K Story Guide – Study Abroad

LET’S TALK ABOUT your study abroad experience:

Studying abroad is an opportunity for you to travel to another country with the intention of learning from the people and communities there. It is a way for you to fully immerse yourself in a new culture, which encourages you to learn how to quickly adapt to a country’s environment, cultural norms, language, etc. With this skill of adaptability, studying abroad allows you to discover new horizons and have a better understanding of what it means to be a guest in another country.

LET’S TALK ABOUT the transferable skills acquired:

  1. Career and Self-Development: While studying abroad, you may complete an internship/ICRP where you work directly with people from the community. During this internship, you learn more about your desired field of work. Also, by working in such an unfamiliar environment, you become more confident in your abilities to navigate through different situations, such as reaching out to people on tasks that need to be completed. Your internship gives you a better understanding on how to navigate the professional world, especially when you must do this in a language you are still learning.
  2. Communication: When studying abroad in a non-English-speaking country, one of your main goals may be to improve your language skills. Even in countries where English is the dominant language, you may find that your intercultural communications skills improve as there may be situations, particularly if you live with a host family. In this way, you gain more confidence in the language and make connections with people in a more intimate way than you would by only learning it in a classroom setting. You may find that your non-verbal communication also improves, as there may be situations where you are unsure how to communicate verbally in the language you are learning.
  3. Critical Thinking: Studying abroad requires you to be open-minded to different perspectives. You will find that living abroad makes you more aware of how the rest of the world perceives the U.S. and Americans. This also makes you aware of what it means to be American in a different country and be more cautious of the impression of Americans you are leaving on locals. Studying abroad requires you to problem-solve quickly, especially in situations of miscommunication. This may include decoding different connotations of words/terms, especially in a political sense. Many students find that these situations of miscommunication make them think of different ways to navigate their projects.
  4. Leadership: If you are completing an internship/ICRP and/or a major project while studying abroad, it requires you to organize and manage your own independent work. You must be able to talk about your project in depth, as you may have to create an important presentation related to it to present to your class or other people in your potential field of work. When you lead your own projects, it increases your confidence in a cultural setting as you become more accustomed to cultural norms by putting yourself in situations outside of your comfort zone.
  5. Professionalism: For those who participate in an internship/ICRP while abroad as it requires you to be more mindful of cultural norms, which may include being more modest in the presence of elders. More generally, you are exposed to being a “professional,” mature student in a new place with a distinct culture related to academics and work conventions.

LET’S TALK ABOUT sample resume action statements:

  • Establish professional relationships with mentors.
  • Collaborate with community partners.
  • Create a project that will fulfill the community’s needs.
  • Foster a safe environment for children’s development.
  • Establish rapport with people in potential field of work.
  • Establish relationships with community partners/universities.
  • Evaluate preexisting beliefs and values in a different context.
  • Manage a long-term project.
  • Develop language/interpersonal skills.
  • Develop intercultural skills.
  • Conduct research in an unfamiliar environment.

CCPD TIPS

Behavioral Interview Prompts:

Employers often ask questions about how you responded to specific situations.


For example:

  • Tell me about a time when you experienced a conflict while working on a team.
  • Describe a time when you had to work well under pressure.
  • Give me an example of a time when you showed initiative and took the lead.
  • Tell me about a time when you made a mistake, and how you handled it.


S.T.A.R. METHOD

You can use STAR as a framework to structure your response to behavioral
interview questions.

  • Describe the context and background for a Situation that’s relevant to the question.
  • Explain the Task that needed to be completed. What was the goal?
  • Outline specific Actions you took. How did you exhibit transferable skills?
  • Share the Results of your actions. What was the outcome? What did you learn?