Interning abroad can be a great way to beef up your resume and garner the skills you need to compete in whatever industry you are interested in becoming a part of. Having international business savvy is invaluable in today’s corporate and non-corporate business environment. When it comes down to it, the candidate who worked abroad will surely shine brighter than the candidate who did not, especially in such a bleak economic atmosphere where more and more employers are seeing a lot of unqualified applicants. And if you do decide to move your internship overseas, there are a number of ways to get the most out of your experience. Here are five tips for making the most out of your internship abroad in college.
- Be open minded about a different way of doing things. When it comes down to it, a certain country may do business in a completely different way than your country. It is as simple as that. The key is to not be disappointed or frustrated, but to learn how to assimilate. You may even want to learn about how a certain country does business before you go – just to be totally prepared.
- Have a strong work ethic. When you are in a different country, it can be easy to let yourself become distracted or to not take things as seriously. However, it is critical that you work hard and to take your work very seriously. If you work for an international company and you want to move up the food chain once you have your degree or certification, you want to impress your employers. Whatever happens overseas will definitely make its way back home, especially if you don’t do your job.
- Meet new people and expand your network. If you visited http://www.getarealdegree.com and are now getting your degree in a certain field or industry, it shows that you are highly motivated to make something of yourself. If this is the case, you want to take advantage of the fact that you are interning abroad. The best way to do this is to meet as many people as possible. Who knows how you can utilize some of those contacts later on – they may be incredibly beneficial.
- Try to learn the language. This is a basic one, but if you are working abroad, you want learn at least a conversational understanding of a particular language. If learning that language is the difference between connecting and not connecting with customers or business partners, you may want to study online tutorials and you may want to sign up for language courses – it can go a very long way.
Immerse yourself in the culture. If you really want to succeed in an international internship program, you want to embed yourself in the culture. This means that you should go out of your way to learn about the people, try new foods and experience things that have never experienced before. At the end of the day, all of your new experiences will only strengthen your resolve.
