My undergraduate degree has not played much of a role in my present career at all! My first job out of college was as a paralegal for a federal agency in Washington D.C. After that, I had a few more random administrative jobs before "deciding what I wanted to do with my life" and going back to get my Master's degree in International Education. I thought I knew what I wanted to do at that point, which was work in the study abroad field, but it wasn't until I was partially through the program and learned about more career options by being around people in the field that I really honed in on what I wanted to do: work in a company's Human Resource department doing Global Mobility (ie moving their employees to offices abroad, or vice versa). I got a job at Lehman Brothers doing exactly that, but when they went bankrupt, I was able to take my experiences there and become a consultant advising other companies on this issue.

My main influence on my career choice was the amazing and transformative experiences I had while studying abroad in high school and college. Initially, I wanted to help facilitate study abroad programs for other students, but after learning more about career options in that field, that goal shifted into facilitating work abroad programs for adults, which is what I do now.

Be your own biggest advocate. I was too modest to really pursue professors for advice, help, or formal recommendation letters, hoping that if I was a good enough student, they would want to help me on their own. Everyone is busy and needs to be reminded of things, and people also tend to want to help someone who asks for their help. Also, I have since realized that other people were being aggressive and advocating for themselves, so by not doing so, I was putting myself at a disadvantage. This goes for job hunting and other things you'll do post-college, as well!

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