Global Education equals Global Employability

[Sponsored Article]

by Richard Coller

Back in the 1980’s, business started to use the term Global Marketplace referring of course to the ever increasing worldwide scope of marketing activities being undertaken by companies while acknowledging cultural, legal, political, social and other differences. As we progressed toward the turn of the century, through technological breakthroughs in the area of communications, the world has and continues to become ‘’a smaller place’’. A smaller place in which to travel, a smaller place in which to conduct business and a smaller place to secure a career.

This brings us to the essence of this article and that is – the relevance of global education in securing a job in the global business environment. There is no doubt this relevance is becoming more so and stronger every day as we live in times of mergers, acquisitions, diversification, international expansion and workplace diversity. As foreign companies and investors are still finding Australia, at least in certain industries an attractive business proposition, they are also finding a country that embraces change and opportunity. The Australian education system that for all the right reasons is heavily regulated in relation to quality standards and innovation. In many industries there are thousands of ex-pats from all over the world  working internationally for many reasons including, international transfers with the company they work for, a desire to live and work overseas themselves, the opportunity to combine work and travel and also to utilise their global education and studies.

Overseas work opportunities pave way for new courses

Given there are so many opportunities to work overseas now, education providers have realised the relevance of creating extensions, modifications and in fact new courses specifically catering to the diversities of the global business environment. Companies are reaping the benefit as those seeking global employment opportunities are much more savvy in the ‘ways of the world’ when conducting business, assessing business opportunities, creating marketing campaigns for different geographies around the world and understanding the complex nuances of a cultural and socially diverse workplace. The global employee today is already geared to think globally automatically, and this makes cultural and workplace integration a whole lot easier for companies to manage in terms of orientation, induction, fit and eases other expenses such as local training, language and the like. Aside, another characteristic of this new breed of global citizen is many are already multi-lingual or at the least bi-lingual to start with.

The S P Jain School of Global Management has over the years taken this growth area seriously and forged a significant international reputation from its unique approach to global education. SP Jain currently offers a 12 month Global Masters of Business Administration program where it is mandatory that students study at three of their global campuses to complete their program, enabling them to immerse themselves in the educational, cultural and business environments of cities like Dubai, Singapore, Mumbai and Sydney. When considering candidates, companies certainly look for previous exposure, work experience and education that genuinely encompasses the global view as employers know that the individual has not only the global ‘where with all’ but has the global experience, global desire and existing exposure.

Choose the right course with specialised global & international business subjects

If choosing the global direction then it is equally important to ensure the course you choose has a real global application with not only international content, delivered by international business lecturers and facilitators, not necessarily directly from a pure academic background but a successful, noteworthy career in business, global business. Look for specialised global and international subjects, like Global Business Environment, Global Business Strategy, Global Retail Strategy and International Business all of which are offered as part of the SP Jain Masters programs.

Having previously suggested that the world has become a smaller place, it is still an environment of rapid change with businesses often having to react to business related environmental issues with corporate sustainability, transparency, stakeholder expectation and corporate citizenship and the management of cultural and workplace diversity taking significance toward the success of any business. Again, these values and indeed other business elements have different levels of delivery, standards and commitment around the globe and having the knowledge to appreciate and adapt accordingly is a necessary skill for today’s global business citizen. All this considered, let’s consider global employment from the global employers’ perspective? I often guide students who are committed to working globally to initially try the entry pathway of choosing a locally based but internationally networked company as a starting point. Reasons, firstly it is more likely employment will be easier to achieve in the local market but two other very important issues being, one, it gives the employee a chance to interact across the global business to assist further in gaining a holistic view of the company, the international cultural and business nuances that must be considered and managed and second being able to determine the next move in terms of appropriate location socially, culturally and geographically. Regardless, having an existing knowledge of the global environment and then enriching this through ‘real world’ experience are factors that will be valued by recruiters. I think also, gaining employment in a locally based international company gives the employee a great opportunity to display their professional and personal work ethics, skills and attributes to earn a real reputation as a preferred employee, gaining recognition and in turn a strong internal profile. When it comes to career planning, succession planning and so on, the employee will get additional consideration and here the opportunity presents itself to communicate the desire to work globally and work toward this goal.

The trend in this article is very present and will continue to present itself as a consideration, so, my advice to future global citizens is to integrate global education with local education, look for providers that do and do it well, look for providers where the global culture is intrinsically evident in the total experience of the education offer.

About The Author

Richard Coller is General Manager - Corporate Relations, S P Jain School of Global Management, Sydney Campus.

Richard’s career spans 30 years in senior management and marketing positions with some of the Top 50 ASX listed companies in Australia including, Stockland, Westfield, Jones Lang LaSalle and Colliers International.