Graduates pursue foreign endeavors to work, study

For Teresa Qiu, the exploratory nature of college didn’t end upon graduation. 

Qiu, who graduated last spring, decided that U.S. terrain wouldn’t be the site for her first post-graduation job.

For various reasons, some Pitt graduates opt to set sail across oceans to pursue careers or further their education in other countries. Some students also utilize Pitt’s Career Development and Placement services to find internships and job placements abroad. 

According to Cheryl Finlay, director of Pitt’s Career Development and Placement services, Career Development offers international career-placement assistance through the online passport career tool, which provides guidance and internship- and job-search strategies for more than 75 countries.

But some graduates, like Qiu, pursued overseas opportunities on their own. 

Qiu teaches English abroad in Ho Chi Minh City at Vietnam USA Society, a center designed to teach English as a foreign language to Vietnamese students.

While Qiu originally planned to teach through Council on International Educational Exchange, a program that would help her get a teaching position in Vietnam, she found a job independently at Vietnam USA Society after receiving a Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate from CIEE. With the certificate, Qiu can teach English as a second language around the world. 

Qiu made the decision to teach abroad after considering several post-graduation options.

“I decided to go abroad to teach after undergrad because I don’t really know what I want to do as a career for the rest of my life,” Qiu said in an email. 

While she enjoyed the field of microbiology, Qiu wanted to join the workforce abroad rather than continue to study. 

“I applied to a lot of nonprofit jobs in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but I don’t have the right theoretical background,” Qiu said. “Teaching abroad is a way of buying myself a year to figure these things out while also getting the chance to explore a part of the world I haven’t been before.”

Qiu said she hopes teaching abroad will help her grow as a person, experience new things and develop fulfilling relationships with people from diverse backgrounds. 

For other Pitt graduates, going abroad provides a quicker segue into professional development.

Jason Fang, a 2012 Pitt graduate with a degree in biology, enrolled this semester in medical school at St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies.

Fang was frustrated with the year-long application process for medical school and experienced trouble gaining acceptance from U.S. schools in which he’d been interested.

“I would rather get started on my career than risk waiting on U.S. school decisions,” Fang said in an email. “Apart from the practical decisions, I had always wanted to study abroad in undergrad, but never had a chance. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone.”

Fang also appreciated the chance to meet an array of international students. Fang said primarily American students attend St. George’s School of Medicine, which has a majority of students from U.S. schools according to its website, but the school also draws students from around the world.

“I feel studying internationally has really helped me gain some perspective,” he said. “I personally know of Syrians, South Africans, Brits, Canadians and Trinidadians, but there are others from other parts of the world like Australia and Eastern Europe.” 

The experience has given Fang a broader perspective on his own views. 

“Interacting with all these cultures is a constant reminder that I am a part of a bigger global community and that things that seem obvious to me might not be to others, and vice versa,” Fang said.

Both Qiu and Fang see their time abroad as something temporary. Qiu plans to spend a year or two teaching in Vietnam and then return to the United States, while Fang plans to finish medical school, spend some time with the local community abroad and then find a residency in the United States.

Students looking to follow similar international paths could turn to Pitt’s Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance as a resource. 

The office can help students to find internships and future careers in a variety of locales and fields of work, according to Finlay.

Finlay recommends having fluency in a foreign language in order to broaden opportunities for international work, although students can find internships abroad that only require knowledge of English, such as those based in London.

Finlay added that experience abroad could give graduates a critical edge in the subsequent job hunt at home.

“When employers see international internships or work experience on your resumé, they can assume that you are a person who takes initiative, who is willing to accept challenges and take risks, is able to thrive outside of your comfort zone, is responsible and capable of representing an organization and is likely to be someone willing to travel for work,” Finlay said in an email.