Resume Writing

Don’t leave out your study abroad experience from your resume and cover letter! It’s not enough to just list your experience. You need to highlight it, along with the skills you developed during your time abroad.

Begin with the cover letter. Your cover letter is the first thing a potential employer reads. This is your opportunity to make a stellar first impression by providing the reader with a motivation for learning more about you. In your cover letter, make sure to draw a link between your experience and your chosen field. Think about how your experience can benefit a professional in that field and develop a strategy to address this in your cover letter. Don’t forget that you have acquired many general, transferable skills that are not purely international, such as problem-solving, adaptability, and independence.

Some of the skills and qualities you may have acquired during your international experience are:

• Adaptability
• Foreign language proficiency
• Flexibility and patience
• Sense of humor
• Ability of function with a high level of ambiguity
• Time management
• Stress management
• Organization
• Listening and observation
• Awareness of global issues
• Increased confidence and independence
• Communicating across language and cultural barriers
• Problem solving skills
• Self-reliance and self-knowledge
• Tolerance/open-mindedness
• Appreciation of diversity
• Assertiveness
• Perseverance
• Independence

For your resume, utilize the Career Center on your campus to learn how to write an effective resume for working here in the U.S. However, make sure you include any accomplishments from your study abroad experience, such as increased language competency, volunteer activities, etc. Make sure to call out the period you spent studying abroad. For example, if you studied abroad in Costa Rica:

Veritas University, San José, Costa Rica
Fall 2004 (9/04-12/04)

• Successfully completed business coursework in Spanish at high intermediate level
• Volunteered at Costa Rican orphanage, working with young children utilizing Spanish language skills
• Adapted to new environments

If you plan on applying for positions abroad, you will need to write your resume in the appropriate style of the country. Some countries require a CV or curriculum vitae rather than a resume. A curriculum vitae is a detailed, lengthy and structured listing of education, publications, projects, awards and work history. In the U.S., these are mainly used in higher education and science. There are books and website references to assist you in this process — see our career resources.