Top 10 things to do if you want a career in international development Whether you want to work for an NGO, or a consulting firm, or a foundation, you will and should know a bit more about federal contracting and USAID. If you have no prior or limited USAID experience, you should consider the following: 1) Take "Federal Contracting Basics" 8 week long course online to boost your knowledge of contracting and show potential employers (NGOs or consulting firms) that you know the basics. Cost: $300 (Link: http://www.ncura.edu/content/educational_programs/online/federal_contracting/) 2) Consider taking one of USAID-specific seminars offered by the Center for Public Management. This will allow you to include an ever important USAID keyword into your CV and allow you to present yourself as someone who knows the basics of doing business with USAID and as someone who is proactive and knows where to go to get information. CPM was recently acquired by DAI (www.dai.com) one of the largest USAID contactors, so there may be further benefit from taking this course. "Winning USAID/CDC Contracts and Cooperative Agreements" or "Fundamentals of USAID Contracting" are probably the most useful courses. Cost: $595 each (Link: http://www.cpmhome.org/seminar/menu-usaid.htm) 3) Sign up for membership with DevEx.com (free), Society for International Development D.C. (paid), and any other development forums. 4) Read USAID Primer: What We Do and How We Do It (link: http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/primer.html) and think of your CV & CL in terms of keywords coming from that document. 5) When in D.C., take the time to attend many events of interest where potential employers will be present. The best resource is a weekly D.C. event list. (Link: http://groups.google.com/group/foreign-policy-events-dc/topics) 6) Remove out of D.C., VA, or MD address from your CV and don't include anything or simply get a mailbox at one of the courier places in D.C. with a real street address. You don't want to be discounted just because you are not in D.C. and some HR specialists will hesitate to call you up because of perceived distance or time needed to fill the job. And finally, get rid of your *.edu email from your CV. You don't want to give an impression that you're still in school. You're a professional now... Gmail or yahoo, or any other accounts are fine. 7) Learn or be exposed to entry level skills that are required in the international development field: budgeting, project management, contracts, grants management & compliance, administrative support (backstopping), business development (proposal writing), financial management, program implementation, performance review, monitoring & evaluation. 8) Consider taking free 8-hour online "Foreign Assistance Performance Monitoring and Evaluation"course (Link: https://communities.usaidallnet.gov/fa/node/1901). This is a great introduction that even incoming Foreign Service Officers at USAID are encouraged to take if
they have little background in M&E. 9) Read the following (not a complete list, but just to start): --- The Cable --- http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/ --- MFAN --- http://www.modernizingforeignassistance.org/ --- CGD --- http://blogs.cgdev.org/mca-monitor/ --- DevEx --- http://www.devex.com/ --- USGLC --- http://www.usglc.org/ 10) Consider moving to D.C. and working PT for temp agency, even if you don't have any leads. Being in D.C. and having the opportunity to attend seminars/free events and network is going to do more to help you in your job search than sending 100s of CVs/applications online. Be patient, it may take up to a year to get into your "dream job" and if you can make it on a tight budget, do come to D.C. by all means... It took me nearly a year to find work with an international development firm and I have recently joined USAID as a Program Officer/Project Development Officer.