Lisa Zhu | Go abroad, young man

Oh, to be a senior - finished with course requirements; empowered by the ability to stride past bouncers, legal ID in hand; sitting pretty with the cool confidence of a full-time job offer.

Alas, this year's seniors are considerably worse off than their predecessors, at least on the job-hunting front. With heavy losses in the finance industry and high unemployment rates compared to past years, this season's On-Campus Recruiting forecast could be grim.

"We're really not seeing much of a drop in recruiting yet this year," Career Services spokeswoman Kelly Cleary said. "But I think it's going to be important for people to be open to other industries because it is likely that there will be fewer positions open on Wall Street."

Even current juniors and sophomores may not be free from economic woes - according to a New York Times article from July 19, 2008, the unemployment rate is projected to rise to 6.5 percent by the end of 2009 (compared to 5.7 percent today).

So in these troubled waters, it may be time to update Horace Greeley's famous piece of old-fashioned advice: "Go Abroad, Young Man!"

Specifically, many Penn students could benefit from using the next few years as an opportunity to experience different professional environments in rapidly developing regions like China, India and the Middle East. And while these exotic locales could act as a safe haven from American economic turmoil, the benefits of working abroad are far more extensive than short-term financial security.

"Having more international experience will only help students professionally in the long run," Cleary said. "Most employers really do value that experience, whether you stay in the United States or abroad."

College and Wharton senior Mark Saadine noticed this advantage firsthand during his summer at the Dubai office of consulting firm McKinsey & Company. "If you go to a smaller office like Dubai, you have the opportunity to distinguish yourself, as opposed to being stuck in an office in New York with 100 other analysts."

Moreover, because many of these regions are in critical developmental stages, the content of work in countries with emerging markets is often on a much grander scale than in the U.S.

"In the U.S., you might be working on one product division optimization," Saadine said. "But we were working on a $30 billion company's five-year growth strategy."

Furthermore, America benefits from having a more worldly young-adult population. As economic and technological development in the U.S. slows, it makes sense for bright young American minds to acquire new ideas abroad before returning home to share these innovations with their peers.

For one thing, most of the recent achievements in green technology and alternative energy have taken place outside the United States. The largest existing solar plant in the world is in Spain. The largest wind turbine is in Germany. Even the United Arab Emirates, flush with oil wealth, is planning to build the world's first carbon-neutral city in Abu Dhabi. In other words, if your dream is to work at the forefront of technological innovation, refusing to leave the U.S. may not be the best idea.

College senior Amber Chi, who spent the summer doing stem-cell research at a major research institution in Taiwan, agrees. "In Asia, research is more of a priority in terms of government funding," she said, "The amount of money I was able to spend in my lab was significantly greater than here at Penn."

However, there is a catch to working abroad: Finding international jobs can be challenging, especially if the only language you speak is English. Penn's Career Services department provides a starting point with their International Opportunities Fair on October 24, which will feature a selection of banks, consulting firms, non-profit organizations and other potential employers.

From there it's up to you.

"A lot of times, [international offices or companies] will just recruit from England or locally," Saadine said.

"They might not have the recruiting infrastructure to come to your door, so you have to find what you're interested in and reach out to them in whatever way you can."

Lisa Zhu is a Wharton and College senior from Cherry Hill, N.J., and United Minorities Council chairwoman. Her e-mail is zhu@dailypennsylvanian.com. Zhu-ology appears every Thursday.

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