4 Easy Ways to Keep Up with Current Events and Grow Your Global Fluency

Today, employers are looking more and more for open-minded people interested in being a global citizen. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) defines one of its eight career readiness competencies as “global/intercultural fluency.” According to NACE, global/intercultural fluency means valuing, respecting, and learning from diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, sexual orientations, and religions.

The good news is keeping up with current events and increasing your global fluency doesn’t mean devoting several hours each day to devouring every article from numerous major newspapers. It means merely having a general idea of what’s going on in the world, and a more specific idea of what’s going on in your desired industry. All this can take you less than an hour each day. Keeping up with current events is an easy way to stand out during networking, applications, and interviews. In other words, following the news and keeping up with cultural trends will help you get hired and grow your career.

Here are four easy ways you can broaden your sense of what’s going on in the world.

1. Morning and Evening Briefings

Some news outlets provide a news briefing service sent to your email. These briefings contain a bullet run down of the day’s events, with links to full articles if you would like to read more. The New York Times has a good few briefings, including a Weekend Briefing with news to go with into Saturday and Sunday. BBC News has a News Daily page, with each day’s post containing brief summaries of global events. Take a few minutes to skim these briefings in the morning, on your way to work, or at night before bed, and get a sense of major headlines.

2. News App Notifications

On our smartphones, so much information is right at our fingertips. With features like the News App and news-filtering apps like Flipboard, getting news has never seemed more convenient. But many people rarely visit news apps, do not have their news app notifications on, or if their notifications are on, pay no attention to them. Like Morning and Evening briefings, the News App is a valuable tool to get a quick, live update of what is going on. It only takes a few seconds to read the notification and could end up promoting worthwhile conversation.

3. Social Media

Social media is one of the most popular ways we send out and receive information. You can complement your feed every so often with posts about current events by following accounts of your favorite news outlets and intellectuals. Twitter is especially popular for live discussion of current events. Most news organizations also have Instagram feeds that you can follow.

4. Podcasts

Podcasts are easily accessible ways to learn more about specific industries. You can listen to podcasts on your commute, while you make dinner, or even while you’re exercising. The Daily by The New York Times is a good podcast about current events, and NPR has many targeted podcasts—Fresh Air and Planet Money are especially interesting. The Economist has a daily podcast that covers current events, business and finance, science and technology, and global issues. The Financial Times, BBC, and The Washington Post all have their own podcasts for you to explore.

Whatever your desired source of news intake is, make sure the information you digest is credible. Flip through the news on your way to work, or during your lunch break, or whenever you have a few minutes. You may just impress your next future employer.

Rachel is a contributing Editorial Intern for Vault.com. She will be a sophomore this fall at Barnard College, and is excited to be back at Vault.com for the summer.