Adelante Abroad has been providing guaranteed internship abroad placements for candidates since 1999. With the increase in college students trying to start their career right after graduation, there’s much more competition for that dream job you’ve been thinking about since you were a Sophomore (or even earlier).
In a 2014 article in the Huffington Post, statistics showed that students who take on internships have a significantly higher chance of getting a full-time job right out of college. That was regardless of college GPA. Sort of puts a damper on the work a student had to put in to get that magna cum laude.
The truth is that many of Adelante’s candidates take on internships just for that reason. They want to show potential employers that they have international work experience, master a new culture (and often times a new language), and travel out of the country. But what makes an international internship stand out from others?
Here are three ways that an internship abroad can help boost your resume, followed by tips on how to present it at your next interview:
Cultural Fluency and Teamwork Skills
What is cultural fluency? Cultural fluency is the familiarity and relationship with other cultures outside of your own. It gives candidates a competitive advantage over other people applying for the same position, especially if the position or business requires communication across different countries and cultures.
Being immersed in a new culture through an international internship will help people gain cultural fluency. It also shows employers that you are capable of adapting and working within a multinational project or company. An employee with cultural fluency is able to work with other team members with different backgrounds and nationalization (both within and outside of the United States). With an increase in globalization and international businesses, this is a trait that is not just wanted but now expected from employers.
Interview Tip:
Talk about a time when you worked together with one of your coworkers in your international internship. Emphasize what you learned from it and how you have continued to use your teamwork skills since returning back home.
Independence and Confidence
Most employers, when seeing international internship experience on a candidate’s resume, will perceive the candidate as more confident and able to work independently. Confidence and independence shows employers that you are able to solve problems on your own, especially in a fast-paced environment.
Anyone who has worked abroad understands the amount of independence and confidence needed to handle the culture shock and language barriers encountered during the first few weeks. It also teaches you how to adapt to new environments quickly and with confidence.
Let’s face it, if you can find your way around Barcelona tourist spots in the summer, then you can find the confidence to handle any fast-paced environment.
Interview Tip:
Provide examples or stories of times when you had to solve something quickly on your own and what it taught you. Bonus points if you had to do it with a barrier of some sort (such as not being fluent in a language at first).
Newly Developed Skills and a Stronger Resume
When a candidate decides to take on an intern abroad, they become exposed to more practices and paradigms that they would not have experienced while working locally. With these new practices, candidates are much more likely to have learned new skill sets, such as a foreign language or a new method of efficiency.
While not all people have the opportunity to intern abroad, having international experience on your resume helps your credentials stand out more to employers. With more students leaving college with similar degrees (business, communications, etc.), getting a job is becoming more competitive and requires a little extra “push” for candidates nowadays.
Interview Tip:
Let your future employer know what skills you learned while abroad and how it has benefited you for future jobs. Explain what you did to ensure that you had mastered that skill for the company (practicing a new language, joining a training program, etc.). If any of your new skills required a certificate, be sure to include that in your resume or portfolio for them to see.
Adelante Abroad offers international internships throughout the year in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville), Ecuador, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, and Scotland (Summer only). Free housing, intensive language classes, academic credit, and much more are included in your program. Apply now to save your spot!
