6 Reasons Corporate America Should Hire Us Now

We negotiate multi-country MOUs, de-escalate tense meetings with a joke, and convince skeptics that yes, this project will work!

Why would the private sector want to hire us?

They hear disparagement from this Administration that paints us all as slow bureaucrats who focus on endless meetings, glacial processes, and stacks of forms.

But here’s the truth: we’ve learned how to cut through the noise and deliver results —results that improve the human condition and can be profitable, too.

It’s me, Shanthi Noriega Minichiello, and I’m joined by Daniela Farinas to challenge this false narrative. We want to highlight why you, a seasoned international development professional, are a valuable asset to corporate America.

6 Reasons Corporate America Should Hire Us Now

Please forward this post to your friends in the private sector!

We are ex-USAID and pro-USA. We bring a global perspective, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities highly sought after in today’s workforce. We are ready for anything, anywhere, anytime. Need a policy expert, budget guru, and emergency translator all in one? Done.

We are resilient

We work in the most difficult places on earth and see things most people would have nightmares about. We’ve faced a poor teenager with an AK-47 on a dark road. We have family and friends say where we are working is unsafe—when they can find it on a map. Yet, we are absolutely fine in Tashkent, Lagos, or Port-au-Prince.

We innovate and solve problems

We can engage and co-create with others to come up with great ideas when we’re sitting in plastic chairs under a mango tree. Diverse perspectives and backgrounds are key to driving innovation, and we thrive in environments where different experiences come together. Present us with a challenge, and we’ll find a solution within limited resources and shifting power dynamics.

We multitask multi-million dollar initiatives

The programs we manage are intricate—Byzantine even—and we take pride in simplifying their complexity to reach ongoing milestones. We can prioritize, keep track of multiple activities, and pivot on a dirt path. Figuring out how to deliver delicate blood supplies to a rural clinic via drones, all while placating those under its flight path, grandstanding politicians, and distant donors? Been there, done that.

We communicate and negotiate

We navigate between stakeholders seamlessly. We engage with a Minister on an MOU in the morning, meet with headmasters for a dodgy snack in the afternoon, and drink tea with teachers by that evening. We are listening, laughing, and crying with some of the most powerful and the most disenfranchised individuals on our planet every day.

We work problems and find solutions

We are fluent in government bureaucracy, several local languages, and the ancient art of “reading between the lines.” We can write a five-year work plan during a coup and an exit strategy when the rebels win. Better yet, we can find ways to convince adult men to have voluntary male medical circumcision—and they will be proud of their choice.

We lead cross-functional teams

We support one another. We have to! Trust is earned when you show up in a favela with your Brazilian colleagues and they lead discussions with men who kill for a living. Collaboration happens when you're there for the team across six time zones in four countries. Commitment is when you keep team morale strong through delayed funding and ever-changing labor laws.

We are your best hire ever

We will be your best leaders and if you're lucky, your best friends. And you'll know that when you interview us. When you hire us. When you unleash our invaluable skills and experience on your toughest problems. And we deliver!

So… what are you waiting for?