Why You Should Hire A Returned Peace Corps Volunteer

Applying for jobs after the Peace Corps can be a daunting task.  After all, Peace Corps is advertised as “the toughest job you’ll ever love.”  What work experience could possibly live up to that?  And how on earth do you explain to potential employers what kind of expertise you will bring to the table?  Here’s my list of reasons why YOU should hire a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. 

1.        We are cross culture experts.

This claim is flung around quite loosely these days by every college senior who spent a semester downing cervezas in Barcelona or pints in Dublin.  But Peace Corps Volunteers have gone above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to working in cross-cultural environments.  We’ve woken up before sunrise to harvest maize by hand and worn long skirts and headscarves in 110 degree heat.  We’ve learned obscure languages and acquired the blessings of local chiefs.  We’ve tried the local delicacy and spent the following 24 hours running back and forth to the latrine.  We’ve done our jobs in countries where conceptions of work and time vary drastically from our own.  We’ve bitten our tongues when our looks are dissected by total strangers, we’ve waded through marriage proposals during business meetings, and we’ve sat for hours in the uncomfortable local sitting position.  And we’ve (hopefully) done it all without offending the locals.           

2.       We don’t sweat the small stuff.

The projector is broken and we have a presentation in 15 minutes?!  Peace Corps Volunteers don’t sweat it.  If we can’t fix it with some spare parts we find in the trash bins, we’ll wing the presentation with grace and style.  We have seen too many truly tragic and heartbreaking things to get lost in the minutia of everyday life.  We work hard but can recognize the difference between a minor episode and a major emergency.       

3.       We are generalists, not specialists.

Our wide range of skills can be deployed at any moment.  Just because our official Peace Corps job was “Community Health HIV/AIDS Educator” does not mean we just went around slapping condoms on bananas for two years.  We’ve written grants, negotiated contracts, organized professional workshops, and taught classes.  We’ve babysat, experimented with permaculture techniques, and provided career guidance.  We’ve gathered statistics and created organizational linkages.  And we did all of this in a foreign culture without easy access to internet or other resource materials.  Oh- and we also know the proper way to butcher a goat. 

4.       We are patient and tenacious.

How many times have we walked many miles to get to an important meeting?  And at those meetings, how many times did we wait four or more hours for it to start?  And how many times did we get turned away after waiting those four hours when the meeting was postponed?  It has happened more times than we care to count.  But we don’t give up.  We keep walking those miles; we keep calling the people we need to talk to.  We bring other work with us to do while we wait; we get our male colleagues to call on our behalf so that the contact will take us seriously.  We see delays and problems which try our patience as a way to work even harder.  Our tenacity will win out in the end. 

5.       We’re grateful for what we have.

A Peace Corps budget is hardly luxurious.  We’ve eaten around the moldy bits of bread and vegetables and washed our hair in a bucket with less frequency than anyone should disclose.  We’ve squatted for four hours on overcrowded public transport downwind of a poopy diaper and we’ve cried with joy when the rains finally came.  These may sound like hardships, but we know we have it better off than many people.  If you give us a job, we will always be grateful for that.  

6.       We believe in community service.

We care about our neighbors and do what we can to help them.  We can put our egos aside to work for the common good.  We feel good when we do well unto others.  If you hire us, chances are that we will be heavily involved in community service initiatives at work as well. 

7.       We follow the unofficial Peace Corps motto: “Make it work.”

We see solutions where others would throw up their hands and walk away from a problem.  We’ve crossed rivers lugging bags of cement and managed to keep the cement dry.  We’ve made model cars out of old wire and turned cardboard juice boxes into beautiful wallets.  We’ve had plans go horribly wrong, but adapted our approach to turn our failures into successes.  We’ve thought outside the box while still remaining within the appropriate cultural framework. 

So there it is, folks.  Seven big reasons why Returned Peace Corps Volunteers make great employees.  If you’d like to hire me, let me know!