The Value of Travel in Business

     There can be no doubt that employment in the United States has changed dramatically over the past decade under a challenging economic landscape.  Delayed retirements, out-sourcing, and the Technology Revolution have caused an ice-albedo effect for the next generation entering a closed workforce.  Let's not even divulge the tragic effect of celebrity fame, baffling politics, or the stigmatization of blue-collar trades on our work culture.  Yet, in anticipation of opportunities and a better understanding of the new market, our youth have become mobile and free-lancing.  Employers have noticed a common bullet-point inserted into resumes of applicants: Travel.

     With our senior generation gaining confidence in retirement and our workforce becoming more innovative, opportunities are increasing for a new generation we don't fully understand.  As we consider these applicants for internships or employment, how do we qualify travel as experience and discover respective attributes suited to our needs?  The ability to answer this question in a meaningful way to an interviewer should be the primary focus for an applicant with the courage to highlight travel on a resume.  As interviewers, we should look for travel skills that will add value to our organization: boldness, adaptability, and self-awareness.

      It's a misconception that young laborers with travel experience are vagabonds that wander superfluously.  However, the impetus to boldly explore in spite of opportunities at home is an concept more desirable than the alternative of waiting at home.  Travelers bring the quality of risk-taking to organizations that require a sense of self-determination.  Sales organizations, biotech companies, and research institutions need people that can measure risk and boldly take a chance.  In an interview, give the applicant a goal specific to your industry and ask what action he/she would take to progress towards that goal.  Most likely, the answer will be foreign and exciting to you.

       Not many situations can cause greater discomfort than following an unfamiliar path with only the bare essentials.  True travelers are experts at being off-balance in new environments and they adapt accordingly.   Former military members who have traveled overseas are the best at adaptability.  Government, technical, and small business jobs usually need this trait as they learn how to do more with less.  In an interview, give the applicant a challenging situation with very little resources and ask him/her how they would handle it.  You may be surprised at the innovative answer given.

      One of the greatest fears associated with work experience is the fear of damage-control.  We are averse to hiring people with little experience because their maturity and self-motivation is not proven.  On the contrary, travelers have proven themselves to be very self-aware in their ventures.  During their travels, they vigorously search for emotional intelligence and genuine experience. More importantly to hiring them, they are enthusiastic observationists and listeners who have learned sociocultural competencies valuable in large business, medical, and service fields.  Paul Fussel wrote that "All pathos and irony of leaving one's youth behind is thus implicit in travel."

     In summary, we can all learn from travelers the qualities of risk-taking, situational management, and open-minded growth.  While we need to be cautious about hiring the proverbial nomad, giving a young former-traveler a chance at the job-market may yield substantial benefit for our organizations.  If the traveling youth's wanderlust is any indication, their desire to succeed in the labor-force will be just as adventurous and rewarding.