Working World: Careers in International Education, Exchange, and Development (Paperback)

by Sherry L. Mueller (Author), Mark Overmann (Author)
Key Phrases: identifying your cause, volunteer opportunities, multinational organizations, United States, Foreign Service, Peace Corps (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Mueller, an experienced association executive, teams with Overmann, her former intern, to offer intergenerational perspectives on building careers in international education and humanitarian sectors. Chapters give their disparate perspectives on job seeking, networking, and mentoring, which will prove valuable to anyone wanting to shape a meaningful career. Readers will likely identify with the job attitudes of one author more than the other. Mueller, active in her profession for four decades, sees the book as a way of mentoring her younger colleague, whereas Overmann rejects the notion that he has ever had a mentor. Nevertheless, their brief essays reveal a strong bond.

Chapter 4, "The Continuous Journey," is the most reflective. In it, both authors stress that one builds careers until the day one retires. Five of the 12 chapters provide annotated, current print and Web resources dealing with volunteer opportunities and with working for nonprofits, the federal government, and multinational associations. Many entries are broad enough to be useful to job seekers outside the book's emphasis. A dozen interviews of people who have built successful careers illuminate points the authors make; one association executive states, "If you have a career choice to make, always take the one that's going to give you a steeper learning curve." This is a first-rate resource for anyone entering the working world. Excellent subject index. Summing up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, professionals/practitioners, and general readers. --C.B. Thurston, University of Texas at San Antonio, CHOICE-Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

Mueller, an experienced association executive, teams with Overmann, her former intern, to offer intergenerational perspectives on building careers in international education and humanitarian sectors. Chapters give their disparate perspectives on job seeking, networking, and mentoring, which will prove valuable to anyone wanting to shape a meaningful career. Readers will likely identify with the job attitudes of one author more than the other. Mueller, active in her profession for four decades, sees the book as a way of mentoring her younger colleague, whereas Overmann rejects the notion that he has ever had a mentor. Nevertheless, their brief essays reveal a strong bond.

Chapter 4, "The Continuous Journey," is the most reflective. In it, both authors stress that one builds careers until the day one retires. Five of the 12 chapters provide annotated, current print and Web resources dealing with volunteer opportunities and with working for nonprofits, the federal government, and multinational associations. Many entries are broad enough to be useful to job seekers outside the book's emphasis. A dozen interviews of people who have built successful careers illuminate points the authors make; one association executive states, "If you have a career choice to make, always take the one that's going to give you a steeper learning curve." This is a first-rate resource for anyone entering the working world. Excellent subject index.

Summing up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, professionals/practitioners, and general readers. --C.B. Thurston, University of Texas at San Antonio, CHOICE, January 2009

Review
The format of this new volume includes profiles and informal interviews conducted with experienced professionals in all fields; it discusses a range of key career issues and dilemmas; and provides an excellent listing in its chapters of both print and online resources. It is a very good book that I think should be part of every campus career services library. Any young international education professional contemplating a career change or transition to another field will benefit from reading the book.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Georgetown University Press (October 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589012100
• ISBN-13: 978-1589012103
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,727 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For those who need a bit of direction in their lives, November 23, 2008

By	Merve Nazlioglu "Merve" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reading this book led me to meet incredible people. Going to networking events, voluntering and finding mentors seemed more real. I found some websites and print that helped to figure out what I really want to do in life :)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Awesome, August 25, 2008

By	Paul Westmoreland (District of Columbia) - See all my reviews

Once I was a lost young soul living in Washington, DC who knew that I wanted to use my college degree. I knew that I wanted to perform some service for others and work somewhere with a global reach. Basically, I wanted to work in a in a non-profit in the international field.

Sounds easy, but where to start? And how to follow through and make my goal a reality? I won't go into the answers for you because this book takes care of all of that for me. I highly recommend that anyone interested in working in the international field (not only non-profits like me) take a good look at this book. It will help guide your way.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, February 17, 2009

By	A. Scheirer (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I highly recommend this resource. This is not a guide to "how to get a job", but rather an engaging discussion of "how to build a career". Although the focus is on international exchange, development, etc. -- the concepts are broadly applicable to most career journeys.