Your USAID Experience Isn't the Problem. Your Shame About It Is.
How to explain your Mali success to a Silicon Valley CEO - without losing them in 30 seconds
Job searching in 2025 is different. We are navigating a highly competitive market.
Networking can open doors - when you connect with the right people.
Either way, ghosting is rampant, and inexcusable.
If traditional job search strategies are leaving you stuck in career limbo, despite your impressive career journey, you may need to try a different approach.
Hiring managers are drowning in identical candidates with identical narratives. Be different. Be you.
Own Your Career Story
Your rich international experience can feel like a hurdle when you’re looking for domestic opportunities. Stories of success in Port-au-Prince are met with silence. Overcoming adversity in Yangon generates yawns.
Do you deny this experience? Hide your past? HELL NO!
Be proud of who you are and what you’ve done. Change the discussion dynamic and take charge of your job search. Own your career story.
Go far beyond superficial tweaks to your resume or LinkedIn profile. Authentically communicate your unique career journey, complete with twists and turns, and show how your value resonates deeply with your perfect-fit employers, in their language.
Confidently articulate what drives you, your key achievements, and the real-world impact of your work. Naturally position yourself as the solution.
This heart-based, purpose-driven approach empowers you to stand out, capture the right kind of attention, and unlock the hidden opportunities you deserve.
5 Steps to Owning Your Story
Your LinkedIn profile reads like a resume written by a committee. Your networking conversations sound like apologies. We've all let career gaps, industry switches, or unconventional paths become sources of shame instead of stories of resilience.
Your international development experience isn't a liability in corporate interviews. But you're presenting it like one. Private sector companies desperately need what you bring. But they need to hear it in their language.
1. Start With Your Why
Understand what your ideal employers are truly looking for and position yourself as the solution to their specific needs.
Don't begin with job titles. Begin with impact spoken in the language of their needs.
"I managed cross-functional teams under extreme deadlines with zero margin for error, consistently delivering measurable outcomes in resource-constrained environments." hits differently than "I'm a Program Manager with experience in WASH interventions that eliminated multiple cholera outbreaks."
Learn their language without losing your identity. "Stakeholder engagement" instead of "community mobilization." "Risk mitigation" instead of "conflict prevention." “Performance optimization” in lieu of “monitoring and evaluation.”
Same skills, different vocabulary.
2. Reframe Your Weaknesses
Corporate hiring managers worry you'll leave for the next humanitarian crisis or judge their profit motives.
Handle this upfront: "I'm ready to apply my operational expertise to drive sustainable business growth" signals commitment to their mission, not just yours.
If you have a two-year gap caring for a sick parent? That's project management under extreme stress. Taken classes since getting laid off? That’s self-driven professional development.
We're not spinning failures; we're connecting dots that others miss.
3. Own Your Transition Timing
You've worked in markets most MBAs have never seen. You've managed diverse teams across cultures and languages. You've solved problems with limited resources and political constraints. You've measured success beyond quarterly earnings.
Never apologize for your career pivot.
Frame it strategically: "I'm bringing eight years of international operations experience in extremely challenging environments to help your company expand into new markets" shows intention, not desperation.
4. Document Your Wins
Keep a running list of specific achievements with numbers. Incorporating metrics is a simple, yet compelling, way to convey your impact in a job interview or networking event. For example:
Include the number of staff you supervised or the total size of the contract you administered - not just the annual budget.
Reframe development jargon into corporate terms. No one knows what a CPARS score is, but every business leader understands customer satisfaction ratings.
These numbers become your evidence of impact, not just vague claims on a resume.
5. Control the First Impression
Your LinkedIn headline, email signature, and opening networking line should all tell the same story.
Consistency builds credibility. Credibility allows you to build genuine networking connections and leverage them to open doors to opportunities you didn’t even know existed.
Craft one sentence that captures your professional essence: "I'm the person organizations call when they need someone who can build sustainable programs in impossible conditions."
Practice until it feels natural, not rehearsed.
The reality is simple: if you don't define your professional narrative, someone else will. And their version probably won't get you hired.
Owning your career story means becoming the narrator, not the victim.
Own Your Career Story on Wednesday
Are you ready to start owning your career story and refocus your job search? Then join Kirsten de Greling – Visman for a "Owning Your Career Story" workshop on Wednesday, July 2nd, 9 AM EST.
She’ll help guide you to:
Create Your Story: Unearth your unique value and craft a compelling career narrative that showcases your impact.
Clarify Your Employer Profile: Understand what your ideal employers are truly looking for and position yourself as the solution to their specific needs.
Networking Mastery: Build genuine connections and leverage them to open doors to opportunities you didn’t even know existed.
Paid Career Pivot Subscribers can RSVP to this event below.