The Perks of Landing an International Internship

Getting into an international internship program may sound scary or stressful. However, getting into this kind of internship has its benefits, too. In fact, it may just be the thing you need to ensure that you’ll get an excellent permanent job in the near future.

Making It Your Competitive Advantage

When you graduate college, job hunting is the first challenge you have to face. Unless backed-up with a very good school, grades, and a referral, job hunting can be a tedious task. This is true, especially with all the competition that you’re going to potentially face.

Simply think about all those people who are looking for jobs right now. Certainly, there are a lot of them out there in the wilderness of the working place. But consider too, that there are also other fresh graduates other than you that are competing. Thus, you must be ready to compete with both experienced and non-experienced people to get a job.

Due to the tight competition in whatever field you are in, you should have your own competitive advantage. Getting an international internship is actually one kind of competitive advantage that can really outshine your competition.

If you have an international internship, your potential employer will not look down upon you or underestimate your capabilities, which is what most employers do when a fresh grad is applying for them. Thus, your chances of getting the position skyrocket, even if many would say that you’re just like any other yuppie.

Creating Contacts

Just like with getting a regular local internship, when you go international you also add to your professional contacts list. Your network expands, just as in a local internship, however, your contacts will belong to the international domain, which is relatively better than having only contacts encompassing people in your town or city.

Boost Up Your Resume

Having the experience of working and living abroad can really enhance your resume. This can show that you are not afraid of having challenges and that you’re prepared to accommodate change. Additionally, it demonstrates that you have global business awareness, which a lot of applicants lack.

Seeing the Big Picture

Your experience abroad can be really useful to your potential employers. In fact, you may understand and know the tricks of the trade of the global market better than your potential employer himself. In this way, you can back-up your suggestions and ideas with real and applicable situations.

Culture Matters

If volunteering or travel isn’t really your interest, then the main highlight of getting into an international program is for you to gain more knowledge through having conversations with other specialists on your chosen field. Through this, you can observe the similarities and differences of the ways of business 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 their point of views regarding issues of your chosen industry.