Study abroad memories can make for some of the best stories — one part college saga, one part travel tale. What’s not to love?
While a good study abroad yarn can make you the life of a party, it can also go a long way in a professional interview setting. A study abroad experience — or even an adult gap year experience — is a valuable way to stand out from the crowd.
There are several key distinctions between sharing travel stories with your friends versus sharing them with a prospective employer. When reflecting on your favorite study abroad moments, focus on the skills you gained or strengthened.
Not sure where to start? Here are a few ways that your study abroad experience can translate to professional expertise.
Professional Skills Gained from Studying Abroad
1. Cross-cultural communication skills
Travel can strengthen your ability to connect with and work alongside people of different cultures. Whether you took part in an internship abroad, were involved with a volunteer project, or simply made new friends, consider how you used your communication skills to accomplish a shared goal.
Interview Tip: Ask yourself, “How might cross-cultural communication help you in a professional setting? How can you demonstrate your commitment to inclusion and empathy?” Script a response as if the interviewer posed this question and include brief yet specific examples from your study abroad experience.
2. Foreign language skills
For many student travelers, a study abroad trip can be a valuable opportunity to build fluency in a second language.
At your next interview, don’t hesitate to bring up the value of language-learning through immersion. With many companies conducting businesses in multiple countries or working with communities in the U.S. where English isn’t the first language, adaptable candidates with a command of more than one language are in increasingly high demand.
Interview Tip: Be honest about your language skills, both on your resume and in the interview. Are you conversational or truly fluent? Can you speak the language well but are less adept at reading or writing it? If a second language is a key component of the job, you don’t want an exaggeration to land you in hot water later.
3. Conflict resolution
Chances are that you didn’t see eye-to-eye with everyone you met abroad. It could be that you lived with a difficult host family or accidentally offended someone in your second language.
You likely used strategies like concise communication, empathy, and compromise to ensure a safe and fun travel experience. Ultimately, successful travel is all about keeping your cool when things go wrong. Your future boss will appreciate that trait, too!
Interview Tip: Admitting failure in an interview isn’t a bad thing, especially if you can show what you learned from it. And if an employer can’t understand that everyone messes up sometimes, they might not be someone you want to work for anyway.
4. Adaptability
Getting used to a new environment takes time, but when you’re on the road, fast-acting adaptability is key. When you think about it, there are many parallels between exploring an unfamiliar city and navigating a new workplace.
Interview Tip: You’re going to get the question “Tell me about a time something went wrong and how you dealt with it” in interviews. A lot. This is the perfect time to let the adaptability you developed while abroad shine through.
5. Creative problem-solving
Think about that time that you got all mixed up in Tokyo’s subway system. Or when you thought you had taken out enough money to cover your week in Ghana but totally underestimated your expenses.
The same savviness you used to navigate unfamiliar situations will serve you well when a workplace project doesn’t go your way. Your employer will appreciate your flexibility and how easily you can think on your feet.
Interview Tip: One of Seven Corners’ company values is "We innovate.” A lot of organizations have something similar in their own mission statement. Problem solving from your study abroad experience is a great way to show how you can think outside the box to find creative solutions.
6. Organization
There’s nothing like travel to turn an inexperienced college student into a confident, efficient planner. Staying on top of a jam-packed itinerary, managing a budget, making sure nothing gets left behind in hotel rooms, and researching destinations requires both responsibility and timeliness.
Those skills can be easily applied in most entry-level roles, and they’ll serve you well beyond the workplace, too.
Interview Tip: Organizing people is a skill, too. Don’t think you have to have been in an official position of leadership for you to highlight your abilities, though. It could have been something as informal as coordinating a weekend trip to Paris with a couple of friends when you got a break from classes.
7. Risk mitigation
You might have researched the safety of your destination or compared travel insurance plans to ensure you were fully covered before departing. Maybe you took precautions to blend in or opened a new bank account to avoid steep international ATM fees.
Identifying and reducing risk factors is essential in many workplaces and a skill set that employers love to hear about.
Interview Tip: Showing that you know how to identify and assess risk is a great example of awareness, both of yourself and your surroundings. Hiring managers love to see this, especially in someone just starting their career.
8. Financial planning
Let’s face it, studying abroad is expensive. Unless you had a family member or a generous scholarship to cover the costs, you likely had to do some serious number-crunching to make your study abroad dreams into a financial reality.
Interview Tip: Don’t share your financial situation with your potential employer. You can, however, talk to them about how you managed your budget or the steps you took to work or fundraise to pay for your study abroad trip. It not only shows your ability to manage money, but also how goal-oriented you are.
STAR Interview Technique for Study Abroad
Once you’ve identified your top skills, it’s time to tell your story. If you’re stumped about where to begin, try the STAR interview response technique.
A much-loved interviewing strategy, the STAR method breaks a response into four essential components: situation, task, action, result. Here are two examples — one from studying fashion in Italy, another from an internship in Mexico — showing how you might use the STAR method in an interview to tell a compelling study abroad story.
Situation: Fashion merchandising in Italy
During my semester in Italy, I took several classes on fashion merchandising and design. Although my program had several planned tours at brands like Versace and Prada, I was surprised to find that we would have very limited exposure to runway shows.
Task: Plan an extracurricular trip to Berlin
I knew that Berlin fashion week would be coming up, so I decided to contact several friends from my program to see if they’d be interested in traveling to the event with me. Before I knew it, we had a group of 10 and just under five weeks to plan our trip.
Action: Budget and organize a group trip
I first gathered everyone’s budget requirements and compiled it all into a shared spreadsheet. I researched the cheapest transportation options and low-cost lodging. Within a week, I’d developed an itinerary for our group.
Result: Improved time- and financial-management skills
The four-day trip I planned was an excellent opportunity for our group to engage with the international fashion scene. We were under budget, able to attend all the events we had planned, and we still had time to explore Berlin. The trip was instrumental in building my time- and financial-management skills, while solidifying the value of international travel in the fashion industry.
Here’s another example. I had earned an internship with a non-profit organization in Monterrey, Mexico. My work was with the organization’s education initiative, which centered on after-school enrichment programs. I’d be leading a group of American volunteers, connecting them with Mexican youth through games and group activities.
Situation: Boldly taking a nonprofit internship abroad
I was incredibly excited about the opportunity to work abroad, but my Spanish at the time was mediocre at best. Most of the volunteers were my parents’ age. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to connect with them or the teens.
Task: Learn to lead quickly
Most importantly, I needed to brush up on my Spanish so I’d be able to work successfully with other staff and kids in the program. I needed to do this quickly on top of earning money for the trip while continuing to go to school. Although food and housing would be provided by the organization, I’d need to budget for a pricey set of plane tickets to Monterrey.
Action: Research and save with focused intention
The months leading up to Mexico were spent working extra shifts at my restaurant job, cutting out little luxuries to save money, and pouring over Spanish grammar drills. I also needed to update my work wardrobe to be sure I could dress appropriately for the culture and research Monterrey so I’d be ready to immerse myself in the city where’d I’d be spending my summer.
Result: Improved leadership and gained understanding of nonprofit operations
I leaned into the expertise of Mexican and American staff members. With their guidance, I learned how best to work with difficult guests or troubled teens. I gained a better understanding of my ability to lead others, and I learned when to ask questions and when to improvise.
My internship abroad helped me recognize how effective international organizations can be when they engage with local leadership. I was able to see how carefully Mexican staff members worked to educate American volunteers on the cultural and socio-economic challenges facing the area. As an intern, I participated in trauma care training, discussions on culture shock, and frank conversations about the inequities that shaped the community. My internship experience gave me a more holistic knowledge of the nonprofit sector and helped me recognize the value of transparency in organizations of any size.
Find More Smart Study Abroad Tips
By framing your favorite international travel memories as transferrable professional skills, you can make an unforgettable first impression on a future employer. International travel requires flexibility, adaptability, curiosity, and resolve — essential skills in any workplace.
Using your study abroad experience to your advantage will help you stand out, no matter where your ambition may lead you.
Get more tips for smart travel at the Seven Corners blog. And don’t forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter, The Wayfinder.
