Doing an internship abroad was an excellent opportunity to boost my career, perfect a foreign language and give my CV a boost to increase job offers when I return to my home country. If you feel you need relevant work experience that will increase companies’ interest in your CV and you also want to improve your English or other foreign language skills in the workplace, this could be the right option for you. By doing an internship abroad, you will not only improve your language skills, participants always agree that you will also gain confidence, enrich yourself on a personal level, make contacts with professionals from other parts of the world and learn how they think and work in different cultures or companies in your sector at an international level.
The internship abroad helped me to reorient myself and get my first work experience. I familiarised myself with different professions, met new people, and discovered what the new host country could offer me. It is also considered a great addition to your CV, as many companies prefer candidates with this experience. In addition to this, doing an internship abroad is very positive for the start of your career. It increases your chances of success in the increasingly globalised world of work, especially in international companies where this is an attractive prerequisite.
By doing an internship abroad, you have the possibility to work with people from different backgrounds and gain an overview of the economic and cultural aspects of the host country.
Advantages of doing an internship abroad
- You will be able to discover a new country (or more than one) and immerse yourself in its culture.
- Adapting to a foreign culture will make you more flexible and highly adaptable.
- You will get a good insight into the culture and functioning of a company abroad.
- Over the weeks, you will improve your foreign language skills or perfect the ones you already have.
- It is beneficial for your future that you start building up an international network of professional contacts.
- You acquire valuable intercultural skills (also known as “soft skills”) in high demand in companies.
- Being alone abroad, you learn to solve problems on your own. You become much more decisive, much more self-confident, as well as more autonomous.
- You get valuable references for your CV.
Language skills
For most companies abroad, a good level of language skills is a prerequisite for an internship/internship. Especially in English, the language of Shakespeare is nowadays a clear necessity. If you do not have a sufficient level of English for your program, a language course will help you refresh and improve your language skills. An immersion course is also the perfect opportunity to know the country, experience the culture, and meet people before starting your internship.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why you should do your internship abroad, including the career boost it will give you. Besides, if you don’t try to take advantage of this opportunity now, when will you? Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today! As cliché as it may be, it’s one of the best pieces of advice you can get!
Here’s one of the reasons why I chose Estonia: Make your Erasmus internship in Estonia!