BENEFITS OF WORKING ABROAD

When you are learning a new language you are also learning about a new culture. Cultures include ways of talking, behaving, and working. Working with people with different habits and values can add an extra layer of understanding to your learning. This is because the workplace is a social environment where communication is essential. 

Traveling to immerse yourself in a new culture and to boost your progress in your learning is a clever idea. However, you are more likely to only enjoy half of the experience because you may often be seen only as a tourist. Immersion is not about visiting, but more about sharing locals’ everyday life. And what most people on earth do during the day? They work. When you are going abroad the workplace is one of the best places to meet and get close to people. Sharing the same life will help break the ice between you, the foreigner, and them. Work change your status, from a tourist to a team member. This is a whole different perspective. 

Experiencing working abroad for a period of time will open many doors to you, personally and professionally. The challenges you will face abroad will be similar and different from those in your home country. However, the benefits from them can be twice as big. This article will put light on some of the reasons why you should take this opportunity. 

1. It increases your value 

Working abroad can make you stand apart from the crowd in the eyes of employers. Having been hired abroad, having worked in different conditions, following different rules and managing the potential handicap of the language barrier will intrigue any employer. 

Adaptability is one of the main qualities you need to be able to work abroad. If your journey was successful then no one could doubt you can adjust to any situation. This experience speaks for you to testify you have what all employers are looking for.

2. It helps your personal growth 

Some skills can only be learned the hard way. No matter how prepared you are, going to live, and above all work abroad will remain a big jump in the unknown. Reality is often different from theories and all the storied you may have read and heard have their very own perspective. You will not live the same experience as your friends or colleague. Therefore, you will learn about yourself and develop assets not necessarily similar. 

Working abroad is a chance to grow your professional capacities and personal ones as well. In some cultures, when the clock rings you leave everything and enjoy your free time. But, in other cultures, you are expected to bring your work at home. The different approaches regarding the management of time can also differ from one place to another. You may find yourself picking up habits that make your life easier but you found awkward in your home country before. Only the experience abroad can make you discover those little things about you, your environment, and the world.

3. It makes you pick up skills

• When you work abroad, the challenges are different like in any new company, except that this time it includes the work culture and the outside culture. You don’t have your landmarks and if you had prepared some you most likely found out there were not enough. In a foreign country, you have to address situations differently and with practice, you will more and more easily think outside your cultural box. 
• In the process of adjusting to a new international work environment, you will find yourself improvising considerably. There is a lot of new information to process and not always time for you to sit down and made an analogy with what you have learned back home. Being thrown in the water may be uncomfortable but you will learn how to think fast, be concise, and find the right words as well as providing solutions. Working abroad is a real test on yourself especially the first time.  
• Starting from zero in a new country will awake some primitive instincts of cautiousness. Even the boldest person will quickly learn the importance of listening and observing what is going on around him/her. This is the only way to understand how to enter a new system, find his/her place in an environment she.he has not been raised in. 
• Team building skills are usually the ones that are the most affected by cultural differences. If you have never been in a situation where your culture, with its approach and way of thinking, is not dominant then working abroad will reveal new managerial skill sets in you. Learning how to work together through differences in a foreign office will probably be one of the most valuable lessons in your professional journey. 

4. It teaches you different languages

Your colleagues would certainly be the best allies in your journey. Some may have been foreigners too and others will just not let down a new team member. Surrounding yourself with this group of established professionals is a great way to dive into this new culture. 

Unless you have had native speakers friend you used to talk with often in your home country, you can’t never really assess your level until you have to make yourself understood quickly and smoothly in another country. When a foreign language is the only way for you to communicate you will develop mechanisms to pick up native words, expressions, and pronunciations you may have struggled with before. In a foreign workplace you are not expected to speak but to communicate efficiently a message. Once you would overcome difficulties you did even know existed before, and successfully expressed yourself to culturally different people, Your communication skills, in general, would have leveled up like never before. Being bilingual is actually proven to make you smarter. 

The difference between studying or simply living abroad and working abroad also lies in the type of language you will practice. Moreover, switching from formal to informal style in a foreign language is good for the brain elasticity, especially with cultures that have many nuances in that aspect.  

5. It enhances your resume and extends your professional network

Your time away will never go to waste. With all the new skills you have learned and improved your resume will definitely shine. From soft skills to hard skills and mastering a different language, you will have gathered all that will help get a new job much easier. Once you have worked abroad your interviews won’t be the same so you should prepare yourself to summarize your experience smartly. 

In our global world, having connections is very important to open up more opportunities. A global professional network is even stronger. It can back your resume up and even impress. 

As long as you keep practicing, all jobs can be beneficial to you. If it’s comforting to make friends from your home country, this could be a big mistake that would make you miss all the benefits of the experience abroad. For introverted people, the challenge of going out for a drink after work with the new colleagues can be a tough one. But, this is necessary to learn a different kind of language.

What was your best experience of working abroad?