University students interested in working abroad will be able to learn about resources offered on campus through the International Careers Workshop on Wednesday. The interactive session will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St.

“This workshop will help prepare students interested in working internationally to plan their careers,” said Renata Johnson, outreach coordinator at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. “If students are already working toward their goal and taking advantage of resources early on, they will be much more prepared for an international career.”

Jeni Weidenbenner, library information specialist at The Career Center, will speak about the resources the center provides students who would like to work internationally.

“I will be focusing on the logistics of phone interviews, which are often the first point of job contact for students seeking careers abroad,” she said.

The Career Center offers a free mock phone interviewing service that teaches students how to conduct an interview by phone. Weidenbenner advises students to conduct these interviews using a land line in an area where they will not be disturbed. She also suggests they keep everything professional and anticipate questions.

The Career Center’s Web site lists international employment resources and a variety of discussion boards where students can post questions for center’s staff to answer.

Rhiannon Jerch, junior in LAS, will also be speaking at the workshop. Jerch is the external relations vice president of AIESEC, a student-run international exchange organization that promotes cultural understanding.

“It’s different from a study abroad program because with AIESEC, you’re actually interning in a different country, and you’re supported by an entire network of people who will introduce you to their culture,” Jerch said.

Jerch, who interned in Cairo, Egypt last summer, said she will tell students how AIESEC can give them a taste of another culture’s lifestyle and teach them to work with people from a different way of life than their own.

“Cairo was a crazy city in good and bad ways,” Jerch said, “but I now feel that if I could get (by) on my own there, I can get (by) on my own anywhere.” Other people speaking at the workshop include representatives from the Study Abroad Office, Impact International, the Peace Corps at the University of Illinois, a University student majoring in international studies and Lynnea Johnson, associate director of the Illinois Center for International Business Education and Research.

“Students interested in pursuing an international career should study abroad, learn a language and take some area studies courses,” she said. “They need to learn about the world.”