One buzzword that anyone dealing with resumes and career paths has come across is so-called international experience. It refers to time spent abroad in school, at university or in a job.

What exactly is meant by international experience?

International experience

This means experience gained far from home in a professional or educational setting, and today it's a must on any resume, because it shows that an applicant has many skills that are in demand on the job market. As far back as the Middle Ages, young people were sent off on the "Walz" (journeyman years) so they could train and mature out in the wide world.
Through international experience, foreign language skills are improved or even acquired for the first time, and you live in another culture, which opens the mind and encourages tolerant attitudes. You develop skills that help your career, because people with this kind of experience find it easier to work in multinational corporations, which always operate in an international environment and rely on flexibility, adaptability and international dialogue.
As an ambitious person, you can't do without it.

Attending schools and universities abroad

International experience

Many students are keen to attend school in other countries, even on other continents. Exchange programs with the United States of America are booming and extremely popular.
At universities, it's practically expected to study a few semesters abroad so you can score points on your curriculum vitae with international experience. Nothing is as sought-after these days as gaining experience abroad during your education, to broaden your horizons and reach new perspectives. Even at such a young age, building blocks of your personality develop that can prove very valuable over the course of your life. Teenagers and young adults learn to be independent early on. They also recognize their strengths and weaknesses sooner, because they're left to rely on themselves.

International experience as a career booster

Only those who can point to experience abroad, during their education or in a professional setting, will make a career.
Because you aren't at home, you're outside the comfort zone of your own four walls, and things work out that you would never otherwise have done or tried.

Advantages that a stay abroad, whether for school or work, brings:

  • international experience
  • personal development
  • improving or acquiring foreign language skills
  • immersion in a foreign culture
  • broadening your horizons
  • acquiring soft skills
  • a plus for your resume
  • global network
  • change of scenery
  • international relationships

What matters most for professional success are the so-called soft skills. They include intercultural competence, tolerance, and the ability to communicate and reflect. Also independence, self-organization, self-confidence, frustration tolerance and adaptability.