You know that you want to do an internship abroad to build your resume and become a better professional. That’s great! Now all that’s left for you to do is to decide where you want to go. We know that it’s not the easiest decision to make so we’ve come up with this simple guide to help you to choose your favourite location from the all of the best places to intern abroad.
Jot down some reasons why you’re interested in doing an internship abroad.
List your priorities and let those guide you through the process of deciding on an internship location abroad.
Think about what kind of professional experience you want to earn while you’re abroad. Which industries would you like experience in? Now think about if there may be an advantage to working in a specific region within that industry. Do some research about which countries are strong in the industries that you’re most attracted to and take that into consideration.
Adding a foreign language to your experience abroad will make it more challenging but also lead to a greater learning opportunity. If your priority is to learn a second language, think about which language you are interested in learning and where that language is spoken. If you would like to go to a destination where English is spoken, that will also help narrow down your decision.
Where have you gone abroad before? Previous travel experience should also be taken into consideration when deciding on your international internship destination. You may want to go somewhere you’ve never been to before. Similarly, maybe you’re interested in getting to know a place that you’ve visited once before a little better.
Reach out to various people you know who have done internships abroad and see where they went and what they thought of the experience. Ask them about the culture, food, community, customs… You can also do online research to learn about previous experiences people have had. The more people you hear from, the better.
Investigate the internship destinations that interest you the most. Learn a little about the food, lifestyle and local customs. If you think that you may have some strong clashes with a culture, you may want to avoid that region. A passionate vegan may not be as happy in a country full of enthusiastic meat-eaters, for example. Don’t be overly scrupulous, but do think about the fact that there are cultural differences that may deter you from going to certain places.
Now that you’ve done quite a bit of research, narrow down your list of possible destinations to a few different places. Write down the advantages and disadvantages of living in each place.
See which destinations are actually available to you and where you can find an internship. The Intern Group, for example, offers international internships in Madrid, London, Australia, Colombia, New York and Hong Kong – with more destinations in Europe and Asia available soon.
The application process is simple once you’ve decided where to go. Schedule your interview and you’re on your way to a life-changing international experience!
Sources:
Photo 1. by The Intern Group
Photo 2. based on London, by Pedro Szekely, CC-by-SA 2.0
Photo 3. by The Intern Group