Take 5: Lessons Learned

This year, International Educator is bringing back a familiar favorite—our Take 5 column—but with a fresh approach. Each month, we pose a thought-provoking prompt to five members of the NAFSA community. These international educators, who represent a diverse range of voices and perspectives, respond with their insights, recommendations, and personal reflections on the myriad themes and questions that are facing the field.

What do you wish you’d known about international education when you first started working in the field?

This Can Be a Sales Job

It’s a sales position (ed abroad)! I didn’t realize how hard I would need to work to convince students to go abroad. It’s been more than a decade since my first time abroad, and now I can’t imagine the possibility of missing out on this sort of opportunity. I continuously try to remind myself of the first-time abroad student experience, which includes students’ heavy doubts about leaving friends and family behind for a few months, concerns about risking their graduation date, and language or cultural fears. This job is all about convincing students to go on a life-changing journey. In addition, my job success is partly measured on the number of students going abroad, so my performance is truly based on how well I’m ‘’selling the experience.” I thought I’d spend my day talking to excited students and swapping stories (there’s still a lot of this), but instead I spend a lot of time soothing concerns and talking through the perceived negatives. Thankfully, students are