Career Benefits

Let International Education Jump-Start Your Career

Want an edge in the job market? Considering a career abroad? Study abroad.

Whether you’re set on a profession or still exploring careers, find success with these common program options:

•Research project •Internship work •Field research •Teaching opportunity •Service project

You won’t need to go it alone. Faculty, advisors, and mentors can help you get the most out of your experience. Get guidance on workplace environments, program placements, portfolios, and more. Study abroad gives you the experience and skills employers want—leadership, creative thinking, foreign languages, and teamwork with people from different backgrounds.

COMMUNICATION

Open interactions with professors, students, and staff build active listening and conversational skills as you transition to your new environment.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Help a community find innovative solutions to education, health, and economic issues through field research or volunteer work.

INITIATIVE

Strengthen your abilities to adapt, take the lead, and remain resilient as you experience new systems, customs, and expectations abroad.

TEAMWORK

Navigate conflict, build accountability, and appreciate diversity in an academic culture that emphasizes group projects over papers and tests.

PROFESSIONALISM

Practice receiving direction, managing professional relationships, and accepting critiques while interning in a workplace abroad.

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

Build relationships and learn to adapt quickly to new ways of doing things in culturally diverse situations.

Communication

Open interactions with professors, students, and staff build active listening and conversation skills as you transition to your new environment.

Problem Solving

Help a community find innovative solutions to education, health, and economic issues through field research or volunteer work.

Initiative

Strengthen your abilities to adapt, take the lead, and remain resilient as you experience new systems, customs, and expectations abroad.

Teamwork

Navigate conflict, build accountability, and appreciate diversity in an academic culture that emphasizes group projects over papers and tests.

Professionalism

Practice receiving direction, managing professional relationships, and accepting critiques while interning in a workplace abroad or virtually.

Intercultural

Competence

Build relationships and learn to adapt quickly to new ways of doing things in culturally diverse situations.

Students see the difference:

89%

say

study abroad

improved their communication skills

87%

say study abroad helped them develop problem-solving skills

94%

say study abroad

increased their

confidence

90%

say study abroad developed their interpersonal skills

94%

say study abroad increased

their ability to adapt to changing situations

Source: Gaining an Employee Edge: The Impact of Study Abroad on 21st Century Skills & Career Prospects in the United States, Institute of International Education

From

The Californian Abroad:

10 STEPS
TO A CAREER ABROAD

To achieve the goal of a career abroad you start with study abroad.

READ STORY

5 STEPS TO ADD AN INTERNSHIP
TO YOUR EXPERIENCE

Get the most out of study abroad by adding hands-on work experience.

READ STORY

THINGS TO SAY IN AN INTERVIEW AFTER STUDY ABROAD

The best interview responses show how study abroad makes you the best candidate.

READ STORY

Working in a professional setting in another country is eye-opening in terms of being able to explore different environments and how they function. I now have some background interacting and communicating with professionals in another country and language. I am inspired to pursue opportunities that involve working with the language learning process and I am looking forward to applying this direction to my career path.

Alison Roper • UC Santa Barbara • France

Photography includes submissions from and by UCEAP students.

Source: Gaining an Employee Edge: The Impact of Study Abroad on 21st Century Skills & Career Prospects in the United States, Institute of International Education

10 STEPSTO A CAREER ABROAD

THINGS TO SAY IN AN INTERVIEW AFTER STUDY ABROAD

10 STEPS
TO A CAREER ABROAD