Job Q&A
By Allan Hoffman
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From June 1998 to April of 1999, Dawn Kasper lived in Sydney, Australia. She left a job at a public relations firm in Cleveland and arrived in Sydney with a place to stay -- her parents were living in the city -- and the goal of finding work in PR. Kasper, 26, first worked at a small PR firm, Bay Street Communications, and then got a job as an account manager with Turnbull Porter Novelli. Connections from Australia helped out when Kasper decided to return to the U.S. She is now an account executive with Porter Novelli in San Francisco. "The return you're going to get far outweighs the problems you face along the way," she says of the experience. "I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Monster.com: How did you end up living in Australia?

Dawn Kasper: I'd worked in public relations for a couple of years, and then I had the opportunity, due to family circumstances, to be able to live in Australia. I had been in PR at the same job, and I felt like I wasn't growing anymore. I quit my job, gave up my apartment, put everything in storage and just headed to Australia. I didn't have my visa yet or anything, but I was confident that I could do that. My parents were over there on a two-and-a-half-year assignment. I was able to live over there for free, which made it easier for me.

Mc: How did you go about looking for work?

DK: When I made up my mind that I was quitting my job and everything, I did a lot of research about which companies I wanted to work for in Australia. I sent letters to about a dozen PR firms, which I really wanted to focus on. I sent letters and resumes saying I would be there in mid-June and I would like to set up a time to meet. As soon as I got there, I was interviewing and networking and meeting everyone. As much as I assured everyone that I was getting my visa, until I had my visa, no one wanted to hire me. But for me, the visa was easy, because I was under 26, and that's the cut-off. I fell under a family visa. Typically, you have to be sponsored by a company.

Mc: How long did it take you to find a job?

DK: It took me about a month and a half of steady looking -- interviewing, networking, meeting with everyone. I would meet with one person, and they would give me five different names, and I would meet with those people or talk to them. Once I had my visa, things started happening. I finally took a contract position for three months with a small PR firm, which was similar to the company I had left. I was just anxious to get some PR experience down there. But I went down there with the idea that I wanted to work for a large public relations company, so I continued to pursue that. I continued to keep in touch with the first person I interviewed with when I got to Sydney. At the time my three-month contract was running out, she said, "We need you now." I quit the one thing on Friday and on Monday started with Porter Novelli.

Mc: How did you make the transition from Porter Novelli in Australia to Porter Novelli in San Francisco?

DK: I was hired to Porter Novelli in Sydney for a two-month contract, but it was to be extended if they were happy and I was happy. We just kept extending it, and I ended up staying with them for six months. The CEO of Porter Novelli in Australia -- it's called Turnbull Porter Novelli -- knew about my desire to head to San Francisco after Sydney, so he went to bat for me. I was still in a contract position at that point, so I headed to San Francisco and interviewed with Porter Novelli. I did that, and it came together for me.

Mc: How was life in Australia?

DK: I loved it. It was great. That's the biggest thing I got out of it -- working in a different culture, living in a different culture, experiencing different people and work styles and approaches to people's work.

Mc: A lot of people think there will not be any culture shock in a place like Australia. Was that the case, or no?

DK: There was huge cultural adjustment. Like you said, people think you're in another English-speaking country, how different can it be? It really is different. It's much more similar to the British culture. There's different lingo. When I first started at Bay Street, I found the first couple of weeks I was just exhausted, as I was spending so much time really listening to what people were saying. The accent was an issue, and there was different lingo. Everything was so much harder for me. That was a challenge.

Mc: What advice do you have for someone thinking about working abroad?