On a more practical level, Spring Hill's International Studies Degree Program addresses six broad areas of employment:

1. Non-governmental organizations with international political, economic, and social programs.
2. International banking, business, and finance.
3. Political risk analysis and intelligence.
4. Those branches of the United States government concerned with American foreign policy, such as the State Department, Defense Department, AID, CIA, etc.
5. The United Nations and its affiliated agencies, such as the ILO, FAO, IMF, and the World Bank.
6. Teaching and research at institutions of higher learning and organizations dealing with public policy issues.

Types of Careers

What follows is a sketch of major careers in international affairs. It should be noted, however, that it is not uncommon for people in international affairs to move from one career to another, from government to business, from business to academia, from government to academia, and the like.

Foreign Service

One of the best known and most prestigious careers is diplomacy. The lead institution in the United States is the Foreign Service. The people in the Foreign Service normally work at American embassies abroad and at the State Department and the United States Information Agency (USIA) in Washington, DC. Although the Foreign Service offers an attractive career, the selection process is extremely rigorous and competitive. Of the approximately 12,000 to 13,000 people who take the Foreign Service exam annually, only about 200 are selected. The examination is interesting and challenging, so anyone interested should certainly take it, but realistically your chances are very slim indeed. In recent years, the Foreign Service has been particularly concerned about minority recruitment, and such applicants are especially encouraged.

Entrance is by examination. The first stage is a written test that takes all day and uses the format of SATs and other examinations from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The first stage of the examination stresses knowledge of American politics, economics, history, and culture. It also contains questions about foreign countries and international relations. However, since Foreign Service officers represent the United States and will often work with foreigners who have spent a lot of time studying this country, the Foreign Service officers must know their own political history, economic system, and culture very well. Only those who receive the required minimum score are invited to participate in the second stage, which consists of a series of simulations and exercises with other candidates.

Language competence is required, although not necessarily at entry. Due to the strong interdisciplinary nature of the International Studies program at Spring Hill College, students are exposed to the various dimensions of the aforementioned areas.

Other Government Agencies

The bulk of people working in international affairs in the Washington, DC area work for agencies other than the State Department. Unfortunately, there is no single recruiting device such as the Foreign Service exam for these organizations. The biggest employers have traditionally been the Defense Department (both military and civilian) and the intelligence organizations, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Civilians hired by the Defense Department tend to be people with particular specialties, and advanced degrees are usually required. Given the informal hiring process, actual job experience is important.

Intelligence careers can be divided into analysts (people who work with and analyze classified material) and clandestine operators. The CIA and the NSA both hire junior-level career people on the basis of exams and/or other entrance tools. If you are interested in a career in intelligence, you should contact the appropriate agencies to see what their current needs and procedures are. The CIA and the NSA hire a lot of people with particular skills for analysis, usually with advanced degrees. They seem to be particularly interested in geographic area specializations, economics, political science, international relations, “exotic” languages, mathematics, computer science, engineering, and physical science. Again, internships are particularly useful here.

The Agency for International Development (AID) administers U.S. foreign aid programs and has a fairly large staff. In general, they seem to recruit people with technical training in areas like agriculture or economic development and political modernization. If you are interested, you should contact them directly. If possible, you should try to do an internship with them. Smaller organizations of interest in this category include the Export-Import Bank and the Office of the Special Trade Representative.

Many domestic executive agencies have international activities or offices. These are often small, but sometimes they offer interesting opportunities. The Commerce Department, for example, is concerned with foreign trade, the Agriculture Department with farm exports, and the Justice Department with international legal issues.

The number of people on Congressional staffs concerned with international affairs has greatly increased in the past few years. There is no single recruiting process for such jobs; people are selected on the basis of contacts, past experience, and educational qualifications. Internships are crucial for anyone interested in positions of this kind.

The United Nations

The United Nations, located in New York City, is a fascinating place to work, and it has lots of employees. However, jobs on its permanent staff are allocated on the basis of national quotas. Since there are already many Americans working for the United Nations, it is difficult, but not impossible, for U.S. citizens to get hired. Anyone interested in such work should first try to get an internship. Drew University's United Nations Program arranges internships for interested students, and you should be able to transfer your credits to Spring Hill College.

The Private Sector in Washington, DC

There are a large number of private research groups, often known as the “Beltway Bandits” because of their location around the Beltway and their dependence on government contracts, as well as interest groups of every political persuasion in Washington, DC with interests in foreign affairs. Hiring is informal, so internships are important for anyone interested.

The Private Sector: International Business

Multinational corporations play a prominent role in current international affairs. Most Americans tend to think in terms of working abroad for an American corporation, but in fact there may be better opportunities working in the U.S., either for an American or perhaps a foreign firm.

Americans who are sent abroad are often something of a trial for corporations. They are expensive, have a high failure rate, don't want to stay long, don't know the language at all or well enough, and get into trouble. Therefore, most multinational corporations are moving toward developing indigenous managers and sending abroad only indispensable Americans, usually those with particular technical expertise. This may, in the long run, deprive American business of its major training ground for managers with international sophistication and may damage American competitiveness. Nevertheless, there are some three million American citizens who work overseas, and this still represents a sizable segment of the workforce of multinational corporations.

The other side of the coin is that foreign companies doing business in the U.S. hire lots of Americans. Moreover, an increasing percentage of American corporations do business abroad. Thus, much “normal business” in the U.S. involves international issues. In general, if you want to get into business, you need to get your Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the best business school you can get into. This degree, as well as other alternatives, are discussed later. If you are interested in working for a firm operating in a foreign country, knowledge of that country's culture and language can be important, but it is no substitute for business training. Nobody is going to hire you because you know the appropriate language; they have to also think you will know how to raise their productivity and profits.

Among businesses, international banks have been the most willing to hire people without appropriate business degrees; they expect to have to train you regardless of your background. Another alternative is analyzing the political risks of investments in particular countries. There are some jobs here within corporations and at consulting firms, although their numbers vary from one type of business to another.

The Private Sector: Non-Profit

There are literally hundreds of private, volunteer organizations (PVOs) which work in international affairs. Some of the PVOs are religious in origin and orientation; others are entirely secular. Some are quite large, others are minuscule. They share a general concern for humanitarian issues and a lack of direct government control. Prominent examples include Oxfam, Jesuit Volunteers International, Catholic Relief Services, Care, Save the Children, the Fourth World Movement, and Maryknoll. The American government administers some foreign aid through these agencies, and they have been prominent in such areas as famine relief in Africa. The PVOs overlap somewhat with private advocacy organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Many of these organizations employ small permanent staffs; recruitment is often based on previous performance as a volunteer. Salaries are low, relative to the private business sector, but many people find the work extremely rewarding.

University Teaching and Research

American universities serve, among other things, as repositories for international expertise. Faculty work within departments, usually organized around the major disciplines like economics, political science, and history. Their job consists of teaching (communicating knowledge and skills to students) and research (creating new knowledge and communicating it to others).

For the past two decades or so, university teaching jobs have been rather scarce, making it hard to encourage undergraduates to aim toward such careers. However, it now seems likely that by the beginning of the 21st century, there will be an increased demand for college teachers as the next baby boom reaches college age and a large number of current college faculty retire. Of course, projecting job trends based on changing demographic trends are always problematic. However, if everything precedes according to the present forecasts, university and college teaching should be mentioned as a reasonable career choice for current undergraduates. You should be aware that the only relevant degree for college and university teaching is the Ph.D. If you choose to pursue a Ph.D. degree in an international studies field, go to the most famous university you can get into, and you will not go far wrong.