How Studying Abroad can Benefit Your Career
Studying abroad can have a big impact on your employment opportunities and future career.
By studying internationally, you’ll open the door to unique career opportunities and potentially a higher volume of opportunities than in your home country. Choosing to study abroad can lead to the possibility of extending your visa in your host country and finding work after graduation. You can also plan your study abroad based on the industry or city that has a booming industry. Maybe you want to study Business or IT in San Francisco to have close proximity to Silicon Valley, or maybe you dream of working as a consultant for Deloitte and want to study in London.
Let’s talk about your network. A network is the people you know across different personal and professional fields. Studying abroad can help you build an internationally connected global network. When you graduate, all the people you have met along the way will choose different paths, but thanks to your time at university, they will likely remain important pieces of your network.
Your network is made up of more than just your peers. It’s also your teachers, lecturers, and colleagues from part-time jobs or internships. Building relationships with these people - many of whom are likely from different corners of the world - is a huge advantage when entering the workforce. This is because who you know will largely influence the opportunities you get.
Another way study abroad can improve your employment opportunities is in building transferable skills. Transferable skills are the practical skills you can apply in various settings. These include things like:
Communication
Independence
Resilience
Problem-solving
Time-management, and of course,
English language skills.
These skills are fundamental in so many careers and are highly sought after by employers in different industries. Not only are these skills transferable across a variety of careers, but are also global skills that are helpful to jobs no matter where you decide to live after you finish your studies.
Another career benefit of studying abroad is developing cultural awareness and sensitivity. As we mentioned at the beginning of this session, this skill cannot go understated.Studying abroad prepares you to enter culturally diverse workplaces with an understanding and appreciation for other cultures, and a willingness to learn about people’s backgrounds and perspectives. This is something that sets you apart from many other graduates, who may have only lived, worked and studied in one place.
There are countless ways in which studying abroad can benefit you from an employment standpoint - and this is true no matter where you choose to study.
