By Christina Folz

Each month, as I edit the pages of OPN and witness the growth of OSA, I think more and more about what a global Society (both a big and little "s" apply here) we have become. OSA just launched its website on Optics and Photonics in Latin America; this month OPN publishes an editorial about the hassles associated with acquiring a visa for scientific travel; and, in a future Career Focus column, we will highlight how one Canadian student's internship experience in Australia helped land him a job at home.

All of this underscores the fact that, in today's global world, your job search may not necessarily end at your country's borders. Here are some resources I came across that can help you launch and focus your own search for a job or internship abroad.

• Cornell University's Career Services website offers some good pointers for how to begin an international job search. It offers big-picture advice for how to assess your goals, evaluate international markets, and develop a strategy. 
• If you are from a country outside of the United States and seeking U.S. employment, the University of Pennsylvania Career Services site provides a good overview of pertinent issues you need to consider.
• The University of Michigan International Center gives some excellent practical information and advice on how U.S. students can get started with working, interning, volunteering or doing research abroad. It links to a separate page with a comprehensive list of work abroad websites.
• Elsewhere on the U of M site, I found this very useful guide for how to create a global resume/CV. It will help you to think through which aspects of your experience to emphasize and how to present information to employers in different parts of the world.
• Finally, Virginia Tech University's Division of Student Affairs provides an array of resources for international students conducting a job search, including tips on navigating employment law and your employment eligibility.

I hope you find these resources useful. My apologies that they are all U.S.-based. (I simply went with the sites that Google brought me!) I would love to hear from others from all over the world about your resources, tips, and tricks for finding and landing the right job abroad.

Christina Folz (cfolz@osa.org) is the managing editor of Optics & Photonics News.