Showcasing your Study Abroad Experience

1. How does your international experience fit into your long-term career goals?
2. How will what you learned abroad uniquely benefit a professional in the particular career field in which you have an interest?
3. What skills did you acquire/enhance while abroad that will add value to a potential employer?  Examples include:
   • Enhanced cultural awareness and sensitivity to customs and cultural differences
   • Foreign language proficiency
   • Adaptability
   • Ability to identify and achieve goals
   • Increased confidence, initiative & independence
   • Awareness of global, economic, political issues and realities
   • Problem solving and crisis management skills

1. List the program in the education section of your resume.
2. If you worked or volunteered while abroad, list the experience and focus on the cross-cultural learning.
3. If the experience included an internship, list it as a professional experience rather than an activity.
4. If your resume includes a section for skills, include specific skills acquired or improved while abroad.
5. State that operating in a global arena and having international experience are key to being successful in today’s global market.
6. Focus on what you learned, not just how much fun you had.

• Complete a specific project or research applicable to your field of interest while abroad?
• Travel independently?
• Learn to work with a more diverse group of people than you had previously been exposed to?
• Resolve a conflict based on misunderstandings of cultural differences?
• Learn new activities, languages, hobbies, or skills?
• Come to understand how to listen, watch, and learn from what you observe?
• Discover something new about yourself that can relate to the position you are seeking?
• Volunteer or participate in an internship or service learning project while abroad?