{"id":8396,"date":"2012-01-31T13:18:49","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T18:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sebastien.jobillico.com\/blog\/?p=8396"},"modified":"2018-12-21T13:21:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T18:21:38","slug":"benefits-of-working-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jobillico.com\/blog\/en\/benefits-of-working-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Working Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world, they say, is at your fingertips. You can armchair travel in 140 characters or less for hours, Skype with people across a dozen time zones and barely notice a lag, or virtually order shawarma and have it at your door in 30 minutes or it\u2019s free. But the global village isn\u2019t just on the web.<\/p>\n

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And in such an interconnected world it is increasingly an asset to have experience with the globe beyond the view of a 15-inch screen.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a trend by employers to kind of hone in on international, intercultural competencies in their selection process,\u201d says Jeff Watson, the Recruitment Team Coordinator at the University of Western Ontario\u2019s Student Success Centre. \u201cAnd it makes sense that they are because a lot of these companies are global entities themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a 2009 publication by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), \u201cglobally mobile\u201d people will likely populate the future job market. As companies sign contracts across continents and more and more workplaces themselves become microcosms of the earth at large, employers will seek out folks who \u201cfit.\u201d<\/p>\n

So to be competitive, you have to be willing to go the distance. Literally.<\/p>\n

A tried and true method of gaining this key global savvy is studying or interning abroad during your post-secondary education. More and more colleges and universities are promoting global experience by requiring it in certain programs, or offering it as choices. And more and more career counselling centres can help students set up these opportunities. Surveys by the AUCC show that studying abroad has also become a more popular choice among students in the past decade.<\/p>\n

Western conducted its own survey asking students why they wanted opportunities to go abroad for school.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurprisingly, career planning wasn\u2019t one of the top reasons why they want this international experience,\u201d says Stephanie Hayne, Western\u2019s Experiential Education Coordinator. \u201cThe reasons were more connected to learning about other cultures, meeting new people\u2014those types of goals. But of course, we know at the end of the day that it\u2019s going to help prepare them to be more successful in their post-graduation job search.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, you can bring back more than school credit and pretty pictures from study abroad experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about concepts that aren\u2019t easy to define. It\u2019s not like somebody graduates and they have a transcript that has a stamp on it that says \u2018You are a Global Ready Graduate!\u2019\u201d Hayne says. But there are four broad skills to be learned from venturing into the world that will let future employers know you might just fit.<\/p>\n

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE<\/h2>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a difference between traveling somewhere for a couple of weeks and living somewhere for a few months at least,\u201d says Emily Bishop, a Trent University alumna. She spent the third year of her International Development and Anthropology undergrad in Ecuador, first taking courses, and then managing development projects in a small village on the edge of the jungle. \u201cIt just affords for experience immersed in a culture. You get a sense of the people, a different sense of rhythm you don\u2019t necessarily experience when you\u2019re traveling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop says she knew in high school that she wanted to go abroad for at least a semester at some point in her post-secondary education. When she finally made it happen, she spent time learning the nuances of the culture she was visiting.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe open to what\u2019s available to you,\u201d she says. \u201cSpend time initially just talking to people and see what\u2019s going on in their lives. What do they do day to day? If they are doing some farming in the morning, for example, follow them, see what they are doing and ask questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning how to ask questions will give you the means to understand people from any number of backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies today often have staff that are really diverse, so a \u2018global ready\u2019 graduate can fit into that really diverse work environment and make meaningful contributions,\u201d says Hayne. \u201cSomebody who\u2019s got some level of intercultural competence: they\u2019re able to work in environments with people from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

HAVING A SECOND (OR THIRD OR FOURTH) LANGUGE<\/h2>\n

\u201cI chose Ecuador as a country because I wanted to learn Spanish,\u201d says Bishop. \u201cIt really challenged my language and interpersonal skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to knowing languages, the more the merrier. An employee with multiple language capabilities is a boon for any business with international customers or organizations with branches throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crucial to be immersed in that situation,\u201d Bishop says. \u201cI\u2019d taken two years of Spanish in university with little success and after a month in Ecuador I felt much more confident. It\u2019s amazing how fast you progress after a month. And I definitely said ridiculous things, but you just have to laugh. You won\u2019t be judged as harshly as you may think.\u201d<\/p>\n

ADAPTABILITY<\/h2>\n

Working and studying abroad is a great way to showcase your independence and adaptability. \u201cIt says something about your level of confidence in handling myriad tasks because being abroad likely means that you\u2019ve encountered things that are outside of your comfort zone,\u201d Bishop says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn employer is definitely looking for those kinds of characteristics when they\u2019re hiring,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Though you may go into the experience with well intended plans and be running on a thousand ideas a minute, she notes it\u2019s important to stay flexible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s quite easy for somebody to come into a situation like that and say \u2018I\u2019m going to do A, B, C, D and add this to my resum\u00e9,\u2019\u201d Bishop says. \u201cIt\u2019s great to be proactive but I think it\u2019s also important to make sure you\u2019re connecting with people and trying to understand what they would like.\u201d<\/p>\n

A GLOBAL MINDSET<\/h2>\n

Do you see the big picture? Chances are if you\u2019re contemplating going abroad you\u2019re already aware that sometimes the world at your fingertips is not enough. You have to go.<\/p>\n

Since her year in Ecuador nearly a decade ago, Bishop started working in international development and has been back to Latin America several times. Working in a global context is enriching, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very lucky to work with people from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

These four skill categories will help you distil your global (possibly life-altering) expeditions into bitesized nuggets an employer can swallow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough to go on a semester abroad and come back and talk about the food and how fun it was and the different monuments that you saw,\u201d says Hayne. They may be colourful stories but they\u2019re not what an employer is looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the graduate is able to articulate the learning, the life lesson, the big gain from the experience, it creates that feeling in the employer that \u2018Wow, this person has the maturity and international experience that would diversify my team,\u2019\u201d says Watson.<\/p>\n

Transferable skills aside, going abroad can be a great adventure if you\u2019re open to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust do it,\u201d says Bishop. \u201cLife is about surprising yourself.\u201d CO<\/p>\n

KATHLEEN CLARK<\/strong> is a journalism student at Carleton University.<\/p>\n

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