Career Benefits of Study Abroad

Study abroad doesn't just change lives - it helps launch careers. Making study abroad a part of your  undergraduate education develops skills that pay off in the short-term and help you develop the adaptability, creativity, and broad worldview employers want and that you'll need to support long-term career success.

Research from the Forum on Education Abroad in 2026 shows that study abroad experience can not only make students more attractive to employers, but can result in higher starting salaries. 

Study abroad is also correlated with higher graduation rates and higher GPAs at graduation. 

Study abroad helps student develop many career-readiness competencies including:

• Make decisions and solve problems using sound, inclusive reasoning and judgment
• Gather and analyze information from a variety of sources to fully understand problems
• Effectively communicate across differing perspectives and lived experiences of stakeholders
• Frame communication with respect to cultural differences
• Effectively manage conflict, interact with and respect varying personalities
• Meet ambiguity with resilience
• Collaborate with others to achieve common goals
• Build strong, positive working relationships with others
• Advocate for oneself and others
• Display curiosity, seek out opportunities to learn
• Solicit and use feedback from multiple cultural perspectives
• Keep an open mind to new ways of thinking
• Demonstrate flexibility by adapting to new environments

Bottom line - students who can connect their study abroad experiences to their professional goals can boost both their immediate and long-term career success.

Did you know that you can (and should!) add your study abroad experience to your resume? Taking the time to incorporate your study abroad experience into your resume, cover letter, or even job interview questions can help you be one step ahead of the competition. 

However - you don't just want to slap it on there just anywhere, it needs to be thoughtfully added where it can make the most impact. Of course - it's part of your education and absolutely can be included in the education section. But it may be able to pop up in other places, too. If you completed an international internship or research experience, this absolutely should show up separately in your experience section. Think about skills you gained or improved upon through study abroad (see above for some example career competencies!), and pop these into your skills section. 

Think through your experiences abroad, challenges you faced, hurdles you overcame, cross-cultural snafus, and make stories of these in the STAR format, like this: 

• Situation: Set the scene and provide brief context
• Task: Explain your specific responsibility and goal 
• Action: Detail the precise steps you personally took
• Result: Share the positive outcome or what you learned