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Study Abroad Career Connections
Setting Yourself Up For Success
Understand your purpose for going abroad as it relates to your career. It will be much easier to articulate the value of your experience to an employer after the fact if your purpose is linked to your career goals. Consider these questions before you go abroad.
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What skills are you trying to grow? Language skills? Cultural competency?
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How can you best grow those skills? Are the programs you’re considering going to be effective?
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Does the program include experiential learning/internship opportunities?
Making The Most Of Your Time
Remember to take time during your study abroad to reflect on your original goals and document your experiences in real time.
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Find ways to understand the differences in the work environment between the US and your host country.
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Journal each day to capture new skills and accomplishments. The daily little things will add up to show growth throughout your time abroad. Tracking these in the moment helps you realize the strengths you’ve developed by the end, e.g. Did you have a struggle that day? How did you overcome it? Did you manage something new with transportation or grocery shopping? What skills do you have now that you didn’t have the day before?
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Explain how you adjusted to the host culture and reflect in detail the ways you adapted and changed to accommodate the local norms. The more detail you write about, the better you will remember and can re-tell in a job interview.
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Develop relationships with classmates, faculty, and host families, and connect with them on LinkedIn, so you can stay in touch after you return.
Tell Your Career Story
Once you've returned, take steps to ensure that your time abroad continues to benefit you and your future opportunities.
- Identify relevant NACE Competencies you've developed.
- The National Association of Colleges and Employers has surveyed employers for many years and found that there are 8 major categories of career skills that make a candidate career ready. These skills are gained in a variety of ways and employers want to see that you can demonstrate how you have effectively used them in your experiences.
- Use the Transferable Skills Checklist to jumpstart your reflection and help identify skills to be highlighted in your CV or interviews.
- Add your experience to LinkedIn and connect with alumni or contacts you've made during your time abroad.
- Add your study abroad experience to your resume or cover letter. Review the Representing Your Experience Abroad for tips and suggestions.
- Practice speaking about your experiences in a particular way that demonstrates what you learned or how you grew to help in future interviews.
- One way is theSTAR method, where you explain the Ssituation, the Task, the Aaction you took, and the Rresult. For example, instead of saying “I became more resourceful while abroad,” you might say, “I was lost in Paris [situation], and I had to get to class for an important presentation [task]. I approached a local shop owner to ask for directions in my broken French [action]. He was able to point me in the right direction and I made it to class in time [result].” More detail about understanding the advantage of having that experience as part of your story as a candidate.
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Once you're back on campus attend the Office of Career Development and Professional Engagementt crash courses, advising appointments, and mock interviews for tips on how to leverage your study abroad experience on resumes, interviews, applications, and more.