{"id":7219,"date":"2026-04-14T03:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/?p=7219"},"modified":"2026-03-24T15:48:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:48:31","slug":"workingabroadhindrance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2026\/04\/workingabroadhindrance\/","title":{"rendered":"Working abroad is not always looked on positively when looking for a local job"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For all of this month, each week, I’m publishing a blog focused on working in international humanitarian affairs and community development. This is part two of that series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in this climate of drastic cutbacks in foreign aid programs around the world, not only by the US government, many people want to work in humanitarian-related fields abroad. Many believe that such works means life-long employability, because they think international work is always perceived as a plus on a r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m oh-so-proud of my work abroad<\/a>, or my international work that I’ve been able to do while still in my home country, but my international work has not at all been the “wow” on my CV I thought it would be. In fact, sometimes, I think it has cost me some job interviews, and I am pretty sure it cost me at least two jobs I interviewed for. And the more I talk to others, the more I have realized that not all employers look favorably on work or volunteering abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, I’ve gathered negative comments others have heard in job interviews with regard to their service abroad. Here’s a few that I think represent all that I’ve gathered. I’ve changed some comments slightly so that where they were said can’t be easily found with an online search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been asked twice in interviews, almost with a scoff, “But why do you want to work HERE when you’ve done all this work abroad?” One of them followed up with, “Well, I just feel like if we hired you, you might run off at any moment to go back overseas.” Never mind that I had just bought a house – which I noted in both the interview and my cover letter.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was giving a behavioral interview example using my time in the Peace Corps, and one of the panel interrupted me and told to instead pick an example from my \u201cprofessional career\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had someone in an interview tell me it was a mistake to go off to Africa early in my career when I could be using my degree and learning the trade for the job I was interviewing for.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One interviewer just kept saying he feared I would be bored, because working at this local government agency would be COMPLETELY different than working abroad. I don’t think the interviewer had ever stepped out of his state, let alone the USA. And never mind that the work I would have been doing locally would have been almost identical to what I had done in other countries. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two different interviewers implied I must not like the USA if I worked abroad. I wasn’t prepared to prove my patriotism in job interviews.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have lots of advice for translating humanitarian work abroad such that it you present it in the same words as a federal, state, county or city job posting. But the reality is that, even if you were to follow that advice, you need to be prepared, if you are making the transition from international to local, that some folks don’t see how the work is oh-so-similar, and your work abroad may even make them suspicious of you, no matter how you phrase it. You may have to apply for far more jobs than you thought you would have to, to find hiring managers that see international work as an asset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sure, some regions are more friendly to international workers than others. In the USA, you are going to have a better reception from potential employers in the greater Washington DC and New York metropolitan areas, for instance, than you will in some other areas where there isn’t a large number of international agencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s such a shame that more local government agencies in particular don’t see international work as an asset among applicants. They are losing out on a tremendous amount of talent, ideas and experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of my blogs with career-related advice are here<\/a>. What I have written lately about working internationally may be in conflict with some of the things I’ve advised over the years. But I never saw this coming… Here are some highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n