Advancing disability rights and leadership globally®

Designing A Professionally Impactful Exchange Program

A black woman and a white woman talking on a panel about being an exchange alumni.

People with disabilities need all the edge they can get when looking for a job, and an extended time spent studying or volunteering abroad can make a big difference.

Yet while Education abroad professionals are right about the excellent skills that studying or volunteering abroad can create for your résumé, not all education abroad experiences are equal. Read further on to learn how you can put together the most impactful exchange program for your personal, academic, and professional development.

Not a Given

The idea that studying or volunteering abroad increases your marketability in the job market is something of a received wisdom in higher education; however, it may be surprising that not all employers understand the same language.

Educators will sometimes argue that the studies show that education abroad gives you an edge in landing a job, but it is not clear which evidence supports this. Most studies pointing to an employment edge have participants certify whether or not they have acquired skills. However, when a study asks employers or attempts to measure the effect of study abroad experience on hiring decisions, the result is that employers do not see the value in international education. These studies conclude by asserting that hiring managers need to be educated, which is a subtle confirmation of the finding that they do not see the point of study abroad after all.

While studying abroad allows for countless opportunities to learn new concepts, study a language, or intern, it also affords many chances to party, and unfortunately employers may wonder how you were actually spending your time during the summer abroad in Paris.

Sometimes there also exists a disconnect between the types of skills that students acquire on education abroad programs and the skills that employers are seeking. It may be that your Spanish has improved immeasurably during those six months in Madrid, and you have come to truly appreciate your place as part of a member of a larger global family. These skills are absolutely valuable for personal development, but an employer might not necessarily need someone who is bilingual, and they may be looking at another candidate who has learned empathy from their summer job at REI.

Seek Out Opportunities to Build Soft Skills

Hiring managers may not directly value international experience, but they do value soft skills. The right education abroad program can enable you to develop a mix of versatile soft skills that will never become obsolete. Those include:

  • Analytical reasoning
  • Adaptability
  • Problem solving

An article published by the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts describes these key skill sets and what they involve. Find a link under related documents, and scroll to the heading that says “job skills.”

More Time Is Better

Participation in education abroad programs over the last 20 years has increased significantly, mostly owing to the growth in short term programs.

A short term exchange program –typically an experience of up to three or four weeks– certainly has its advantages. They can be a great option for individuals with limited experience away from home to get their feet wet, and they can be more affordable. Short term exchange programs can also satisfy general education, and in certain limited instances upper division, requirements. Studies suggest that short term exchange programs increase participant global engagement and confidence.

Nevertheless, there is less evidence that short-term exchange programs enable participants to develop the soft skills that employers look for. These include problem-solving, teamwork, and adaptability. Much of the value from studying abroad comes from meeting the demands of a rigorous academic program, working in a global environment, and navigating day-to-day life such as shopping or negotiating rent contracts in a different culture and in a different language. You just can’t accomplish these things over 10 weeks.

If possible, try going for a program that involves a stent living abroad for at least one academic term after that first short experience. Look for something that allows you to satisfy upper division or graduate study academic requirements. Seek out opportunities to intern or volunteer while studying alongside students from the host country. Bonus if the courses that you are taking are in a different language other than English.

Inaccessibility Could Mean Opportunity

It can be tempting to make a beeline for Europe or Australia hoping for a more accessible experience. Being carried up an escalator or scanning your own textbooks is certainly no joke! At the same time, reasonable accommodations in the workplace are not nearly as clear cut as they are in higher education. Regardless of where you are, a lot of access is negotiated whether you have a legal right or not. Operating in places with more informal support systems simply means that you get to practice negotiating your accessibility more often.

When picking your education abroad experience, try thinking about a lack of accessibility as an opportunity to woo employers with your problem solving skills. You should never put yourself in an unsafe situation, but spending an extended period arranging your own accommodations could be a great way to acquire skills that will enable you to succeed in the workplace.

Tell Your Story

The final step is to convey the ways that your international experience has enabled you to develop those valuable skills that employers want. For this part, you should understand that you have a couple different opportunities to do this, namely in your cover letter and in your interview.

Try reflecting on at least five formative moments from your education abroad experience. They can come from a class you took, an interaction you had with someone you met along the way, renting an apartment, a project for an internship or something else. Next, think about any skills that you might have sharpened and come up with a story for each skill drawing on one of those formative moments. Pull a list of potential interview questions from the Internet, and practice answering each one, drawing on one of your stories that you created to illustrate your point.

What Makes a Great Story?

  • Set the scene. Describe the background of your story. Where were you? What were you doing?
  • Describe the problem. What unexpected challenge interrupted the calm placidity that existed up to that point?
  • Talk about the solution. What steps did you take to solve the problem? Using words like “we” and “us” can highlight your ability to participate as part of a group, but use them sparingly and take care that your own contributions do not get overshadowed by what the group did.
  • Share the result. What happened as your solution was implemented? Was the problem partially or completely solved? What lessons did you take away? Would you do anything different next time?

Conclusion

Studying in another country can definitely have amazing employment benefits, but employers will not automatically assume that you have gained anything unless you can tell a story. Making sure that you can describe an extended time abroad full of unique experiences where you have sharpened skills that employers are seeking will make all the difference.

References

  1. Career Readiness Is Integral to the Liberal Arts
  2. What Employers Really Value in Students Who Study Abroad
This article is part of the U.S. People with Disabilities Education Abroad Pathway.

And that concludes our survey of the education abroad field! It really is quite broad! After you have tested your knowledge, we move on to what happens after you have chosen the type of experience that interests you, which is preparation.


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Next: Preparing to Go Abroad Module

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