The Office of Career Services at the Jackson School serves JSIS students and alumni, assisting them with career and internship planning. The office is located in Thomson Hall, room 124. Betsy Bridwell, Director, is available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for individual appointments as well as drop-ins.
A small resource library contains binders with internationally-related job and internship listings, books on international careers, and a variety of other resources to assist in researching international opportunities. JSIS-JIIS, an e-mail listserv of current job and internship announcements, is available by subscription. An informal alumni career network offers the opportunity for students to talk with alumni about career issues.
The Office of Career Services at the Jackson School is the point of contact between employers and JSIS students and alumni. We post current job and internship announcements as well as maintain listings of ongoing internship programs and recruiting efforts by a wide range of organizations. We also host informal recruiting/information sessions for organizations that wish to target International studies students.
Of the 600 students at the Jackson School, approximately 450 are undergraduates and 150 are enrolled in graduate programs. Some programs focus on specific regions of the world, others are more comparative or topical in focus. Many graduate students are earning concurrent professional degrees such as Business Administration, Public Affairs, Law or Public Health. For detailed information on academic programs, please click on the appropriate section on the main JSIS home page.
Formal on-campus recruiting is conducted through the University of Washington Center for Career Services. This includes online student resume service, scheduling on-campus interviews, and posting full-time, part-time, and summer jobs on the CCS website. For more information, visit the website: http://depts.washington.edu/careers or contact the campus recruiting coordinator: 206-543-9103; crecruit@u.washington.edu.
For more information or to post job/internship announcements, please contact:
Betsy Bridwell
| Director,
Career Services/Alumni Relations Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies Box 353650, University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-3650 |
Phone: (206) 543-0176 |
| Fax: (206) 685-0668 | |
| E-mail: betsyb@u.washington.edu |
We receive many questions from students (and prospective students) about the career fields available to them with a degree in International Studies. This is a very difficult question to answer, because International Studies, like any "liberal arts" degree (History, Sociology, English, Political Science, Psychology) does not offer specific vocational preparation but rather a general background that one can then apply to a wide variety of career fields, depending on personal interests and experience. Even at the graduate level, if you do not plan to go on in academia, you have a wide variety of options open to you.
International Studies graduates do not necessarily work in "international" jobs, but certainly a majority of our students are interested in having an international aspect to their career. Jackson School alumni have careers that range from education (i.e., teaching English overseas, working with educational exchange programs) to private sector business and trade (sales, marketing, banking, shipping/transportation, travel industry) to government (at the state and local level as well as federal, including: Foreign Service, Peace Corps, Commerce, CIA) to non-profit organizations (there are hundreds, especially in Washington, DC, dealing with international issues -- foreign policy, assistance to developing countries, peace and security issues, human rights).
For a listing of some of the specific organizations where recent Jackson School graduates have been employed, please click on "Alumni Employment Profile" under ALUMNI on the top bar.
The general consensus about "international" jobs seems to be that approximately 80% of the people in those positions are based in the U.S. (this often involves international travel) and only about 20% actually live overseas. Two of the most common ways to work overseas immediately after college without extensive work experience or technical expertise are by teaching English or serving as a Peace Corps volunteer.
There are many books available in the library or at bookstores to research international careers. We also strongly recommend that students do internships in order to gain practical experience and to learn more about the daily responsibilities of particular jobs. It also gives you a "network" of people that you can learn from and who can help you in your job search.
Service as a PEACE CORPS Volunteer is a very popular option for many of our students to begin their international career. The Peace Corps maintains a campus office, with regular office hours scheduled during the academic year.
For more information, contact the UW Peace Corps representative during the academic year at pcorps@u.washington.edu or 206-543-5258.
You may also contact the Seattle Peace Corps Office at 206-553-5490 or visit the website at: www.peacecorps.gov.