Applicants without Borders

As you interview for a professional position, your prospective employers will examine how well you are prepared for the tasks and responsibilities of the position, and what potential you have to further the mission and goals of the organization.

Certainly your prospective employers will take into account your job-specific academic skills and career experiences. You must do your best to bolster your preparation in these areas. These baseline capacities will get your foot in the door, and the better you have performed in these areas, the stronger your application will be.

However, if you want to move your standing from good to great, prospective employers are looking for even more. In addition to job-specific preparation, prospective employers value transdisciplinary, global skills and abilities. In no particular order, and by no means exhaustive, these include: strong communication skills, how well you can speak and write; strong critical thinking skills, how well you understand a complex problem and reason through all the possibilities; strong interpersonal skills, how well you relate to others in a diverse workplace; strong work ethic, how well you stay on task and reach the goals that you set; and strong self-development skills, how well you contribute to the organization through lifelong learning and a growth mindset.

When preparing for your interview, think about how you have developed and utilized relevant knowledge and skills, from the specific to the transdisciplinary sense. These examples may well come from a course in your major or a research assistantship you completed, but it may also come from a liberal arts project or a volunteer experience or a challenge you have overcome in your personal life or a sports accomplishment or a goal you completed in a former career.

Don't be afraid to translate the global skills you have developed in varied settings to the work required in the current position. For example, you may have developed multi-cultural competency by volunteering with an immigrant right's non-profit, which translates into an important skillset for a teacher working in a diverse classroom.

In conclusion,  your GPA and your major matter, but to land the best position, you also need to demonstrate that you are an applicant without borders.