Global Employability

Why undertake work abroad?

Choosing to work or study overseas as part of your degree or outside it helps to broaden your horizons and allows you to gain new perspectives. Being able to travel to another part of the world and explore a new country/region develops different life skills as well as building confidence. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to make new friends from all walks of life and build a global network. Many students find their time abroad to be a life-changing and rewarding experience. It’s a time for self-discovery as well as personal development.

In today's increasingly global marketplace, employers are seeking candidates with soft skills that can mainly be gained by overseas employment experience. A Confederation of British Industry study found that employers identified a skills gap with 39% identifying intercultural awareness as a weakness for graduate job seekers and research carried out by the UUKi in their Gone International Report 2018 has shown that spending time abroad has a positive impact on your degree and job prospects.

Overseas work experience demonstrates to prospective employers your adaptability, independence, resilience, flexibility, multicultural and global awareness. The skills and knowledge you acquire through your academic work are important, but in the workplace it will be important to be able to work with multicultural teams, accept differing work practices and have an awareness of how businesses operate globally.

The good news is that working abroad does not always mean you need to speak another language!

Support for work abroad

• If you are looking to work abroad outside your degree and need some help, please visit Help with finding work outside the UK.
• For all work placement students, i.e., those looking to undertake or are undertaking a work placement abroad as part of their programme/module, please refer to our Work abroad placements sharepoint site for more information.
• To request one of these documents, please click on the relevant document (Convention de stage or Convenio) and submit the form. We will then be in contact with your completed document and instruction on the next steps in this process. Please note, the Convenio and Convention de Stage agreements can only be issued to current students.   
• If you have any further questions, please email Zuzanna Radecka (Z.Radecka@exeter.ac.uk).