After university, I didn’t know what to do really. All I knew was that I wanted to go to Japan. So, I hopped on a plane and spent a year and a half in Tokyo, and absolutely adored it.
After living in Japan, and returning, the travel bug had thoroughly gotten me. After working in a call centre for about six months, I dramatically walked out one day declaring I was going to go work in South Korea. Honestly, that was how I made my decision. I’d been humouring the idea before, but it wasn’t until that day at work that I made my decision.
All in all, I lived overseas for five years between Japan and Korea, and visited Thailand and Australia in the process. I battled Korean, Japanese, and thankfully avoided using the Thai language. I navigated subway systems with ease and ordered foods with little problem.
And then I returned to Canada.
Trying to find a job here in Canada has been like pulling teeth. I’m 30 years old and yet for the past few years, my resume has looked the same as it did before I left for Japan. I didn’t even think about my employability, or how to sell the life experiences that I had dealt with. Until today.
I’ve been on a bit of an online education kick lately. I flew through a Social Media Marketing course that was made in 2008-2012 on Alison.com (I don’t recommend it, it’s VERY dated…) And I registered for two courses through George Brown College so I can get a PROPER Social Media Marketing certificate. But those don’t start until Monday so I needed something to do over the weekend. I headed over to EdX.org which offers actual university credits for classes around the world. I decided to start the “Unlocking Your Employability” course offered by the University of Queensland. It’s a long course, and very intense. But I’ve been frustrated with my failing job hunt (hence all the courses I’m trying to take) and thought I’d see if I could learn anything about job hunting in 2016.
In module 2, there is a topic called “Building Your Employability Through Global Experiences” that really ran true to me. Now, this course is for university students primarily, not people who have been out of university for 8 years. But my overseas time was after university, so it still stands. And to be honest, I had never even considered some of the things they went into as skills I now have.
I had never really realized that things that had become very easy for me were actual skills. Things as simple as being able to navigate two of the most complex subway systems in the biggest cities in the world could translate to someone who can problem solve and work independently. The simple act of being overseas for more than a week shows a sign of resilience and an ability to work outside of your comfort zone. As an English teacher, it shows incredible communication skills to be able to work in a workplace in your second language. Just getting up and going shows that you’re self motivated.
It opened my eyes to a whole decade of my life where I often feel I squandered it off for years, playing about in Asia and having the time of my life. In Korea, I developed K-Soul simply because I was afraid I didn’t have any employable skills and wanted to get into writing and media. I never thought that just going overseas would give me an advantage. It reminds me of when my parents came to visit. Their plane was about 10 hours late thanks to a diversion because someone was sick, so we were stuck at Incheon at 2am, with not a cab to be seen. My parents were worried, but I knew (thanks to a previous experience flying out of Hong Kong 12 hours delayed) that the airline would have arranged busses to all corners of the country to get people home. I was able to find the busses, talk to the drivers in my terrible Korean, and get us on the way to my home. The look on my parents faces as I navigated through what should have been a panicked moment was one I’ll never forget – like they were seeing a new side of me for the first time. I never thought this would be something that would improve my employability!
So tell me, my intrepid friends and global travellers, what are some experiences you’ve had where you look back and go “Wow, this shows a lot about me!” Leave your stories in the comments.