easier to find an international job while traveling or living abroad than by networking or applying from the U.S.
MYTH 7: One must have a great deal of international experience to get an international job.
MYTH 8: Travel experience and language competency are essential to finding an international job.
MYTH 9: An international-related educational background is essential for finding an international job.
MYTH 10: Living and working abroad is dangerous.
MYTH 11: There are few international jobs available today.
MYTH 12: It's best to use an international job placement service to get an international job.
MYTH 13: One has to have "connections" in order to break into the international job market. Whom you know is more important than what you can do.
MYTH 14: Most international jobs involve a great deal of travel. An international job will enable me to see and experience the world.
MYTH 15: Most international jobs require moving and living abroad.
MYTH 16: If one wants to work in the international arena, it's best to work for government or a multinational corporation.
MYTH 17: The best international jobs are found within the U.S. State Department and USAID or with the United Nations.
MYTH 18: The international hiring process seems to take forever. It takes longer to find an international job than to land a job back home.
MYTH 19: It's difficult to start one's own international business.
MYTH 20: The job search techniques that work for finding a domestic job also work well for finding an international job.
MYTH 21: It's best to learn about other cultures and adjust one's behavior to meet the local expectations. The more I act like the locals, the easier it will be for me and my job.

MYTH 1: International employment pays extremely well compared to salaries in the States.

REALITY: The financial rewards of international employment vary greatly. Some jobs -- especially international consulting -- can pay very well. Jobs with many non-profit organizations pay poorly. For those living abroad special financial benefits are often offset by additional expenses incurred in trying to maintain a certain lifestyle as well as lost opportunities for supplementing income, such as appreciation on property in the States or job opportunities for one's spouse.

MYTH 2: International jobs are very challenging and interesting.

REALITY: Some international jobs are exciting, but many are dull and boring. The excitement tends to come from the lifestyle which involves traveling and learning about other cultures, eating different foods, meeting new and different people, and encountering unique events. Foreign Service Officers often end up stamping travel documents in some dreadful, hot and dirty capital city where the most exciting things to happen are to receive a letter from home, take a trip outside the country acquire a new videotape, or check into a first--class hotel which has hot water and air conditioning. These are the events that make working and living abroad interesting for many people. They are often the subjects of peoples' "war stories" about "how it was when we lived and worked abroad."

MYTH 3: International work involves exciting and some-times exotic travel.

REALITY: Travel is definitely a benefit for many individuals who have international jobs. However, the excitement of travel often wears off after age 40, after children reach high school age, after the third move in five years, after the tenth flight in a single year, and after the third lost suitcase and another terrifying taxicab ride from another chaotic airport. On the other hand, young inexperienced, and single people tend to disproportionately enjoy the novelty of international travel. Like all novelties, this one can wear off after a while.

MYTH 4: International development work is personally rewarding because of the positive changes one is able to make in the lives of others.

REALITY: International development work is personally rewarding for individuals who can make a difference in the lives of others. But development work also is one of the most frustrating areas of international work. Few changes actually take place; the process tends to be very political; and development work fails more often than it succeeds. Individuals working for the USAID mis-sions in Third World countries, for example, are more likely to be preoccupied with obligating funds and putting out brush fires on problematic USAID projects than in making progress in development. For many people, development work becomes more of a personal ego trip than one of concrete long-term accomplishments. Satisfaction comes more from "mingling with the locals" -- speaking the local language, eating the local foods, laughing at the local jokes, and receiving the exaggerated status accorded to well-educated foreign development workers.

MYTH 5: International lifestyles are better than back home.

REALITY: International lifestyles vary considerably. Living abroad can mean a large and comfortable home with servants and a good international school for one's children. But such comforts are often offset by daily inconveniences of transportation and communication, by poor health and recreation facilities, by cultures which are best remembered rather than lived, and by the unemployed spouse situation. In many countries one spends a great deal of time on the basics of living, such as shopping for food and getting from point A to point B. Local health facilities may be rudimentary or downright dangerous. And one's spouse is likely to be un-employed -- a recurring and serious problem for two--career couples who have chosen to live abroad and then find international living a tremendous strain on their marriage, often ending in divorce. Local cultures may place constraints on women. Consequently, adverse living conditions may result in a low level of work output and little professional development. For families with teenage children, the international lifestyle often becomes a serious liability because excellent international high schools are only found in a few countries. At this point in life, many people are anxious to return home or be transferred to a country which has a good international school. Others get tired of international living. Added to these adverse conditions are safety considerations attendant with the continuing rise of international terrorism and anti-Americanism. Consequently, the international lifestyle is not for everyone nor is it for some people at particular stages in their lives.

MYTH 6: It's easier to find an international job while traveling or living abroad than by networking or applying from the U.S.

REALITY: From where one should best look for an international job depends on several factors. Expatriates living in-country often have an advantage in landing short-term contract jobs because of their location. Many companies prefer hiring someone already in the field for small jobs that may only involve $10,000 to $30,000 in labor expenses. It's cheaper to recruit such people than to transport someone from abroad to do these jobs. Consequently, expatriates will be in a good position to find many of these short-term jobs. On the other hand, many government agencies and companies prefer hiring their long-term field personnel from the States because they find a larger pool of qualified candidates based there. They have a bias for hiring individuals who are one-step removed from the local situation and who are more involved in the professional mainstream which is based back home rather than in some isolated location abroad.

Most important of all, recruitment and hiring decisions tend to be centralized with headquarters staff. They publicize vacancies, interview candidates, and select the finalists. Living and working abroad tends to place one outside this centralized recruitment process. Ironically, expatriates living abroad are well advised to make regular trips back home in order to better position themselves in the international job market.

MYTH 7: One must have a great deal of international experience to get an international job.

REALITY: It depends on the situation and the job. Many jobs require little or no international experience -- only a specific or exotic skill that is difficult to find.

MYTH 8: Travel experience and language competency are essential to finding an international job.

REALITY: This is one of the great myths of finding an international job. While travel, foreign languages, and international education may help you find a job, they are not necessarily prerequisites for entering the international job market. Indeed, many people break into this job market without such backgrounds. They possess other more important skills which are in demand. In many countries, English is the working language of international jobs. Knowing a foreign language may be crucial to one's job in some countries, such as Japan, China, Indonesia, and France, but not so for many jobs in other countries, such as Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, or India.

MYTH 9: An international-related educational background is essential for finding an international job.

REALITY: An international education may be helpful in better understanding the international arena, but it is no guarantee of gaining entrance to the job market. At best such an education will better help you network with others you meet in the international job market. The most important internation-al courses to take will be business, especially in accounting and marketing, and foreign languages. History, art, culture, sociology, educa-tion, interdisciplinary Third World courses, and even international business may be interesting to take and will definitely enrich your stay abroad. But few such courses will directly help you find an international job since they have little skill content other than teaching the same courses to others either at home or abroad. At the same time, education in general is important for many international jobs, especially in cultures where "qualifications" are equated with higher educational degrees -- regardless of the particular field of study. Education and qualifications have different meanings in different cultures. Thus, the higher one's educational level -- measured as the possession of a B.A., M.A., or Ph.D. -- the better your chances of landing an international job. In fact, international jobs are more sensitive to educational credentials and how they translate into status in other countries than to specific performance skills. All things being nearly equal, a candidate with an M.A. is more likely to be hired than someone with only a B.A. Therefore, the more educational credentials you can accumulate, the better positioned you should be in the international job market. Even a B.A. degree does not mean a great deal abroad these days.

MYTH 10: Living and working abroad is dangerous.

REALITY: It can be dangerous, but it seldom is. Living and working abroad may actually increase your safety quotient. It's much safer to work abroad than in many places in the U.S. where your chances of being in an accident, mugged, or killed are some of the highest in the world. However, some countries in the Middle East and Latin America have reputations as being dangerous for foreigners and particularly for Americans. If you work in one of these countries, you should take sensible precautions to ensure your safety, such as hiring guards and a driver, locking your doors, changing your daily routines, avoiding strange places, and never walking alone at night.

MYTH 11: There are few international jobs available today.

REALITY:There are numerous international jobs available today for those who know where they are and how to find them. In fact, we expect to see the number of international job opportunities increase steadily over the next decade as the world economy becomes even more interdependent, national boundaries become more open, and populations move more easily between countries. The basic problem is breaking into what often appears to be a relatively closed job market. If you shed many of your preconceptions of the international job market, examine your motivations, develop an intelligent plan of action, and simply persist with a well organized and focused international job search, you should be able to join millions of others who work in this fascinating job and career arena.

MYTH 12: It's best to use an international job placement service to get an international job.

REALITY: You should be able to do just as well in finding an international job on your own than by hiring someone to help you. In fact, many of these so-called placement firms have bad reputations for exploiting clients and engaging in fraudulent practices. Some misrepresent their services by convincing vulnerable job seekers that they have some special access to international job vacancies and employers. Many require up-front fees for the promise of helping you find a job. Few do much more than mail your resume to different organizations that have overseas operations. This you can easily do on your own by spending a few hours in your local library surveying international directories and with the same results -- few if any invitations for interviews. The most reliable firms are the "headhunters" and "executive search" firms that are paid by employers to hire specific types of individuals. If you follow the advice of this book, you should have no problem penetrating the international job market and finding the job that best fits your interests, skills, and motivations. You will do much better than many firms that try to get you to buy into their questionable placement services. In the meantime, if you decide to use such a firm, be sure you carefully examine their performance record rather than accept their promises of performance. Paying up-front fees is a sure sign you are buying promises rather than playing for performance.

MYTH 13: One has to have "connections" in order to break into the international job market. Whom you know is more important than what you can do.

REALITY: While "connections" and knowing people are important to finding any job, and especially important when seeking an international job where information on job vacancies and opportunities is difficult to access, they are by no means essential. Your most important asset will be your marketable skills in a job market that places high value on unique job skills. How well you communicate your skills, experience, and motivations to employers -- be it through resumes, letters, application forms, word-of-mouth, headhunters, executive search firms, classified ads, or contacts and "connections" -- will largely determine your success in getting the job. You should use contacts and "connections" not because they are the way to get an international job. They are some of the most efficient and effective ways of communicating your availability and qualifications in a job market noted for being highly decentralized, fragmented, and chaotic. The system, or lack thereof, is not organized well for efficiently and effectively communicating job vacancy information nor linking qualified candidates with job vacancies. Therefore, your job is to organize your own system for best communicating your qualifications to potential international employers. Contacts, "connections," and networking strategies should become a few of your many methods for organizing this job market around your qualifications.

MYTH 14: Most international jobs involve a great deal of travel. An international job will enable me to see and experience the world.

REALITY: Many international jobs involve very little travel. The most traveling you may ever do is when you move from your home base to the job site abroad, and then return for a home visit once or twice in a two to three year period. Some international jobs involve working in one location, sometimes isolated, for one to two years at a time. If you are looking for an international job because you particularly like to travel, you may be better off looking for a job that involves a great deal of travel. These jobs are most likely found with headquarters staff, in international sales, or in the travel industry. This is one of the major mistakes some individuals make when choosing to "go international" with their career. Their major motivation for wanting an international job is travel. They assume that international jobs involve a great deal of travel to many interesting places or such a job will give them an opportunity to do more travel. They quickly learn they may have greater opportunities for international travel had they stayed home and found a good paying job with generous vacation time or one that involved periodic travel abroad. Whatever you do, don't assume an international job will give you more opportunities to travel. It may or may not. If you really want to travel abroad to many places, make international travel your career or start your own international business. An international job may result in getting stuck is some undesirable location that neither gives you the income nor time to do the travel you dreamed of doing while living and working abroad. Always start by examining your motivations for seeking an international job.

MYTH 15: Most international jobs require moving and living abroad.

REALITY: Many do but many others don't. Many international jobs are based in the United States and involve periodic travel to work sites abroad. International consultants and contractors, for example, may spend one to two months at a time on projects abroad, but their work base is back home. Educators, researchers, foundation employees, and business people often spend only a few weeks a year working abroad. Even employees of the State Department and USAID will spend much of their career in Washington, DC. City and state government employees involved in promoting tourism and trade are based in their home communities from where they conduct international business. In fact, many people enjoy their international jobs, careers, and lifestyles precisely because they have the best of both worlds -- based at home and regularly travel and work abroad. They can still remain a part of their own society and communities while maintaining an exciting international career. In so doing, they avoid many of the hassles involved in full-time living and working abroad. Ironically, some of these people might change careers if their international jobs required lengthy residence abroad!

MYTH 16: If one wants to work in the international arena, it's best to work for government or a multinational corporation.

REALITY: Government agencies and multinational corporations do offer numerous international job opportunities, but they are only a few of the many players in the international job market. In fact, you may find some of the most interesting and rewarding jobs are found with nonprofit organizations or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and small or medium-size businesses in the travel and hospitality industries. On the other hand, you may discover being an international entrepreneur -- either as some type of freelancer, independent consultant, or importer-exporter -- to be much more interesting than working for others who will largely determine your work agenda and your future in the international arena.

MYTH 17: The best international jobs are found within the U.S. State Department and USAID or with the United Nations.

REALITY: These may be great jobs for some people, but they aren't for others, including many present employees who are looking for other more rewarding alternatives. While these high-profile organizations appear to offer many international glamour jobs, in reality competition is keen for these jobs and many are disappointing, boring jobs. Morale is especially low in the State Department and USAID because of recent changes in the personnel systems that do not reward international expertise and experience; career rewards are given to those who can demonstrate managerial expertise -- a skill that requires little or no demonstrated international or area expertise. Benefits continue to erode as these agencies cutback on traditional perks. Furthermore, many of the jobs primarily involve the procurement process -- from obligating funds to monitoring contracts. Individuals who go into these organizations with the expectation of doing significant international work often are disappointed in discovering they are primarily pushing paper, stamping passports, monitoring problematic projects, and financing contractors. The real exciting international work is often contracted-out to consultants, contractors, nonprofit organizations, and universities. United Nations work, while well paid, is often boring and very political. Competition for jobs and promotions tends to follow nationalistic lines since a certain percentage of jobs are reserved for particular nationals. Many jobs are simply boring -- involve little work content, numerous unproductive meetings, and a great deal of bureaucratic routines. If you are interested in getting things done, seeing the results of your international labors, and productivity and responsiveness, these organizations may not be appropriate for you. Indeed, many employees with these organizations often wonder whatever happened to the really interesting international jobs and exciting lifestyles they expected when joining the organizations. Few recommend their jobs to their friends or relatives. Needless to say, there are many other more interesting and rewarding international jobs than those found with these high-profile organizations.

MYTH 18: The international hiring process seems to take forever. It takes longer to find an international job than to land a job back home.

REALITY: This also depends on the situation. Some organizations, especially government and the United Nations, may take an extraordinary amount of time to fill a vacancy because of the large number of candidates applying for a position, numerous decision-making levels, and the need for security clearances. Other organizations may take a long time because they are looking for someone with a highly specialized or technical skill that is difficult to find even with the hiring of an executive search firm. But other organizations may do just the opposite -- hire in a very short period of time. Since many of the organizations have few legal restrictions on their hiring practices --especially time consuming affirmative action and equal opportunity requirements -- they have a great deal of flexibility in determining how they will hire. In short, they will do what they want and need to do. As soon as an impending vacancy becomes apparent, for example, hiring officials will literally "spread the word" within their old boy/girl networks to identify candidates who have the proper mix of skills, experience, and motivation for the job. This network may be very efficient in identifying the three top candidates within a matter of hours without having to hire a firm to recruit someone or list the vacancy in some publication or data bank. If you make yourself known by plugging into these networks, you may discover finding an international job takes less time than landing a domestic job. Therefore, it's extremely important that you learn how to effectively network for international job information, advice, and referrals -- an essential skill for continuing international job and career success.

MYTH 19: It's difficult to start one's own international business.

REALITY: Depending on what you want to do as well as your entrepreneurial skills, it's relatively easy to get started and operational within a short period of time. All you need is some basic information, a business plan, contacts, and the resources to finance the initial stages of your venture. In fact, the coming decade should be an unparalleled period for international entrepreneurship as "development" of countries increasingly becomes defined in terms of encouraging greater foreign investment, joint ventures, and import-export arrangements. Government agencies are becoming increasingly oriented toward encouraging and promoting private business involvement abroad, from large multinationals to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. If you love to travel, and also want to have an international dimension to your career, starting your own business may be an ideal solution to the "international career" question.

MYTH 20: The job search techniques that work for finding a domestic job also work well for finding an international job.

REALITY: Some do but many don't because they are based upon a culturally-biased model of achieving career success in the American job market. They assume that job applicants are primarily motivated to get jobs they do well and enjoy doing and then make job moves that demonstrate career growth and advancement. Such skilled and motivated people are supposed to be oriented toward career success. However, many international job applicants could care less about such career success. Many of them are primarily oriented toward experiencing adventure and unique experiences as well as pursuing ideas, causes, challenges, and lifestyles. If an international career somehow develops from these experiences and pursuits, so be it. But success measured in terms of positions, money, and advancement up someone's organizational hierarchy is a cultural bias implicit in the standard career planning and job search models used by most career counselors.

MYTH 21: It's best to learn about other cultures and adjust one's behavior to meet the local expectations. The more I act like the locals, the easier it will be for me and my job.

REALITY: Yes, you should understand and be sensitive to other cultures. But it's not necessary to go to extremes by always behaving like the locals. Indeed, many people become overly sensitive to other cultures and engage in silly behaviors that are even embarrassing to the locals who aren't sure who such foreigners think they are! Other cultures have expectations for both foreigners and expatriates which are not the same as for the locals. As such, you are permitted to be different as long as you are not offensive. If you try to "go bush" you may not be respected as much as when you maintain your own identity. In addition, today's "global village" is changing rapidly and thus it's difficult to know exactly what the local expectations are for foreigners and expatriates. Furthermore, the international business, government and development cultures have increasingly become Americanized. Except for a few local cultural peculiarities, you should be able to adjust well to an international employment culture without having to "go native." Your identity should always be an asset when functioning in the international job market. Just don't become obnoxious and offensive.