One of the most common business careers in international business is import/export coordinator. These supply chain management professionals prepare and submit required documentation to U.S. and foreign customs agencies. They must meet established guidelines and time frames for import and export documentation like bills of lading, commercial invoices and container load plans (CLPs). Import/export coordinators may eventually move into any of the following careers, according to PayScale.
Sales Directing
Sales directors create business plans and strategies for multiple product lines and markets. They ensure the attainment of international sales goals, missions and profitability. Sales directors prepare regional action plans for global sales leads and prospects. They initiate and coordinate the execution of action plans to penetrate international markets and industries. Sales directors build solid international sales pipelines for B2B, direct and government opportunities.
Sales directors must continually provide timely feedback to management regarding international sales issues performance. They strive to maintain maximum profit margins, competitive pricing and market penetration levels. Sales directors create and conduct proposal presentations to global staff, dealers, customers and experts. They ensure that their sales staff adheres to all company policies and ethics codes. They personally maintain contact with customers to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction.
Global Development
Business development professionals must be personable, organized and hardworking because they often conduct international training events, team meetings and foreign government events. These business professionals must possess the ability to quickly learn, creatively think and proactively problem-solve. Because they must communicate with clients all over the world every day, they must be outgoing and energetic individuals who are preferably bilingual. Business development professionals must be aware of international variances in business culture, social norms and legal issues.
They should also be familiar with international business concepts, practices and trends. Business development professionals will use their cross-cultural judgment and international experience to plan projects, accomplish goals and maintain business contacts. Global business development managers will maintain strong relationships with key opinion leaders, academic researchers and industry experts.
Project Management
Project managers may oversee anywhere from two to five simultaneous global projects at any one time. Each project will come with unique needs, resource coordination issues and post-launch revenue portfolio goals. Project managers must define and drive project growth strategies by taking cross-sector opportunities and requirements into account. They may lead market, opportunity and risk management investigations. Based on the information they gather, they will propose business models, ideas and partnerships.
Project managers achieve early technical milestones by conducting accurate feasibility evaluations and predictions. Their cross-functional disciplines may include product design, quality control, regulatory compliance, financial transparency and facility operations. They may work on projects that drive development and positioning priorities by considering key customer segments and industry factors. They must have excellent analytical, organizational and time management skills.
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Global commercial banking opportunities aren’t all limited to pure financial transaction. For example, global banking specialists may coordinate with local staff to assist partnering foreign bank with the execution, processing and ongoing management of credit lines. They may work with treasury management officers to generate new business. They may also work with finance product specialists to customize the development of global liquidity and cash management solutions.
