Careers in International Affairs is a Career Connections Global+ event (virtual program). This event is designed to give you universal skills for building your professional self, and zone in specifically on how to leverage your exchange experience and to introduce you to a wide array of career options in the international affairs field outside of government. This will also include a session on how you can continue your engagement in international relations via citizen and subnational diplomacy from your cities and communities across the United States. This Career Connections Global+ event is in anticipation of our summer event, which will have virtual and in-person components, in Washington, DC, and focus on careers in the U.S. Government.
Date: Thursday, April 28
Time: 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Zoom (virtual)
How to Participate
To participate in Career Connections and Career Connections Global+ programming, attendees must be U.S. citizen ExchangeAlumni and registered for an account on the International Exchange Alumni website at www.alumni.state.gov.
If you have trouble renewing or establishing your account, fill out the account inquiry form at alumni.state.gov/account-inquiry.
Agenda*
*Speakers will be added as they are confirmed.
5:00-5:05 p.m. ET: Welcome Remarks and Introductions by Office of Alumni Affairs, U.S. Department of State
5:05-5:10 p.m. ET: Agenda Overview by Global Ties U.S.
- Felecia Chatman, Program Manager for Career Connections
5:10-5:25 p.m. Opening Session: Staying Engaged in Foreign Affairs within Your Communities
Citizen diplomacy is the right and responsibility that citizens must have to be engaged in foreign affairs. With your international exchange experience, there are multiple ways that you can become a citizen diplomat while engaging with your community. This session will introduce you to the Global Ties Network, more than 80 Community-Based Member organizations that partner with the U.S. Department of State on public diplomacy and international exchange opportunities; we’ll also discuss other sub-national diplomacy opportunities. In addition, we’ll talk about the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund, a grant opportunity of up to $10,000 for teams of U.S. government-sponsored exchange program alumni. Grants are awarded for public service projects that utilize the skills, knowledge, and networks exchange alumni gained through their exchange experiences.
- Katherine Brown, Ph.D., President and CEO, Global Ties U.S.
5:25-5:55 p.m. ET: Personal Branding & Goal Setting
Building a personal brand for your profession requires taking your unique skillsets and talents and sharing them with your networks and the world. This session will cover the best strategies to use when creating your personal brand that will help you achieve your goals for the year.
- Trixie Cordova, LinkedIn
5:55-6:00 p.m. ET: Break
6:00-6:30 p.m. ET: Leveraging Your Exchange Experience and Intercultural Competence in Your Career Planning
During your exchange experience, you acquired a valuable skill set called intercultural competence that includes people, data, organizational and language skills. Learning how to leverage those skills in your in-person and virtual introductions, networking and interviews as well as in your resume and LinkedIn profile can help you gain a competitive advantage over other candidates for coveted jobs and other opportunities.
- Pamela Berland Ex, Global Career Coach
6:30-6:35 p.m. ET: Break
6:35-7:00 p.m. ET: Careers in International Relations Networking [Concurrent Breakout Session]
International relations is an incredibly broad professional field – and you don’t always need to work within the U.S. Government to be part of the field. Oftentimes, we hear a job title or a department and may have a vague sense of what a person does. During this breakout session, you will learn about specific careers in the field and have an opportunity to interact with a variety of experts in communications, research, human rights, technology, and nonprofit field. They will also discuss the various roles within their field so that you can think through the right career field and role for you. Please select one room you are interested in visiting to get to know about a field in this round.
- Communication & Media
- Nate Rawlings, Head of Communications, RockCreek
- Humanitarian Support
- Shilpa Nadhan, Director, Human Rights Policy, The Walt Disney Company
- International Education
- Benjamin Levy, Roukema Center for International Education, Ramapo College of New Jersey
- Technology/ Business and Entrepreneurship
- Sidney Olinyk, CEO & Founder, @Duco
- Nonprofit Management
- Katherine Brown, Ph.D., President & CEO, Global Ties U.S
7:00-7:05 p.m. ET: Closing Remarks
- Office of Alumni Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Career Connections are sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and implemented by Global Ties U.S. in partnership with the Office of Alumni Affairs in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
