An internship program is an avenue that allows employers to recruit scholars interested in gaining work experience (in relation to their course of study) in their industry. It serves as a medium to build students in a way that makes them understand the application of their course of study to the real world. For better experience and valuation, it has always been and will continue to be a good idea to intern outside your country. In this article, I will be letting you in on the importance and benefits of undergoing your internship program abroad.
Benefits of Interning Abroad
Improves cross-cultural skills
Often time, you get to work alongside local employers (especially those who don’t speak English), by mixing with them, you have a great chance of learning not just a different language, but sets of different skills (including inter-cultural skills). There is no way you intern abroad, regardless of the country, industry, enterprise, you are bound to acquire inter-personal and social skills because almost every job requires these attributes.
Personal Development
The idea of you arranging for internship visa, accommodation, and academic credits from your home university tells you that you’re more or less going on a journey alone. On arriving at your new abode, you see the need to blend in and accustom yourself to the requirements of your environment. You continue to acclimatize, thus, indirectly developing yourself personally.
Better Connection
This is as straightforward as it sounds and it goes all the way back to your relationship with others. Interning outside your country provides you with the opportunity to link up with various international contacts and by this, you get to have access to leads as regards new job opportunities in your field before and after the internship. For example, if you have a job offer requesting a recommendation letter, you can easily reach out to your series of contacts to ask for help.
Gain New Experience
Another benefit of interning abroad is the fact that it makes you acquire a variety of new experience different from the common ones you already have. I believe no one knows it all and the special sets of skills you acquire during an internship can go a long way in making you stand out from others. Most employers look out for graduates with at least some level of experience in the field than someone with no shred of experience at all.
Improve Academic Result
This is one benefit I love sharing with everyone because it changed my academic story. I had my internship in London (despite being a citizen of Kuwait and this really helped my academics. Before the internship, academically, I was a “weakling” but upon my arrival, everything changed. I defended my internship beautifully (thanks to a wonderful internship experience abroad) and got an excellent grade that boosted my result. Since then, I’ve always implored every student to get the best out of their internship (home or abroad).
Finally, having your internship abroad is quite within your reach because wherever you are, you are surrounded by amazing countries. Countries like China, London, Argentina, India, just to mention a few have wonderful industries that can provide you with the best of an internship experience. Interning abroad might be expensive but I guarantee you an invaluable level of skill acquisition and experience.
