5 tips on how to prepare for your career in an international company
by adminMost often than not, working in an international company does come with certain benefits — work on innovative technologies, exposure to multiple business areas, career development programs, opportunities to travel and learn about new cultures. More and more such firms have been setting up R&D operations in Bulgaria in recent years — VMware, Progress, Uber, ProSiebenSat.1, the list goes on.
How do you prepare for a career in an international company, though? What are things you need to keep in mind in order to succeed in a multinational team? Here are some tips from BICA Services.
Learn as much as possible about the culture
During your initial research and the interviews make sure to gather intel on what are the main organizational values and ways of thinking. For some companies, it’s more important to be at the forefront of innovation, for others to provide 100% and 24/7 reliability to their clients. Some would go with corporate processes and defined policies for everything, others with flat structure and expectations for proactive employee feedback. In any case, make sure to do your culture homework — it will help you find the right career fit and later on it’d be easier to accomplish great things.
Jump into networking
This is important before you land the job and afterwards as well. Global brands do tend to generate a significant amount of interest from candidates. So, it’d be helpful if you already have a relationship with recruiters or existing employees at the company where you want to work. Events, meetups, conferences — even online, they’re a great opportunity not only to connect with people but also learn about the latest trends in the industry. Once you have joined the team, internal networking will also likely open doors for faster promotion and work on more interesting projects.
Bring international mindset
It goes without saying that international companies often have customers from all over the globe. This means you may need to work with colleagues or product users based in the US, Germany, Southeast Asia. Therefore, it’s useful to understand the cultural differences in the different parts of the world and be prepared for the fact that at the beginning their way of communication could be different from what you’re used to.
Collaborate and communicate
Talking about communication, global tech companies would like to see specific examples of how you collaborated successfully with people in the past. As cliche as may sound, teamwork ahead of individual needs is one of the components that has enabled these organizations to build billion-dollar businesses. Even if you are applying for a junior position, there might be past projects from school you can point to.
(Non-programming) languages are still an advantage
Of course, it depends on the position and the markets where a given company is active. However, at the end of the day, if Latin America is an important location for your prospective employer, speaking at least conversational Spanish would be a way for you to stand out.