You’ve heard rumors about the career benefits of studying abroad and may have used them to convince yourself to sign up for an international program. But now you’re sweating a bit and wondering: does it? We are here to assure you, that studying abroad can help your career.
You've gone to call-out meetings, met with your advisor, got advice for your best program match, and have spent more hours than you care to admit scrolling through study abroad alumni photo feeds (wanderlust much?!). There are just a couple of t's to cross and i's to dot before you feel ready to sign the dotted line and submit your program deposit.
Those are great questions — ones that deserve answers you're confident in before you jump into visa applications and flight bookings. And we're here to help reassure you: one of the major benefits of studying abroad is your employability. Here's how study abroad will HELP your career.
“Hey, Mom and Dad. I’ve been thinking a lot about studying abroad. I can go to {country} for a whole year if I want! It is a little expensive, but it sounds so fun. I can earn college credit, it’ll help my future career, and {name of friend} is doing it, too.” - You
“A whole year?! Are you sure there are studying abroad advantages?” - Worried Mom
“Okay, okay. I’ll settle for a semester. But for real, all of the information and research available shows that the benefits of studying abroad include a leg up in your career.” - You
While you may be guilty of using the employability angle as a way to cinch the deal with your parents, but you're not even fudging the truth! In reality, study abroad has career benefits (seriously good ones!) and can help you land a job in the future.
Truthfully, the impact of study abroad on a career varies from person to person and vocation to vocation. But a few underlying factors ring true, regardless of your future job title: Studying abroad is an experience that allows you to enhance your education and life experiences outside your comfort zone. As an international student, you’ll be forced to adapt to life in a foreign culture and overcome obstacles you have never faced before, which will help you gain immense clarity and ultimately make key decisions about where you’d like your career to take you.
How do I love studying abroad and career development? Let me count the ways...
While studying abroad, even in the simplest of interactions, you will be learning how to communicate in new ways daily. Depending on the language of your host country, you might resort to using a hybrid form of the English language, hand gestures, or a completely new language in your day to day interactions. You will learn to decipher facial expressions, body language, and gestures, in order to successfully understand others and communicate your own opinions, needs, and questions. Whatever method you use to communicate while studying abroad, you will be developing important cross-cultural communication skills that will undoubtedly help you in your future career.
Having lived and used your foreign language skills internationally, you will better understand your desire to master the language and decide if you’d actually like to use these skills in a professional context someday.
Daily cross-cultural communication will be essential to your success abroad, and it will teach you how to interact with people from all different backgrounds. Not to mention, gaining fluency in another foreign language will improve your employability. Job opportunities span the gamut - it seems every field is internationalizing to the point of needing bilingual and trilingual staff on their payroll. As your communication skills develop, your cultural knowledge will develop simultaneously, making you a more culturally sensitive person (and desirable hire!) who is able to be both more respectful and more understanding toward others.
