By Brooke:
Be sure to also use your Cover Letter to your advantage. While your resume acts as a snapshot of who you are, the Cover Letter is your most effective platform to sell yourself to the employer, explain why you're a good fit for the company, and most importantly what you bring to the position. Focusing on the skills you learned abroad not only makes for a great paragraph to your Cover Letter, but it also sets you apart and helps the recruiter to remember your unique experience. Be sure to downplay the fun you had and the memories you made abroad, and instead focus on those hard transferable skills you gained as a result such as adaptability, communication, and critical thinking.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Resume
By Brooke:
Due to the mass recruiting styles recently adopted by several major companies, it is hard to set oneself apart in a pile of literally hundreds of resumes. However, listing your international experience on your resume allows you to differentiate yourself from the get-go. There are several ways in which you can frame your experience abroad but the key is to be brief, but effective. The following are some guidelines to follow.
Due to the mass recruiting styles recently adopted by several major companies, it is hard to set oneself apart in a pile of literally hundreds of resumes. However, listing your international experience on your resume allows you to differentiate yourself from the get-go. There are several ways in which you can frame your experience abroad but the key is to be brief, but effective. The following are some guidelines to follow.
- Clearly explain where you were, what you did, when you went, and how long you were there.
- Employers are not always going to understand what studying abroad entails so spell it out for them as clearly and as briefly as possible so it is easy for them to scan over it quickly.
- Decide which heading under which your experience best fits.
- You can put your abroad experience under Education, Work Experience (if job held while abroad), Experiential Learning/Leadership, or under a separate heading labeled "International Experience." Decide which one best fits your own experience as well as the job for which you are applying.
- Add a bit about what you accomplished.
- Employers who have not studied abroad typically do not know much about it and will sometimes assume that candidates who have studied abroad only did so to go on vacation or to party. Combat this notion with two or three concrete accomplishments that came about from your experience.
Examples include:
- Participated in Marine Biology research laboratory for 20 hours/wk for 9 weeks in Newcastle, Australia.
- Completed International Marketing report on wine production in Italy after a tour of a prominent winery in Naples.
- Presented a Poverty Profile on Morocco after a visit to the World Bank Office in Rabat.
Unpacking
Although the majority of this book is for students, the following section may be more useful to study abroad professionals and offices. You can still read it if you are a student...or don't....I don't care.
Three objectives of unpacking:
1. Help students make critical connections in context of career preparation.
2. Challenge the meaningfulness of a study abroad experience by probing deeper into the ways it may have helped students academically, culturally, professionally, and personally.
3. Help students find confident ways to articulate the skills and knowledge they developed more effectively.
The main idea we promote through these sessions is "you always learn something." At the beginning we establish that unpacking requires deep reflection of the experience. The deep reflection leads the students to connecting experience with learning, instead of unconsciously separating academic and non-academic. This is handy in education abroad since the majority of study abroad programs tend to be experiential. We start the unpacking sessions by looking back at the goals of the programs, which were established in pre-departure. Then we stress how this process is really about discovering skills gained, such as those listed in previous posts. Finally, we split the group into small groups and present a series of questions for discussion such as: Were there aspects of the culture you found frustrating or difficult to adjust to? Our questions were formed for unpacking a short-term program. Semester program questions would need to be worded differently. After the small group discussion, we bring all the students back together to discuss the topic and see if there are patterns. Then we examine how these patterns translate into common skills gained. We wrap up the session by sharing our favorite memory from the program. This usually turns into an informal conversation about how great the program was. At this point, we let the students take over and talk as long as they wish.
Three objectives of unpacking:
1. Help students make critical connections in context of career preparation.
2. Challenge the meaningfulness of a study abroad experience by probing deeper into the ways it may have helped students academically, culturally, professionally, and personally.
3. Help students find confident ways to articulate the skills and knowledge they developed more effectively.
The main idea we promote through these sessions is "you always learn something." At the beginning we establish that unpacking requires deep reflection of the experience. The deep reflection leads the students to connecting experience with learning, instead of unconsciously separating academic and non-academic. This is handy in education abroad since the majority of study abroad programs tend to be experiential. We start the unpacking sessions by looking back at the goals of the programs, which were established in pre-departure. Then we stress how this process is really about discovering skills gained, such as those listed in previous posts. Finally, we split the group into small groups and present a series of questions for discussion such as: Were there aspects of the culture you found frustrating or difficult to adjust to? Our questions were formed for unpacking a short-term program. Semester program questions would need to be worded differently. After the small group discussion, we bring all the students back together to discuss the topic and see if there are patterns. Then we examine how these patterns translate into common skills gained. We wrap up the session by sharing our favorite memory from the program. This usually turns into an informal conversation about how great the program was. At this point, we let the students take over and talk as long as they wish.
S.T.A.R. Example
This S.T.A.R. story reenforces skills such as: Leadership, Team-work, German Language, Communication, Problem Solving, Self-reliance, Adaptability.
This S.T.A.R. story reenforces skills such as: Leadership, Team- work, German Language, Communication, Problem Solving, Self- reliance, Adaptability.
Situation: After a weekend trip to Munich, three friends and I were traveling by train back to Berlin. In order to save money we pur- chased train passes for regional trains, which involved a lot of transfers throughout the trip. We made it back to Dresden just fine, however none of the trains from Dresden to Berlin were regional. Therefore our passes didn’t work. We did not have much time to explore options, so we jumped on the first train to Berlin. Being ex- perienced travelers, we knew there would be an attendant selling tickets on the train. So,
Task: We needed to purchase new passes or tickets on the train. We could have waited for the attendant to find us, but we thought it may benefit us in the long run to be proactive and find the atten- dant first. (there can be large fines, or expensive tickets, for not hav- ing the appropriate passes for a train).
Action: We found a somewhat empty space on one of the cars and decided that the girls would watch all of our luggage while an- other guy and I ran around the train to get tickets. We started walk- ing towards the front, and we found an older German lady with a handheld ticket printer/credit card scanner. My friend approached her first and began a conversation in English; this was not well re- ceived judging by the look on her face. When I got close enough to talk, I opened with “Guten Tag, wie gehts Ihnen heute?” Yea, I speak German. Also, I used the formal ‘Ihnen’ which presented the most respect possible. She seemed to lighten up after that greeting. I showed her our passes, explained we were with two other peo- ple, and discussed our options for tickets. The train was heading to the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin, but was stopping at a few places in the city before that. If we opted to get off at one of these stops the tickets would be cheaper.
Result: We bought tickets for an earlier stop in Berlin, which were cheaper but still got us within the city. To end the conversation, I said something like “Vielen Dank! Wir sind nur amerikanishe stu- denten, und wir wissen nicht viel.” She seemed to find it quite humorous and smiled, which is something rarely seen by German train employees.
This S.T.A.R. story reenforces skills such as: Leadership, Team- work, German Language, Communication, Problem Solving, Self- reliance, Adaptability.
Situation: After a weekend trip to Munich, three friends and I were traveling by train back to Berlin. In order to save money we pur- chased train passes for regional trains, which involved a lot of transfers throughout the trip. We made it back to Dresden just fine, however none of the trains from Dresden to Berlin were regional. Therefore our passes didn’t work. We did not have much time to explore options, so we jumped on the first train to Berlin. Being ex- perienced travelers, we knew there would be an attendant selling tickets on the train. So,
Task: We needed to purchase new passes or tickets on the train. We could have waited for the attendant to find us, but we thought it may benefit us in the long run to be proactive and find the atten- dant first. (there can be large fines, or expensive tickets, for not hav- ing the appropriate passes for a train).
Action: We found a somewhat empty space on one of the cars and decided that the girls would watch all of our luggage while an- other guy and I ran around the train to get tickets. We started walk- ing towards the front, and we found an older German lady with a handheld ticket printer/credit card scanner. My friend approached her first and began a conversation in English; this was not well re- ceived judging by the look on her face. When I got close enough to talk, I opened with “Guten Tag, wie gehts Ihnen heute?” Yea, I speak German. Also, I used the formal ‘Ihnen’ which presented the most respect possible. She seemed to lighten up after that greeting. I showed her our passes, explained we were with two other peo- ple, and discussed our options for tickets. The train was heading to the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin, but was stopping at a few places in the city before that. If we opted to get off at one of these stops the tickets would be cheaper.
Result: We bought tickets for an earlier stop in Berlin, which were cheaper but still got us within the city. To end the conversation, I said something like “Vielen Dank! Wir sind nur amerikanishe stu- denten, und wir wissen nicht viel.” She seemed to find it quite humorous and smiled, which is something rarely seen by German train employees.
Skill Lists
IndependenceConfidence
Problem Solving
Communication
Adaptability
Self-reliance
Enthusiasm
Appreciation of diversity
Perseverance
Open-mindedness
Assertiveness
Or if you would like to opt for phrases rather than single words:
Sensitivity to cultural differences
Proficiency in another language
Ability to identify and achieve goals
Increased self-awareness
Improved organizational skills
Increased patience
Learn through listening and observing
Establish rapport quickly
Take risks
Take initiative
Handle difficult situations
Cope with rejection
Around our study abroad center we use the term "transferrable skills" and stick with a set like this:
Communication
Interpersonal
Organizational
Intrapersonal
Adaptability
Leadership
Problem Solving
Assertiveness
Motivation
Willingness to learn
Teamwork
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sources
1. The Brand Called You - Fast Company
2. What A Personal Brand is NOT - Tom Peters
3. Iowa State University Study Abroad Center and their Video.
4. Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Charactersat a Time - Mark W. Schaefer
5. Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Rein-vent Yourself (2nd edition) - Erik Decker and Kyle Lacy
6. Building - by Brooke Barker
7. Skills, Failure, Branding, Final Thoughts - by Devon ‘BiL’ Bilsing
2. What A Personal Brand is NOT - Tom Peters
3. Iowa State University Study Abroad Center and their Video.
4. Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Charactersat a Time - Mark W. Schaefer
5. Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Rein-vent Yourself (2nd edition) - Erik Decker and Kyle Lacy
6. Building - by Brooke Barker
7. Skills, Failure, Branding, Final Thoughts - by Devon ‘BiL’ Bilsing
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