Thanks to the internet, the world is more connected than ever. People all around the world are moving from one place to another more than they have ever done before. People emigrate to other countries to study, to look for a job or to start a new life.
However, an ever-growing number of people are choosing courses that include a compulsory internship experience. This experience allows them to develop soft skills, often in a foreign language, that improves their position in the job market at home. In this short blog, we’ll cite reasons why you might want to try that too.
Gain work experience
The most basic argument in favor of doing an international internship abroad is to gain professional experience and improve your language skills. Internships are an opportunity to see how well you adapt to the demands of the professional world, as well as a stepping stone, where you watch from afar what your colleagues do, ask questions, and make mistakes. All these are key to learning and growing as a person. More work experience, especially in another part of the world, is always going to boost your professional opportunities.
Experience a new culture
The interesting part about going outside of your home country is to explore a new culture that you are not familiar with. And a work experience is certainly one of the best ways to open your eyes and improve your cultural awareness.
Each country offers a unique perspective on how to work in an office, what should be your relationship to your superiors and to your other colleagues, and how to organize your work. And thus, by choosing to go abroad for an internship, you get to be part of that mix and to learn how to adapt yourself to a new environment where the tips and tricks are not familiar. Also, who’s better than a colleague to show you around the city?
Challenging work environment
An internship abroad most of the time means someone leaving their home country and going to a new place. It often means that the company has picked you out of many other local candidates. This translates to the company believing you fit their standards and you have to live up to that expectation level.
You’ll be exposed to pressure a lot of the time, you’ll be out of your comfort zone on a day-to-day basis, and you’ll be given responsibilities and expected to deliver. Over time you will develop the work ethic and high standards of your international colleagues – very positive professional skills to have.
Work on interesting projects
A natural consequence of you deciding to look for a study abroad course with an internship program, is that you increase your chances of finding a project that fits your vision. That is certainly something worth travelling for.
Whether you want to work on environmental, financial, industrial or certainly technological projects, going abroad gives you much more opportunities to follow your passion. You’ll also get to do so often at the highest level, meaning you’ll get to develop specialized skills that are in line with those of the best in the world.
Meet new people
One of the most obvious results of you going abroad for an internship is that you meet new people and develop a global network. You will work with your colleagues for a rather significant period of time so this means you’ll see them often (not so much with covid, unfortunately) and this is a chance for them to get to know you on a professional level, where they could be of so much help to you. Sometimes even on a personal level too. You’ll also get to make yourself a good network of people who’ve seen you in action. And given the big importance of networks in the rest of your career, it is quite a good investment you’ll be making for your future.
Put your experience abroad on your resume
Now as you might have gathered from all the previous paragraphs, working abroad is certainly an opportunity to cherish. And you’re not the only one who has that opinion. In fact, most recruiters do share that same point of view with you.
An experience abroad means you have taken on new challenges, developed new perspectives, and – depending on the recommendation letter – that you managed to do so successfully. That is a certificate of your resilience, adaptability, intelligence and work spirit. It usually means that you tick all the boxes that recruiters are looking for. So, it is normal that your resume will stand-out towards the top of the candidate pile.
Get paid
The last one is self-explanatory. As the law mandates it in plenty of countries around the world, companies have to pay their interns a certain minimum. In most cases, if you manage to get an internship in a country other than yours, you’ll likely get paid enough to cover your living expenses. Some companies tend to be more generous than others, and in certain sectors of the economy, the remuneration is very attractive.
