Studying abroad is a life-changing journey that empowers you with global exposure, ample professional opportunities, diverse experiences, and valuable skills that you can include in your resume to capture the recruiter’s attention.
Whether you went abroad for an internship, language study, research program, undergraduate or graduate degree, or an exchange student program, your experience in a foreign country will set you apart from other job candidates!
But what is the right way to put your study abroad experience on your resume? Worry not! That is what we will tell you in this article. After all, as a cross-border student, you have many advantages that improve your personal branding and help you secure your dream job!
Importance of Study Abroad Experience in Your Resume
In today’s competitive job market, your study abroad experience gives you an edge over others. It makes you stand in a variety of ways.
Firstly, it implies that you have an open mindset. Secondly, you are an independent player. And lastly, you are cooperative and have experience working with diverse people. In short, all three attributes make you a valuable candidate to an employer as it indicates that you are both pleasant and easy to work with!
Reflect on Your Entire Experience!
Before including your study abroad experience on your resume, first, you need to analyse every detail to filter out the relevant ones. So, reflect on the things like learnings from your course(s), different people you met, places you visited, skills you acquired through work, professional experiences you gained, etc.
Add Only the Relevant Parts of Your Experience
The next step is to pick the relevant experience to include in your resume carefully. For example, while studying in the UK, you took dance classes near your student accommodation in Glasgow or student accommodation in Durham. Now, if you apply for a job in marketing, adding your experience as a dancer won’t be appropriate. Instead, any significant internship or research project related to marketing would help.
Determine the Location for Your Experience in the Resume
There are three sections where you can add your study abroad experience, namely:
Education
Suppose you have had extensive academic experience or got admission into a prestigious university. In that case, you can be a bit creative by adding details about your university, the course and its coursework, duration, country and the city, type of degree, scholarships (in case you got one), and your marks (optional).
Experience
It is one of the essential sections where you highlight your actual work and accomplishments. During your time abroad, you must have interned somewhere, done a part-time job, taken the initiative in university events, volunteered, participated in student clubs and societies, performed leadership roles, conducted research, or worked in a team.
It would be a delightful learning experience where you got transformed into a professional. And now is the time to showcase all of your relevant experience on your resume. For example, you can add your internship experience in a sales company by writing: ‘Increased sales by 30% over three months at XYZ company.’
Skills
Studying abroad provides you with ample opportunities for personal and professional growth, and during these times, you tend to acquire both soft and hard skills.
Your hard skills are technical skills like coding, SEO, graphic design, social media marketing, etc. On the other hand, your soft skills are communication, leadership, empathy, time management, teamwork, problem-solving, etc. You can add both types of skills to your resume to increase your chances of landing the job!
Moreover, suppose you learned a new language. In that case, you can list this in the section additional languages along with your proficiency levels, such as Native, Elementary Proficiency, Professional working proficiency, or Limited Working Proficiency.
Conclusion
We hope you have figured out how to put your study abroad experience on your resume! We understand that studying abroad is equally challenging and wonderful, but in the end, it always proves to be beneficial for your long-term career.
Recruiters these days cherish global exposure and experience and are always on the lookout for the candidates who possess them. So it is your golden opportunity to stand out as an extraordinary candidate with your study abroad experience.
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Author: Harshita Anand is a postgraduate in English Journalism and a graduate in Hotel Management. She has worked in a wide range of industries and with people from all walks of life. Her broad and enriching experience sparked her curiosity to learn new things daily and write passionately about them!
