How TCKs write their resume?

Posted: 3rd February 2011 by admin in Uncategorized

I have been ready to get employed and began seeking jobs since I was 19, whether or not it’s part-time nor full-time. That was when I was studying abroad as an international student at the University of Sydney. The advantage of being an international student was not very glamorous, other than being asked to pay tuition fees which were double more expensive. Also, there was no public transportation concession available to students who were referred as ‘international’.

 

I had two reasons to login to the University website; one was to look for assigned reading materials, and the other was to look for the available casual employments posted online. Thanks to the latter service, somehow I could have afforded weekly travel tickets, groceries and some snacks, which frequently accompanied during my academic activities such as reading, writing and researching and ultimately were blamed for adding extra 5 kilos to my weight (I had reversed this gain when I got back to Shanghai).

 

Casual work, project, volunteer, or church activity etc… One after another has added on to my resume since 2006. Sometimes local senior friends of mine would scan my resume and re-write it for me, some would volunteer to be my referees. So far I have worked in Australia and China, but not in Japan… at least not yet. I am still experimenting how to arrange my weird academic background and the random list of my employment history and make them appear a little bit decent and promising. Now I wonder how do TCKs write their resumes? Do our resumes go through tough transitions as well as our minds?

 

One of the TCK characteristics I have been interested in is…

 

TCKs are unlikely to work for big business, government, or follow their parents’ career choices. “One won’t find many TCKs in large corporations. Nor are there many in government … they have not followed in parental footsteps”.

 

…and I have become more aware of this particular tendency, especially here I am back in my passport country: Japan.

 

First of all, I found out that it is unlikely for me to get into ‘large corporation’ or government/civil workplace. It seems that I can never integrate back to those people of my age, therefore I don’t quite fit into the profile that the most corporations look for: I am no longer a fresh graduate and I did not complete 4 years of study in Japan. Second, I am very positive about not following my parental footsteps…Well, I am still not very certain about what exactly my father does for living, although I know the name of company he works for. It is the company which pays his family’s housing, visa, education, annual travelling, moving back forth from Japan and China, all of these at the expense of my father constantly travelling. Speaking about my future, I have noticed that I always begin with ‘I am not sure…’ but end with like ‘Anyway, I want to promote/support/build an inclusive platform from where cross-cultural experiences can be validated.’ It is something a bit corny for non-TCKs perhaps…

 


I don’t know if I will ever get married or have kids, I am not even sure (oops) what language I am going to speak to my partner, kids and grandkids! But knowing that there are whole generations of TCKs who went before me and confirmed my foundation, I think I can strive for those emerging future TCKs…and myself. I will stay curious and positive 😉

  1. Anonymous says:

    A friend of mine is TCK, and to some degree her TCK background worked for her in States.  She didn’t get a job in States, but she did get a lot of callbacks because the employers were so intrigued by her unusual background.

    I’m still in the middle of my searching, but IMHO try to find a crosspoint between what you want to do (or good at) and the field that values international background.  Be aware that large corporation/government might not like you because you are too foreign yet at the same time not too foreign.  You know what I mean? ^^;;;