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 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. 

Students at Purdue are often very proficient in their technical skills, and studying abroad can boost your soft skills to boost your 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 should 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. Did you participate in a challenging group project related to the job you're applying for? Think through what you may be able to weave into your resume or cover letter to help show why you are an ideal candidate for the position.

Think through your experiences abroad, challenges you faced, hurdles you overcame, and even cross-cultural snafus, then make stories of these in the STAR format to make sure you are sharing them in a way that makes sense to employers and ties it back into a skill, competency, or experience you can bring to the job you are applying for. 

The STAR format is an easy way to ensure you're including the relevant information that an employer wants to know, and looks 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

Study abroad experiences often make excellent STAR stories, and help you articulate your experiences beyond superficial responses. 

For more information and examples on how you can include this in your resume, visit our On-Demand Advising Hub to view our Marketing Your Study Abroad Experience video. The Center for Career Opportunities also has great resources about job application and preparation.