A Post-Peace Corps Career

Life as a Peace Corps volunteer can be weird for many reasons, but one of the principal ones for me was knowing that everything had an expiration date.  Ever since the beginning of my service I knew the exact day I would be, all at once, unemployed and internationally relocated away from my friends and community.  When you first move to site, that day feels like a million years away, but, poco a poco, that day marches closer and closer until all of the sudden you’re only a few weeks away from COS (Close of Service.)

Though my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer made me a much more relaxed person overall (Once you spend three years waiting on meetings and public transportation that almost never start on time, there’s really no way not to be more relaxed…), deep down I still feel a sense of satisfaction and relief from having a plan, especially when it comes to my career.  

The great news is, Peace Corps can be great for your career and you actually can plan your next steps and even find your future job while still in your country of service.  

I served as a PCV in Panama from June 2013- August 2016 and signed my dream job offer in May of 2016 (to start in September of that year).  Here’s how I did it:

• My program was extremely relevant to my desired career path- I studied Marketing and International Business in college and worked as an Agribusiness volunteer in Panama from 2013-2015.  My main focus was teaching basic business and financial management practices to cocoa farmers (I always joked that the only way I’d like working in agriculture was if it involved chocolate!), though as is typical in Peace Corps, I worked on a variety of projects including youth development camps, women’s empowerment seminars, and teaching techniques to improve the quality of cocoa.  You will never in your life have as much freedom to design your workday as you will in the Peace Corps, and I encourage you to take advantage of it.  It’s easy to sit around and add 100 books to your reading list, but that’s not going to help your people or your career. 

• I extended for a third year- I chose to extend my service a third year and work as the Regional Leader of the Darien province from 2015-2016.  There were so many benefits to extending and I highly encourage it, but the main reasons I extended were added leadership and coordination responsibilities, the ability to travel more, and the chance to move to an area with amenities (internet!) while still living in Panama.  

• I made a plan- Marketing is such a broad field that I knew I needed a niche in which I could both be happy and best market my Peace Corps experience.  Once I thought about it, it was simple- I love business, I love food, and I worked with cocoa farmers… food marketing!  Food marketing is still a broad field though, and my goal here was to narrow down to the perfect spot for me, so I kept going.  Keeping my personal preferences and experience as a PCV in mind, I knew that I would be a great all-around team player for a small company or startup in which I could have a big impact, that I valued working for a “good” company with a strong mission, and that I would love to work for a company that practices international direct trade (buying straight from the producers and cutting out middlemen), specifically in the chocolate industry.  So there we had it- a small chocolate shop that buys at least part of their beans direct from the source.  That’s about as niche’d as you can get, but with my experience I really felt like it was worth it to pursue potential jobs in that field.  

• I used free time in year 3 to network- Having internet at my house was really what made all of this possible.  I spent hours upon hours researching chocolate makers that bought beans directly from the source (which is actually much rarer than you would expect as almost all chocolate shops instead skip a few steps and buy coverture- essentially pre-made chocolate chips- which they then melt down and mix with various ingredients to make fancier chocolates.) I narrowed my already small list down to locations I’d be willing to live and ended up with about 5 places I was seriously interested in working and checked to see if they were hiring- only one was.  Though I obviously wanted a job, more than anything I wanted to talk to people- some places may not be hiring, but may have great advice and contact info for a different place I didn’t even know about.  Keeping that in mind, I used LinkedIn to find 5 or 6 people who I felt like would be great contacts.  I reached out to them with a short but personalized message and got a response from all but one! Though most of them didn’t have a job opening, reaching out via LinkedIn proved to be extremely useful.  In addition to just making more connections, I had the opportunity to talk with multiple business owners and Skype with the sourcing manager for a very well-known bean-to-bar chocolate maker to learn more about the industry.  Best of all- it turned out that two of the business owners offered me a job (though only one had an opening posted online). 

• I turned down the job that wasn’t right for me- This one was really hard.  As a Peace Corps volunteer, no work sounds like too much work and any salary sounds like a million dollars.  So when I received my first job offer, I was ecstatic.  It was right in my niche of direct-trade, bean-to-bar chocolate makers, and I felt like it was wrong to turn down something that sounded so much like what I wanted.  However, as much as I hate to admit this, I really had to analyze my cost-of-living and work-life balance.  When I did that, I realized that the job actually wasn’t the right fit for me.  Though I eventually turned it down, talking with the company was still a great experience and I hope to meet them at an industry event down the road.  

• I used technology to my full benefit- Sure, it is much harder to find a job when you’re abroad than when you’re already state-side, but it is totally doable with today’s technologies.  I used LinkedIn to contact employers and potential mentors, I interviewed via Skype and Facetime, and I signed my contract on an Adobe pdf. 

• I acknowledged my challenges-  Though technology was essential for my job search, it also gave me so many headaches.  There was the time that my background noise was so loud (thank you, road construction outside my house) that the person I was skyping with asked me to mute myself when not talking, or the time I tried to avoid that background noise by shutting myself in a room with no fans and ended up very obviously sweating through my nice “skyping blouse,” and there was, of course, the moment when my wifi mysteriously went out TWO MINUTES before a scheduled interview.  You can plan all you want, but as we say, Panama happens.  From the very beginning, I was honest with my contacts about where I was and the potential technological problems I had no way of fixing.  It may have felt like I was failing miserably, but you know what- they understood.  

Getting my post-Peace Corps job while still living abroad was hard, but it was so worth it.  I was able to finish my last few months of service without the stress of the unknown and was able to negotiate for a later start date so that I could spend time with my family and friends before moving to my new town.  Though the job search will be different for everyone depending on your background and desired career path, I hope my experience can help give some insight and ease your worries.  If you're a PCV or potential PCV and would like to talk more about job searching post-Peace Corps, send me an email at abbyexplores@gmail.com.  I love Peace Corps, I'm really excited about my new job, and I'm more than happy to talk about them!  

Next Up: Atlanta

After three years with Peace Corps Panama, I'm finally back in the United States and excited for what's next... Moving to Atlanta!

While I was hoping to stay in the Southeast, where I moved post-Peace Corps depended completely on where I could find a great job.  I wanted to work in a pretty niche industry (marketing and business development for a direct trade, bean-to-bar chocolate maker), and I'm so, so happy to have found exactly that here in Atlanta.  

Starting in mid-September, I'll be the Marketing and Sales Coordinator for Xocolatl, a local bean-to-bar chocolate maker.  For the first few weeks I'll be getting to know all about their chocolates and chocolate making process by working in the first retail location in the Krog Street Market.  After that, I'm happy to put my marketing experience to use to help grow the business through restaurant and retail partnerships.  

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I really like working with the many different aspects of marketing and business development and enjoy being able to be productive with a variety of projects, so I'm especially looking forward to working in a small business environment.  To be able to have all of that AND within the exact niche market I was looking for means that I'm pretty much over-the-moon about this new job.  

Thanks to Facebook, I also found a pretty sweet house-sitting gig from now-the end of November.  So, in exchange for taking care of two sweet little cats, I have free rent for my first three months of Atlanta living.  

Those rent-free months will certainly come in handy as I have yet another big change- I bought a car! I had been debating on trading in my pre-Peace Corps car, but had yet to come to a decision when it was made for me- My car was totaled in a wreck a few weeks before I came home.  Though thankfully everyone is ok, the car was definitely not and I embarked on a uber-thorough internet search of safe, great-value cars.  The day after I arrived home from Panama my dad and I test drove the Subaru Forester and I fell in love.  

So, there you have it.  I'm home from Peace Corps and in a short few weeks my new Subaru will be taking me to Atlanta to start work at a chocolate shop!  I'm not yet certain about the long-term future of this blog, but since I enjoyed sporadic blogging before Peace Corps, I'll be continuing to write over the coming months.  I may not be able to post about my life in Panama anymore, but you can bet I still love to talk about Peace Corps, travel, chocolate, and my little Panamanian pup, Massy.  

Finding Your (Nearly) Perfect Internship

With so many advice about finding your dream internship floating around the web, I wanted to share my own experiences and why I think there's no way you can or should start out with a "dream" internship.  

Be Realistic.  

If you've only ever worked as a fast food cashier, chances are you're not going to swoop in and get a fashion marketing position in NYC.  Understand that you'll need to start somewhere, so start interning early (think freshman year of college) in whatever position you can get good, related experience.  

Perhaps most importantly, do NOT get hung up on the job title.  One of my best "internships" was as a student assistant in the Tennessee 4-H Office.  My boss, after seeing how driven I was, agreed to let me build a social media outreach program for the entire state.  Once he saw how successful it was, he even took my work across the state and trained local employees on the same techniques I had taught him.  All that from what looked like a summer secretarial job!  

Gain Experience by Looking Outside the Box 

Not every internship is going to be packaged into a nice little paid position and advertised on every major outlet.  To give yourself a little direction, try what I did: 

1. Define your end goal.  As a freshman mine was to work in fashion marketing

2. Outline the qualifications you already have.  Mine were working in retail and winning numerous awards from DECA (a marketing association for high school students) and 4-H (a youth development).

3. Make a list of local companies that are related to your end goal.  For me this was shopping malls and boutiques.

4. Reach out to the companies on your list and ask for the opportunity to gain experience.  This might mean a regular part/full time job, job shadowing, or, ideally, an internship.  Thanks to this (and some help from my school's career counselor) I got a retail marketing internship with Simon Malls in my hometown (which later opened the door for other great opportunities!)

After Building up Your Résume, Focus on those "Dream" Jobs.  

Once I had several local internships under my belt, I made a personal goal to spend the summer before my senior year interning with a recognizable company in a major city.  Armed with experience, great recommendation letters, and a beefed up online presence, I applied to about 50 positions all over the country and received five phone interviews, three in-person interviews, and three final offers.  I included both "reach" and "fit" positions and refused to apply to anything that I wasn't going to love and learn from.  

Who you know and how well you know the organization definitely matters, so consider looking to regional or national offices for companies you've worked for in the past.  

Understand that No Internship is Going to be Perfect.  

While it's definitely cool to work for a big name company in a great city, I've learned from both my experiences and those of my friends that no internship is perfect.  Every job is going to have it's challenges and obstacles, and all of us are going to have days on the job that we'd rather not be there.  

However, choosing to learn from those times will ultimately make you a better employee and more well-rounded person.

I'm moving to Panamá.

It's official.  Nine months, an unbelievable volume of paperwork, and a 16-page job description later, I accepted a position as a Sustainable Agricultural Systems Extension Agent for the Peace Corps in Panamá.

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Even though I've been in the application process for close to a year, I'm still wrapping my head around the reality of the events that are going to be unfolding in the next few months.  I'll be moving to Panamá on June 19 and after nine weeks of training I will be assigned to a rural community that will become my home for the next two years.  

As my position will encompass a lot, what I do on a day-to-day basis could vary widely from education on agricultural best practices to business education and farm management.  A large number of volunteers also work to facilitate increased production and international trade with coffee and/or cacao plantations.  Chocolate and coffee: two of my favorite things.  Could there be a better fit?!

Unlike many current and future volunteers, I never planned on serving in the Peace Corps.  It always seemed like an incredible thing for someone to do, but when I thought about my career path it just didn't seem to mesh.  Then, one day this past summer I outlined everything I wanted in a job (similar to this post) and it just clicked.  Travel, education, business related careers, cultural diversity, and philanthropy- the Peace Corps had it all.  Two days later, my application was submitted and something just told me that it was right.  

Now, as I begin preparations to move to Panamá, I am so unbelievably excited and honored to begin this chapter of my life.  As the Peace Corps says, this is the hardest job you'll ever love.

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Waiting

I could barely contain my excitement as I flew through page after page of extended job applications and submitted carefully formatted résumés and cover letters I spent much too long on.  I was mentally prepared for a long process, as I had heard time and time again how long it can take to get your first real job, and I was ready for it... I thought.  

The problem with my job search though, was that I have incredibly high expectations.  {See this post for more on that} I know that I likely won't start out in a dream job per say, but I refuse to spend over forty hours a week working for a company or organization I'm not passionate about.  Needless to say, this has narrowed the potential employers by quite a bit and I honestly do not have any "safe" applications out there.  I want need my work to matter, and even if I hate jumping through hoop after hoop and waiting for applications to process and positions to be awarded, here I am, jumping and waiting. 

It's now been nearly nine months since I began my first application, which is still processing by the way.  However, every time I try to tell myself that nine months really isn't that long to wait, I remember that at this point a baby could have been born.  That's a long time, folks.  

From what I understand, I could receive the big news anytime from now until June.  Though I'm pretty sure knowing what day I'm counting down to would help a little bit, this excitement for the unknown has really kept me going throughout the past few weeks.  I'm constantly scanning my email, checking online forums, and even calling my dad to check on the mail at home.  I'm enjoying my last semester at school so much, but boy will I be happy to start planning my future.  

Excited employee-to-be, right here.  Feel free to hire me at any point now.  

I know I'm not the only one whose gone through a tough waiting game.  What exciting things have you been waiting for?

Updates on the Post-Grad Options

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about some of the different options I'm pursuing for post-graduation life.  After a few changes in status, I figured I'd write a little update.  Although I would be so incredibly excited to receive official offers from any of my current options, choosing just one is going to be really tough!

Eight months after I began my application, I received a nomination for Peace Corps service departing in June 2013.  Translation: after learning all about my life, health, and aspirations, my recruiter still likes me enough to recommend that I receive an official offer.  Now I'm knee deep in legal and medical documents (I thought I had already told them everything there was to know....) and will eventually speak to a placement officer and *hopefully* be awarded a two-year volunteer job abroad.  

As for my hopeless longing to return to Spain, today I interviewed (via skype) to be a classroom language and culture assistant in Spanish Catholic schools.  The interview was only about ten minutes, which seems to be the norm, and went really smoothly.  My interviewer talked to me about my experience with kids and about the position specifics- how many hours were available, locations, pay, etc.  I'll be receiving the magic email with a "YES" or "No...." on March 16.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  

But what about jobs in the good ole US of A?  Keeping in mind my insatiable wanderlust, I only applied to my two dream companies, which are quite a reach.  Even though I feel like I have a competitive résumé, with no connections to either organization I was afraid I would receive the standard form rejection.  But oh, contraire!  I'm being "further considered" for the position I applied for, and will need to turn in writing samples later this week to see if I make it to the next round.  Yippee!    

My mind has turned into a constant battleground in support/challenge of the options available at this point.  If only the decision were easy....

Career Thoughts: American Eagle

Thanks to an amazing professor with equally amazing connections, I had the opportunity to visit the American Eagle headquarters in Pittsburgh this past week.  Although I spent nearly all of high school and college dreaming of working in fashion marketing, I thought that dream had died. 

Boy, was I wrong.  

Our tour and accompanying meetings were set up to compliment a class my school offers on retail marketing, which I was not able to take due to scheduling conflicts.  Since my professor (and just about anyone who knows me well) knew about my passion for the apparel and accessories industry, she invited me to come along.  

To kick off the afternoon, we toured "fake" AEO and Aerie stores within the corporate offices.  Though non-functional for customers, these stores give the visual merchandisers a place to design displays for stores across the country.  Next, we were led to a classroom type set-up where we had the incredible experience of hearing from brand marketers, fashion buyers, allocation planners, and HR personnel.   

The thing that stood out to me most during our visit was the passion and happiness that exuded from every single person we met.  Everyone was genuinely excited to work for American Eagle, which is what seemed to be one of the major factors for company success.  The feelings were contagious, and I've spent the past few days re-vamping my resumé and searching for open opportunities.  

Though it's obviously early on, it seems like this could be the perfect fit company I've been looking for. Now here's crossing fingers that the feeling will be mutual!

In Search of the Perfect Job

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Generally speaking, I'm a procrastinator.  I wait to do things until I absolutely must, and college has been a big lesson in time management for me.  When it comes to things I'm either incredibly passionate or very nervous about, though, I'm the first one to get it done.  Which has brought me here: the job search with over 6 months to go before I'll actually be graduating.

The problem is, I have high standards.  I want to leave work everyday feeling as though I've really accomplished something for my company, and I want to get more than just money or other tangible benefits.  

My ideal, dream job would...

Allow me to live abroad or travel frequently,

Have a focus on marketing, but allow me to do much more than desk work,

Give me lots of diverse and challenging projects to work on,

Be working with a great team who support and challenge each other,

Empower me to make a difference in people's lives,

Work with products or services that I'm personally passionate about,

And have a great pay and benefits package, since we're being honest here.

This perfect job would be a part of a company that...

Has a strong company vision and set of values,

Acts on those values, specifically when it comes back to giving back to the community,

Has locations or branches around the world,

And is focused on global development and cultural diversity.

Know of any jobs like that?  

No?  Me either... yet.  I have, however, begun to map out a few industries and companies, both profit and not-for-profit,  I think could be a good fit.  I'm thinking something along the lines of study abroad programs, TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), corporate social responsibility, strategic marketing, or travel/tourism management.  Honestly though, I'm open to anything that I could be a good fit for.  

Oh, and I applied for the Peace Corps.

I've decided...

... that I want to learn how to fly.

It's something I've always wanted to do, but never really put too much thought into.  For some reason though, my not-so-secret desire to fly a plane has come back with a vengence.  Maybe it's the adventure, maybe it's the way-too-cool-sounding job prospects, but I think saving up for a pilot's license is in my near future.  

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