Andrew Zerzan

Andrew Zerzan's career at the World Bank began as a Financial Market Integrity Analyst. He now works for the World Bank as an Independent Consultant. Prior to working for the World Bank Andrew opened a language school in Kobe, Japan.

“It has been quite a challenge and an adventure. The business has just started so it's difficult to predict its future viability but the experience alone is worth the financial risks — losing everything I put in. I mainly work as a consultant and teacher for businesses and individuals who want to communicate in another language,” says Andrew, who previously worked as an English Instructor at a company in Japan for six months.

“I think an open attitude to cultural differences is important. Also, it took me a long time to realize that people's motivations are highly variable. Many people work for money and many for experience. Few work for the idealistic world that I thought existed before I graduated. I recommend graduates take care not to have a confrontational attitude in the workplace. I found that such people are rarely happy in their jobs.”

Andrew also used to work at a Japanese college as an assistant professor and at a local high school as a teacher.

“I enjoyed these jobs but felt them limiting, I realized that I had lacked certain skills and that I needed to attain them somehow. I used these jobs to save money, plan and make contacts for the company I now presently own,” he says.

“I lived in Spain in a study-abroad program. There, I met many other foreign students from all over the world, including Japan. So after I graduated I decided to live in Japan because of the interest I had from knowing the Japanese students in Spain.”

Andrew says he used the Internet a lot in his searches for a job.

“I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I searched for exciting opportunities abroad. Finally I found teaching was an easy way to sustain myself,” he says.

If he could do anything differently, Andrew says he would have taken advantage of the internships and professor contacts he had at UTM.

“I really regret not making good relationships with my profs. Many of them are cool and interesting people. I should have tried to make long-lasting relationships with more of them,” he says.

“I recommend doing what I didn't do until now — remember to keep learning as much as possible from every experience. Don’t take everything personal in the business world. Remember that the vast majority of successful people don't make decisions based on personal views, they make them based on whatever they think is just best for the business."