As U.S.-based businesses expand their global reach, finance chiefs with international experience are increasingly in demand. Terence Gallagher, president of New York City-based executive recruiting firm Battalia Winston International, has helped dozens of professionals broaden their experience with placements abroad. He spoke to Business Finance about ways to add a touch of global glitz to a finance resume.

Business Finance: We’ve heard that some companies are giving more weight to the MBA qualification over the CPA these days because it often has an international component. Have you found that to be the case?

Terence Gallagher: In some cases. If you look at some of the leading-edge schools, they have global appeal. But it really depends which side of the function you’re looking at and the emphasis within the finance group. The whole game has changed in the last few years with Sarbanes-Oxley; there’s much more emphasis on controls and capabilities related to the CPA.

Conversely, if a company is looking for a head of financial planning or strategy with a heavy focus on strategy and business operations, then the MBA has more weight. You get around that, ideally, by having both, but many do not.

BF: Are organizations looking for more international experience?

TG: Absolutely. That’s generally the direction business is heading. They’re looking for global awareness of competition, pricing, taxes. People in the Fortune 500 want their executive teams to be able to think along global business lines, and in order to do that it’s best, ideally, if you’ve been educated abroad and also have lived abroad at least in two assignments.

You need the familiarization with the local customs, taxes, and cultures. And you need the increased sensitivity. We’ve got to wear down this image of the “ugly American,” where we’re holding on to the steering wheel in all meetings. We have to defer more to the local norms and mores so that we become back-seat participants rather than drivers. We need to be listening more, absorbing more, and then beginning to filter, rather than resorting to “ready, fire, aim,” which is the label we’ve always had.

BF: Is it worth seeking out companies that offer international rotations?

TG: Yes, because global business is built into those companies’ DNA. That’s better than an individual being a proponent himself or herself, because they’ll be a fish swimming upstream. Unless you have a very strong, influential mentor, you’re going to be disappointed.

You have to look at your company’s platform and where the concentration of growth is coming in terms of your business strategy. Position yourself through your mentor so that you get exposure to locations in those markets. It’s better to be in it than to just travel to it and say you touched it — it’s much more compelling.

And those kinds of developmental rotations need to take place sooner in your career rather than later, because we all know what happens when you start to get into your late thirties and early- to mid-forties; you become typically less portable. You have family conflicts and spousal income issues, and those sometimes become insurmountable.

When you’re in your mid-twenties to mid-thirties you’re in that highly mobile, high-learning phase; those are the times to get those rotations into your background and then get yourself back and positioned at corporate headquarters.

BF: How long should an overseas stint last?

TG: In order to get traction and understand the customs, the players, the decisions, and how things get done locally, it’s going to take you a full year of immersion. You’re just a sponge in that first twelve months; you’re in a steep learning curve.

To make inroads and suggestions and differences in terms of accomplishments and added value, you’re not going to see that for maybe another 12 to 18 months. And you’d want to have at least a year beyond that. So a three- to four-year duration in those kinds of assignments would be advisable.

When you move back to corporate, you’ll have relationships you can count on. You’ll have the business knowledge and appreciation for how things get done in that region. And then there will be people who you can pick up the phone to call if there’s an issue that you need intelligence on and quickly get an answer. So it really pays dividends later on.

BF: Any other tips?

TG: At the CFO level now, the challenge is to become more valuable as a resource operationally. The current success stories for CFOs are about those that have closely aligned themselves with the business. That should transcend wherever you’re located.

So whether you’re in Europe or Asia, what you want to do is develop a strong business knowledge of what the strategy locally is trying to accomplish and get yourself aligned with that. Spend time at the local strategy meetings, go out on local sales calls, meet the local customers. Build up some firsthand knowledge so that when you’re asked to participate in a meeting you’re not just looking at things from the financial functional viewpoint but from a dual perspective.

That way you’ll always be perceived by the local general management team as somebody who’s adding value, not only with your financial expertise, but also by helping them to accomplish their business objectives.