Planning for Study Abroad with Recruiting and Your Career in Mind

Study abroad can enhance your resume, provide great talking points during recruiting and contribute to your effectiveness as a new employee—if you approach it with these goals in mind. The choices you make on the front end are vital to ensuring that your study abroad increases your employability and yields job-related skills.

You should begin by thinking about the story you want to tell recruiters when you return. Maybe you’d like to say something like this:

"I chose to enhance my degree by experiencing first-hand the way companies and their employees operate in an international environment. I traveled to a strategic location for international business, interacted with people from another culture and took a course at a top international business school that contributed to my degree plan while offering a non-U.S. perspective. While abroad, I conducted a cultural investigation of my destination country. In addition to understanding challenges I might have working there and developing solutions to those challenges, I gained knowledge about working with diverse types of people. I encountered and dealt with problems while I was abroad that were new to me in an unfamiliar, challenging environment. I’m more confident and skilled at confronting new situations as a result of this experience."

This is a statement that any CIBER study abroad participant who was thinking about career issues and took the program seriously could reasonably make. It points to important “transferrable skills” valued by employers that include:

• Strategic thinking
• Self-motivation 
  
• Pro-activity 
  
• Problem-solving ability 
  
• Tolerance for ambiguity 
  
• Adaptability

And there is much more that you could say with a little additional preparation. The point is to make decisions now based on career-relevant criteria so that you can tell the best possible story when you return. Here are some things to consider:

• Your Goals
  What are your business-relevant goals? How will your study abroad relate to your major, your degree, your career interests? What is the benefit of studying abroad compared to taking courses here at home? What will you experience that rounds out your academic experience at McCombs?
  Goals can be related to personal development as well. Are you hoping to gain confidence by leaving the U.S. for the first time? Being on your own in an unfamiliar place? In what way does studying abroad take you out of your comfort zone and cause you to challenge yourself? Are you overcoming any fears by going abroad?  
• Your Method
  How is preparing for study abroad causing you to grow? Have you had to come up with a creative argument to get your parents to agree? Have you had to persevere or work hard to fund part of your trip yourself? Were you awarded a scholarship to participate? Are you researching your destination in detail? Have you thought through your goals and created a plan for achieving them? Are you planning any business-relevant activities on your own that go beyond the program planned for you 
• Your Destination
  In what way is your destination strategic from a business perspective? Is it a hub of international commerce? Is it home to companies or industries relevant to your major? Does being there give you perspective you couldn’t have gotten at home? Will being there give you an opportunity to improve foreign language skills you have? Are you interested in working there in the future? What contact will you have with companies there, and what do you hope to learn from it?  
• Thinking Creatively
  Below are a few ideas for ways to add business-relevant value to your experience abroad:
  • Interview CIBER program alumni to find out what they found useful about studying abroad during their job search or in their work once they graduated.
  • Organize a discussion group about business-related aspects of your destination country before you go. Learn as much as you can in a proactive manner.
  • Review and discuss books about business there and compile a list of questions to ask during company visits.
  • Contact McCombs alumni living in your destination country and arrange to meet with them. Interview them about their experience living and working abroad.
  • Keep a journal, beginning with your expectations and stereotypes of your destination country. This will help you identify the changes you’ve undergone and what you’ve learned and remind you later of stories you can use about challenges you met and problems you solved.
  

Five weeks passes quickly. Once you’re abroad, you’ll be caught up in the excitement of the experience and the challenge of getting academic work done and seeing the sights. If you’ve designed a plan for adding value for recruiting beforehand, all you’ll need to do while you’re there is execute your plan. For help designing your experience in a way that will indicate to employers that you are strategic, motivated and adaptable, come by the CIBER office for guidance.

Executing Study Abroad

Once you’re abroad, it’s time to carry out your plan for having a skill-enhancing experience that employers will respect. Hopefully, you’ve built in some features that will add business value to your experience. If so, don’t get so carried away in the experience that you forget to implement them.

• Write in the journal you took with you, even if you just make quick, bulleted notes. Record your feelings and observations, not just what happened. Don’t leave out the bad parts. Overcoming anxiety and frustration are skills employers value. Once you’re home, you may have a good story to tell about something that seemed depressing or embarrassing at the time.
• Seek out opportunities to talk to business people in your destination country. These might include a professor from the partner school, a tour leader from a company visit or someone you meet by chance. Ask if you can follow up with them in some way, visit a facility or interview them for your cultural analysis assignment.
• Think of the experience as a laboratory. Challenge yourself to deal in new ways with problems you’re encountering. Take an active approach to problem solving rather than relying on friends or being part of a group. If one solution doesn’t work, try something different.
• Go beyond your group’s cultural assignment to look at other cultural features of your destination country. Assess what challenges you would have working there and evaluate ways to overcome them.
• Take a leadership position with respect to group activities. Helping organize or coordinate travel forces you to do research and think things through, and puts you at the forefront of new experiences and challenges.
  

Conveying the Value of Study Abroad in Recruiting

Although companies emphasize international skills in the qualities they value in executives, not all on-campus recruiters recognize that study abroad will make you a better employee, so you should be prepared to convey the relevance of your study abroad experience to your career. Below are some possible benefits of study abroad to reflect on as you prepare to discuss your experience during recruiting.

1. You’ve experienced another culture first-hand and investigated it analytically. You assessed your own cultural bias and explored different ways of looking at issues like time management, relationship building, and obeying authority. In any new situation, abroad or at home, you will be able to assess your new environment, anticipate challenges, develop strategies and operate effectively. 
2.  You developed new skills and experience while abroad. You may have discovered new strengths and abilities, overcome new challenges, and solved new problems. You may have encountered unfamiliar situations and learned to adapt and respond in effective ways. If so, you are now better prepared to undertake work projects with little to no instruction.
3. You interacted with people from around the world. You may have needed to behave more diplomatically or assertively than before, and in the process, developed a new level of adaptability.
4. You learned about yourself. You may have returned home with new perspectives about who you are and where you fit within your own culture. Your ideas and perspectives of self may be strengthened or you may have chosen to embrace new concepts and values. You may now be better able to contribute to the national/international dialogue on current issues. 
5.  Academic coursework, company visits and the cultural analysis project gave you a greater awareness of interdependencies in the global economy, how global business is conducted and how business practices differ between the U.S. and other countries.
6. You experienced a new academic system. Perhaps you had to adapt to an unfamiliar lecture style or new approaches to testing and grading. You can talk about how you demonstrated flexibility and performed well in spite of the differences from what you were used to.

Although you are excited about your study abroad experience, an employer may not be, so make sure that you mention it at the right time during your interview and focus on its relevance to the position you’re applying for. If the employer asks about your travels, highlight your study abroad as a skill-enhancing experience. If the employer incorporates it into an interview question, then answer that question only, being brief, focused, and clear in your response. Don’t get carried away, go off on a tangent or reminisce excessively. If your employer doesn't bring up your study abroad experience, find ways to integrate your experience tactfully and specifically into your answers. Avoid talking about your experience in terms of having fun and making friends—talk instead about gaining skills and experience and making useful contacts. Prepare what you will say about this in advance so you won’t default to “I had a great time”. If it was a life-changing experience for you, find ways to express this that employers will value.

Articulating Transferable Skills

Think about the “transferable skills” you have gained through your study abroad experience—skills that are beneficial to the position you’re applying for. Spend some time reflecting on what you learned from the experience. Think about the person you were before you left and how you changed during your time overseas. Be prepared to discuss your personal development as well as the skills, credentials, and awareness you gained.

Perhaps your study abroad enhanced your independence, cultural sensitivity and awareness, self-confidence and self-reliance. Other new skills might include problem solving, dealing with ambiguity, managing a limited budget, handling situations diplomatically, and acting as an ambassador and a leader. You may have gained an international perspective or country-specific skills that would be useful for potential employers with a certain market, overseas office, or customer base. Carefully read the job description for your desired position: what specific skills are mentioned and what can you pull from your study abroad experience to strengthen your case? Make a list of your transferable skills and the job qualifications, and then match them up, being sure to highlight these in both your resume and interview.

Structuring Your Presentation

To get the message across as effectively as possible, describe the skills you gained and provide justification for your claim. The following steps will help you structure your comments: 

Unpack yourself . Following the unpacking instructions in this document, reflect on your study abroad. What were the most salient experiences for you? Often, it’s the difficulties you faced that make the best stories. What was difficult, unpleasant or scary for you? How did you overcome it?

1. What transferrable skill did you gain from the experience?
2. Tell the story in four parts:
   • The problem you faced
   • How you solved it
   • The transferrable skill you demonstrated or gained
   • What you learned about yourself
   An example might be: “My friend and I were stranded on the outskirts of town late at night, after public transportation stopped running. We didn’t know that part of town and we didn’t speak the language, and my friend got really upset and started to panic. I helped him calm down, found a respectable-looking bar and went in and asked if they would call us a taxi, a word they understood. When the taxi came, I showed the driver the address of our residence that I kept with me, and we made it back in one piece. Preparing appropriately and solving problems in intense situations are useful skills to have, and having had this experience, I’m confident in my ability to deal with surprises and changes in other high-pressure environments."

Study Abroad Impact in Resumes and Interviews

Set yourself apart from your peers by describing the skills and confidence you gained while studying abroad. Employers are looking for people with good interpersonal and communication skills, flexibility, and the ability to cope with ambiguity and new situations--qualities often enhanced by study abroad. Prepare anecdotes that illustrate what you know and can do, and how you developed the skills recruiters are looking for.

• RESUME
  Your resume tells a story about you; have a reason for everything you put in, with an anecdote prepared for why you included that (i.e., including Chess club to show strategy). Include your study abroad experience, perhaps in the Education section.
• COVER LETTER
  If you have a good story to tell about your study abroad, briefly describe the skills and experiences you acquired and how that learning is transferable to the position for which you are applying. Don’t repeat your resume, but highlight relevant accomplishments while overseas in the second or third paragraph of the cover letter.
• INTERVIEWS
  Articulate how your skills, experience and personality fit the needs of the organization. Bring up your study abroad experience and be ready to answer questions showing how your time overseas gave you skills that will “add value” to the employer and enhance your job performance. Employers are looking for students with the capacity to do what they need (communication skills, able to adapt, flexibility) – rather than ones who already exactly meet a checklist on a job description. Here are some examples: 

1. “Why did you decide to study in XXXXX? How was your experience the same or different from your expectations?”
   Think back to why you decided to go. Think about the things that surprised you while you were overseas and what you learned from them.
2. “What have you accomplished that you are most proud of?”
   Think about the goals you had for going overseas. Which goals did you meet? Which ones were you most proud of? You might explain the goal you had for traveling abroad, describing how this goal was accomplished, or sharing what you learned along the way.
3. “Why do you think you would be a good candidate for this job?”
   In addition to your other points, you can also mention what you have learned from your time abroad. How have changed? You might have become more flexible, adaptable, tolerant, open-minded, patient, etc. You may have gained specialized skills or knowledge from classes. Think about how some of these changes and skills might be useful on the job.

Point out that you have learned exactly those communication and adaptability skills they are looking for, and have proof of those skills from your successful study abroad. You navigated a previously unknown system, discovered how to work with people from different countries and cultures, dealt with ambiguity on a daily basis, etc. Start thinking now about stories you can tell that incorporate the great skills you have developed. 

Helpful Resources

• Resume Writing Tips
• International Experience as Career Exploration

Downloadable documents:  Print them out, take them with you!

• Planning for Study Abroad 
• Executing Study Abroad
• Conveying the Value of Study Abroad in Recruiting
• Unpack Yourself