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The Perks Of Getting An International Internship
The possibility of getting an international internship program may sound scary or stressful. However, traveling abroad for your internship has its benefits too. In fact, being willing to leave the country for your internship may just be the thing you need to ensure an excellent permanent job for yourself.
Making It Your Competitive Advantage
When you graduate from college, your first big hurdle will be the job hunt. The job market has become highly competitive, and even excellent grades from a good school may not be enough to get you into your desired career path, as opposed to a job that merely pays the bills.
Think about all those people who are looking for jobs right now. Some of them may be other fresh graduates, but a surprising number of them will be people who have been let go after years in the working world. As a result, you need to be ready to compete with both experienced and non-experienced people to get a job.
Due to the tight competition in every field of endeavor, you need to have your own competitive advantage, so that you can edge out the other people who are chasing the job you want. Getting an international internship is actually one kind of competitive advantage that can allow you to really outshine your competition.
If you successfully complete an international internship, you have demonstrated your ability to surmount challenges and adapt to situations very different from that to which you are accustomed. As a result your potential employer is much less likely to look down upon you or underestimate your capabilities simply because you are fresh out of college.
Creating Contacts
Just as you can with getting a regular local internship, when you go international you also build your professional contacts list. Your network expands again, except that your contacts will range far and wide rather than being confined to your own locale.
Boost Your Resumé
Having the experience of working and living abroad can really enhance your resumé. An international internship demonstrates that you are not afraid of facing challenges and that you're prepared to deal with change. Additionally, it shows that you have an appreciation of the global business field, which a lot of applicants lack.
Seeing The Big Picture
Your experience abroad can be really useful to your potential employers. Particularly if you go to work for a small company, it is possible that you will understand the tricks of the trade of the global market better than your potential employer. When you are interviewing and when you are on the job, you can back your suggestions and ideas with real and applicable situations you know from personal experience.
Culture Matters
If you aren't particularly interested in travel or volunteering, then the main highlight of an international program is the opportunity to gain knowledge by meeting with other specialists on your chosen field. As you work with specialists abroad, you can observe the similarities and differences in how business is done between your local culture and this new culture you are exploring.
You can also get to know the different perspectives of people in the places you go to. Every one has a different and unique perspective; the more you travel and meet people, the more you would be able to understand how others think about issues of your chosen industry.
