After Your Program

Study abroad is a life-changing experience. When you return home, we want to help you share the impact your international experience has had on your life. The following are a few ways Queens wants to help you, once you are home.

Leveraging Study Abroad 

Whether you were in Italy for two weeks with faculty, immersed in the German language in Austria for a month, or even studied marine biology in Australia for a semester, your time abroad helped you develop skills that will directly translate to skillsets that employers are looking for in today’s job market.

In early 2023, LinkedIn posted an article that listed the top skills desired by employers. You might not realize it, but a lot of these skills you learned and developed while you were studying abroad. Here are some ways your international experience can help you land your dream job.

How to Market Your Abroad Experience to an Employer

Faculty-led program to Ecuador

Employer: Tell us about a time when you were able to demonstrate a variety of skills that you would bring to this position.

Student: During my time at Queens University of Charlotte, I was fortunate to travel with two professors and a group of my peers to the jungle in Ecuador. Here, we stayed in a biological research station where we worked with conservation scientists to collect data and track flora/fauna population patterns in different microbiomes. During this time abroad, not only did I get to experience another culture but my role of data collection/ interpretation allowed me to hone my analytical skills. This is especially important as I was in a situation where I had to not only understand the data analysis but be able to communicate that to other people in the station who spoke another language.

Language Immersion to Spain

Employer: As a nurse, you will interact with people from many different backgrounds. What is your experience and approach to serving people who might be different than you?

Student: That is such an important question as we can all agree that the United States is growing more diverse every day. Fortunately, as you can see on my resume, I have a minor in Spanish. I believe that communication is one of the first steps to connecting with people. During my time at Queens University of Charlotte, I was able to acquire language fluency through an immersion program in Barcelona, Spain. There, I was the one who was different than everyone else around me. It made me grateful when people were patient with me, as I tried to communicate with them. This has informed my practice of nursing as I want to exhibit that same patience as I try to understand where my patients are and how I can help meet their needs.

Summer Business Program in China

Employer: Can you tell us about a time when you had to manage a budget?

Student: This is a great question. While I have experience managing budgets in my current and previous roles, a time that really shows my comfort level with budget management was during my study abroad experience in China. During my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to take business courses abroad in Shanghai, China. My study abroad advisor recommended that we start saving money and budgeting for our expenses abroad. I worked out a budget and began saving. Due to economic shifts in my host country, the exchange rate changed significantly a few weeks before I traveled. I reworked my budget and reprioritized expenses to accommodate the new exchange rate. This situation allowed me to exercise multi-currency budget management that will directly translate to this work. My flexibility and adaptability to the new budget constraints has given me the tools to manage the budget requirements for this position.

More Ways to Showcase What you Learned Abroad

• Connect with the Vandiver Center for Career Development to highlight your international experience on your resume.
• Attend workshops hosted by the PCIE on how to sell your experience and nail an interview.
• Start planning before you leave. Put yourself in (safe) situations that may stretch your comfort level but will allow you to grow.
• Ask your faculty what employers in your field value most and how you can be intentional about developing those skills abroad.