In an article in Transitions Abroad Magazine, Jennifer Hamm explains how more young professionals now are seeking work overseas than ever before.  The reasons for this are varied, but Margaret Malewski, author of GenXpat: The Young Professional’s Guide to Making a Successful Life Abroad, suggests that before, companies only dispatched senior staff abroad. Now, junior workers who demonstrate the desire to do so, can find work abroad because employers seek younger employees who are more flexible and mobile. The following are four basic tips for landing your dream job abroad.

1. Plan ahead.

It’s an indisputable truth–landing an international job is much more difficult than finding employment at home, the poor American job market notwithstanding. It will take a lot of planning and dedication. So the first step, really, is asking yourself if you really want to do this. If so, then start planning. If you’re still in school, then be sure to take classes in the language of your target country or countries. Consider studying abroad. Take classes with an international focus, like international business.

If you’re already working, find out whether your company has offices abroad. If so, then let HR know your interest in being transferred. Stephen Kantor, a twenty-eight-year-old banker who was assigned to work in Amsterdam for three years, explains that it was his assertiveness that got him the job. “No one was looking for me,” he said. “I looked at it as this is my career. This is something I want to do and the only one that is going to make it happen is me.”

If your company doesn’t have offices abroad, then consider taking a few months off to travel and volunteer, building some international experience and contacts along the way.

2. Get a Master’s degree

An MA is now considered standard for most international jobs, especially in the social sciences and business. Consider getting a Master’s degree abroad, too, so that you can build those all-important networks.

3. Travel and…Network!

If you don’t have any special skills that would make you more attractive than a local to an employer, then you probably aren’t going to seal the deal on a job abroad from home. This is especially true of Western European countries. In this case, you’re going to have to save some money, travel to your target country, and NETWORK.

Teaching English is a good way to earn a livable wage while looking for better job prospects and contacts. However, be advised that many schools require English as a second language teaching certificates. Consider doing freelance work in translation or editing, advertising private English lessons, or becoming an au pair for wealthy families interested in exposing their children to a different culture. All these jobs require some credentials or experience, but if you’re in-country and available, then employers are often willing to forego the credentials for convenience.

Also avail yourself of networking resources at home. Let everyone in your circle (cast your nets wide–include friends, family, alumni, professors, everyone) know that you want to work abroad. You never know who’ll have that connection that you need to find employment overseas.

4.  Tailor your resume…err CV.

Although they’re essentially the same thing, resumes are more commonly referred to as C.V.s abroad. Be aware that employers from different countries often expect something different than the resume you already have. For example, in the United States, it’s isn’t common practice to include a photo with your resume, but in many countries, it’s standard. For more information on international resumes, click here .

This guest post is contributed by Katheryn Rivas, who writes on the topics of accredited online universities.  She welcomes your comments at her email: katherynrivas87@gmail.com.

We’ve all got some big challenges to deal with these days: this wacky economy, maintaining cash flow, laying safety nets, building our companies, attracting more business, all while managing to stay sane and tenacious through these trying times.
That’s why we rolled up our sleeves and put ourselves to work on attacking this hairball of issues that literally can make or break your career…not to mention your spirits.

After months of all nighters and brutally long workdays, we’re finally ready to unveil a big new resource to help you find solutions to your biggest personal and professional challenges.

It’s called Fast Track to Success: 30 Days to Transform Your Life & Career.  Jam packed with perspective, inspiration and tips for leaping into action, this new tool is GUARANTEED to make a serious difference for you.  And you can take that to the bank!

How?  Fast Track is an online learning program that you can power through in as little as 30 days, 30 minutes a day.  Every lesson features online posts to read with full audio (read by me!) that you can download and listen to on the go if you’d prefer.  Then, once you’ve learned, it’s time to help you do.  Almost every lesson has a worksheet (or a few) designed to walk you though putting everything into action immediately.

Since this is all about getting to the next level, you’ll see not only your perspective, but outlook and opportunities evolve more and more every day!  We’ve even included a few videos to keep you fired up and opportunities every step of the way to share your thoughts or ask for help or advice from our team.  And again, we’re so confident this can help change your life for the better, we’re willing to guarantee it.  We’ll even send you a hard copy of our New York Times bestseller Secrets of the Young & Successful: How to Get Everything You Want Without Waiting a Lifetime as our gift.

To celebrate the launch of this new program, we’re going to spend the next 30 days sharing some of our best tips and tricks to take on this crazy economy on by storm, increase your opportunities, amp up your competitive advantage, and yes, make more money!

We want to share your best advice too, so keep your eyes peeled and we’ll offer plenty of opportunities on YoungandSuccessful.com, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to share your expertise and experience too!  So stay tuned and help us spread the word about anything you find particularly useful to your friends and colleagues.  We’ll all fare better and find the success we crave and deserve if we bond together and become a force to be reckoned with.

Here’s to all of our success!

Everywhere I go lately, small business owners, company execs and everyone in sales is preoccupied with closing deals.  The economy has certainly made business a lot more difficult to succeed in, and more than ever, we all need to constantly be analyzing how we’re doing things to keep getting smarter, better, more efficient and more effective.  And at the top of everyone’s list: making more money.

That all said, I want to share some hard earned insight that will hopefully save many of you a lot of time, money and aggravation.

When you’re courting a new company or client, the sales process can easily get dragged out over a matter of weeks, months, or worse, never really result in an answer at all – be it yes or no.  So, how do you cut to the chase and find out whether there’s really even a deal to be done in the first place?

A few simple questions can make all the difference.

1.  What exactly are you looking to have done?

2.  What does success look like for this project?

3.  Where does this fall on your overall priority list?

4.  Are you exploring solutions with other prospective consultants/contractors?

5.  What questions do you have about me/us/our work?

6.  What’s the time frame you’re looking to start and execute this in?

7.  What does your budget look like?

8.  Who is the ultimate decision maker? (Who controls the checkbook?)

9.  Do you have a specific process for closing deals like this?

10.  As for next steps, would you like me to send you a recap of our conversation and a proposal on how we might be able to help you/best serve you?

They say yes, and you have yourself a hot lead.

It may take a meeting or so to build rapport and get comfortable enough to ask these questions, but rest assured you’ll start closing deals a heck of a lot faster when you get answers to these questions early on.

As part of YSN.com’s 4 week series about achieving success in your professional and personal relationships, today we’ll focus on finding the love to complete your career/life/love balance.

First of all, it has to be said that at the end of the day, you’re never going to be truly satisfied in a love relationship if you are not happy with yourself in the first place. Treat your time in the single zone as precious opportunity to really get to know who you are, what you want and improve life on your own. It will make adding someone special into the mix easier and can lead to a much sweeter partnership, too.

It also helps to just take a look around and truly appreciate your family, friends, possessions and accomplishments. Being grateful is the easiest way to stop feeling sorry for yourself in the romance department. Write down everything you appreciate in your life and memorize the list.

But if this love-what-you’ve-got notion is making you gag, let me throw in some practical advice to finding your one true love ASAP:

1. Go online — everyone else is doing it! Sign up for eHarmony, PlentyofFish.com, JDate.com (Jewish), Black Planet (African American) Christian Connection (UK) or any other reputable dating site.
2. Cruise Craigslist or any other classified ads, if you are daring.
3. Ask your friends to set you up with their friends, relatives or coworkers. What about their significant other’s friends, relatives or coworkers?
4. Try Speed Dating: Increase your odds by dating as many people as possible in a short amount of time! Check out HurryDate or 8 Minute Dating, and if you are outside the United States, try 25 Dates (Canada) or SpeedDater (UK).
5. Be proactive! Grab the bull by the horns and introduce yourself to as many people as you can! Your best bets include church functions, networking parties and volunteer opportunities, but if you must, bars, grocery stores and coffee shops will do, too.

Jovie Baclayon is a communications associate for the Young Presidents’ Organization and a freelance writer based in Santa Monica, California.

Be Sure to Check Out the Entire Series!

Live By Your Own Rules: YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 1)

Get Over It! YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 2)

It’s Time to Find Love: YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 3)

It’s all in the Contract: YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 4)

Aside from the basic rules of engagement LinkedIn has established, here are a few other courtesies to remember while making the most of your LinkedIn experience.  Follow these points and you’ll be sure to get the most out of LinkedIn—and you’ll avoid aggravating other users in the process.  Here are four mistakes to avoid while using LinkedIn:

1. BLINDLY REQUESTING CONNECTIONS WITH NO MUTUAL BENEFIT
On Facebook you can request new friendships with anybody at all.  It’s a social network of friends, and if you want to be friends you simply make a request.  With LinkedIn you’re making a ‘connection’ that will hopefully create a mutually beneficial networking opportunity later on down the line.  Be strategic when deciding with whom you will connect, and explain to the person why you want to connect; what’s in it for them—and what’s it in for you?  Don’t request to connect with just anyone at all; understandably, people will want to know why you are requesting the opportunity to connect.  So provide a brief sentence or two explaining what you think a mutual connection can bring to both parties.

2. NOT BEING TRUTHFUL ABOUT WHY YOU WANT TO CONNECT
If it’s being brought up, it’s because people have done it.  Others have complained about it.  It’s hard sometimes to establish a connection with someone when LinkedIn only allows you certain ways to request connections.  That being said, you should still be truthful in why you want to connect.  If the purpose of networking is to create mutual connections that may help either party in the future, do you really want to start that connection with mistrust or deceit?  The most frequent use of this is presenting yourself as a ‘friend’ of someone or ‘colleague at XYZ organization’ when you really are not.   It’s not going to get you the connection, and in the end you’re going to be perceived as being dishonest—and who wants to connect or potentially help someone who isn’t honest?

3. PROFILE CONTENT IS NOT A REPRODUCTION OF YOUR RESUME
This mistake is so well ingrained in users that you’re now probably experiencing some disbelief.  Don’t just copy and paste your resume into your LinkedIn profile.  Here’s why: When you network with someone in person do you give them a word-for-word rundown from your resume of what you’ve done?  No, you personalize the conversation and speak in the first person.  It is a more casual conversation—not as formal as your resume.  Your profile should be keyword-rich so that recruiters can find you if they’re performing a search, but it should also be authentic and sincere, as though you’re talking to the person about what you’ve accomplished.

4. KEYWORDS ARE NOT JUST FOR RESUMES
Recruiters and hiring managers are performing searches on LinkedIn for qualified candidates, and you want to be found.  Why else would you be there?  Seriously, make sure your LinkedIn profile is peppered with industry-specific keywords relevant to the target position you want.  It should be called LISO (LinkedIn Search Optimization)—like SEO—but for LinkedIn.  Keywords = Being Discovered = Interview = New Job.  Get keywords now.

To recap: Be sure you are honest, strategic, and explanatory in your LinkedIn connection requests; your profile isn’t just a copy of your resume; and that your profile is keyword-rich so people can find you!  These four key tips will make the most of your LinkedIn experience and keep you ahead of the game.

Article written by, Jessica Holbrook the CEO of Great Resumes Fast, an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author and presenter. She has written more than 100 articles that are featured on some of the best career advice websites today. Her passion is helping professionals and executives uncover what makes them stand out in the crowd.

For more great resources on resume writing, LinkedIn, or to view resume samples visit Great Resumes Fast. You can also receive a free resume analysis by sending your resume to info@greatresumesfast.com.