U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officer John Natter will be visiting the University Tuesday to speak to interested students about a career in the State Department and the foreign service at 1 p.m. in Room 300 of the Ferguson Student Center. Natter is a UA graduate of and of the International Honors Program. He has most recently served at the U.S. embassy in Venezuela.

Natter will also address students in the International Honors Program about the impact of overseas study on one’s life and career. This is part of the IHP’s Annual Meeting, to be held from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Ferguson Theater.

The Crimson White talked to Natter about how his time at The Capstone shaped his career path and what advice he would give to students who would like to follow his career path.

Crimson White: How did the University of Alabama prepare you for your eventual career in foreign service?

John Natter: I think the University of Alabama gives you a really good foundation. When I was there, I studied abroad in Spain. It gave me a way economically to go study abroad and learn about different cultures. I double-majored in marketing and Spanish, so that gave me the language resources to study abroad. To me, [Alabama] was a very good state university that had the resources and the foundation at play to help people design their own study abroad plan or just whatever they want to. It’s a good springboard to move into an international career.

CW: How did studying abroad shape your career path, and what advice would you give to students who are considering studying abroad?

JN: Well, for me in particular, I studied in Spain, and once you’re abroad you sort of understand or sort of find out about the career opportunities abroad…that’s when I learned about the Foreign Service. I decided I wanted to do that

I took the [study abroad] program that the University of Alabama offered, because they had a sister university in Alcalá de Henares and that was already in place, but there are so many opportunities to travel abroad. I think a lot of people just say they want to travel abroad, but they don’t actually do their research. Then it ends up “Oh well I am just not going to do it, because it would be easier to stay here this semester,” but if you really look into it there are so many ways you can do it. Sometimes it is cheaper then being on campus, which was my case.

CW: What advice would you give to students who are interested in careers in international relations?

JN: Well, again, I guess it goes down to the research. I guess it’s very easy to say I want to have an international career, but you really have to find out about the different opportunities, and they are out there. They just are not well publicized. For instance, I am going to come to campus on Tuesday and talk about the Foreign Service. I mean, I didn’t really know about the Foreign Service until I had a friend taking the Foreign Service exam, and I first found out more about it. There are so many international companies… there are government jobs that station you abroad, political jobs that will send you abroad. And so I would just say, to students, do your research.

CW: Is there anything you would like to add as far as what students can expect from your speeches?

JN: I’m going to talk to students about the whole application process, because frankly a lot of people don’t know about the Foreign Service. There is only so much you can find out on the Internet. It’s all glamorous, but people sort of want to know the nitty and gritty on how to apply. I am just going to give them an idea on what the foreign service actually is, and there is so many different ways to enter the foreign service. Most people think you should have to pick a task, but that’s not true. That’s sort of what I am going to do at one o’clock—just sort of explain to them the whole application process and the different ways into the foreign service and then at five o’clock for the IHP one. I am just going to reiterate the importance of international travel and the opportunities to learn different languages, cultures and just learning in general about yourself. It’s just sort of a pep talk on the importance of traveling.