Trail To Employment – Applicant Skills Series
In this final post of the series, we consider the role played by mobility. Global experience – the contact with other peoples and cultures around the world – is commonly praised as an aid to gain new skills and access to career opportunities. Nevertheless, the results of employer interviews ELM conducted within the CICan Innovation Fund Project showed that international experience did not cut the top-ranking criteria valued by employers. What does that tell us about the employer’s perspective on studying abroad and going on an exchange?
Employers did not seem to be interested in the mobility experience itself. What they care to know is how your mobility did not only open the door of the host country but also a window of opportunity for you. The argument is that mobility helps you to develop exactly the skills employers are looking for: Communication; Adaptability; Problem-solving; Teamwork; and Time- and Self-management. Hence, studying in another country must be presented as an employability-related action instead of simply ‘something extra’ you have done. You can demonstrate that going abroad maximised your employability by making the following connection: (a) An activity you engaged in within the host country linked to (b) an element of the job description you are applying for. Additionally, students may connect their experiences abroad to either the profile described in the job posting or the mission of the company they are applying to. Let’s draft two examples which graduate job seekers can use as a general framework to customise using the gained experience and examples.
The First Example: law student transitioning to immigrant advisor
You are a law student who goes for an exchange, during which you join an ethnic/cultural student association in the host city. For the sake of an example, say you join the Eastern European Students Association (EESA). You choose to be part of the cultural committee of the association, in which you must organise a series of events. These include a welcoming event, plus a series of art-, food- and custom-related events throughout the exchange. Other than the goal of the association, which is to foster a sense of belonging, the cultural committee in specific promotes the heritage and traditions of the ethnic group. You graduated and are interested in a position at Borderless as an Immigration Advisor. Here are some items that could be included in your cover letter:
- Firstly, the company’s mission is to reduce the UK’s labour shortage with overseas talented workers, so borders are no longer barriers. For that reason, they created an immigration technology platform which smoothens both the immigration and job-hunting process. By participating in EESA’s team, you became acquainted with immigrant experiences and struggles in the job market and became committed to the same values.
- Secondly, the vacancy requires relocating, which you have former experience with and would gladly do so again for the position.
- Thirdly, thanks to your academic background, you have gained technical knowledge in improving the content of visa applications, permanent resident cards, employment authorization documents – as well as other immigration-related documents.
- Fourthly, the responsibilities and tasks you were assigned in EESA’s team taught you how to guide, support and advise newcomers in a foreign country, providing them with sources and guidance.
- As a result of studying abroad and joining EESA’s team, you were allowed to learn how to clearly and effectively communicate immigration matters and became passionate about helping people in the immigration journey.
The Second Example: communications student
You are a communications student doing a joint master’s degree, spending half of your degree in your own country and the rest in the host country. You are thus introduced to different academic approaches and the focus between publicity and leadership. During your time abroad you decide to join the European Student Network of your host city. You choose community-building projects such as excursions, movie nights and volunteering activities. You graduated and are interested in a junior HR position at the Word Economic Forum aiming to reset the ‘People Agenda’ and bring people together at the Forum. Here are some items that could be included in your cover letter:
- Firstly, the company’s mission is meaningfully connecting stakeholders to establish trust and build initiatives in cooperation and progress. By participating in ESN you became committed to the value of building bridges between different people.
- Secondly, the vacancy requires relocating, which you have former experience with and would gladly do again for the position.
- Thirdly, thanks to your academic background, you have gained knowledge of project management tools, market trends, and the production of deliverables. Spending your degree under the guidance of different higher education institutions also gave you alternative methods to handle recruitment, administration, training and other HR-related responsibilities.
- Fourthly, the responsibilities and tasks you were assigned in ESN taught you how to be pragmatic and results-driven, as well as manage risks and issues within projects.
- As a result of studying abroad and joining ESN’s student team, you were allowed to work in a diverse team within which you developed projects and communicated their status, following up on them and coordinating with other people.
Marketing your skills in a way employers understand:
In a job interview, an applicant should emphasise how mobility sharpened your professional skills* and how are those skills beneficial to the role you are applying to. This blog post series looked at five skills – Communication, Adaptability, Problem-solving, Teamwork, and Time- and Self-management – that employers currently seek. As we tried to indicate, the position at Borderless is for someone who can collaborate with and support newcomers, while the position at the World Economic Forum is for someone who can communicate effectively with a diverse set of stakeholders. Both descriptions fall within the five top-ranked skills of the CICan Innovation Fund Project. If you want to learn more about the world of work, stay tuned for future blogs!
*Professional skills are also called soft skills, transversal skills, 21st century skills, etc, but to us the better term is Professional Skills, because they get you hired.
Blog post written by Athina Tzanetou for Expertise in Labour Mobility
Images by Jizelle Ys for CareerProfessor.works
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