Interning abroad is an excellent way to gain legit professional experience while simultaneously knocking out some college credit and traveling. Win-wins are great. Win-win-wins are even greater. Imagine showing up to your first day in an office just off the Mediterranean in Barcelona. Or lunch breaks in the Luxembourg gardens because the office is a stone-throw away in the center of Paris. How about strolling through the concrete jungle of Hong Kong on your way home? Interning abroad can be huge for both your personal and professional lives. It’s a shameless way to enter a new domain and sometimes is the start of a new career (maybe even your first!).

Whether you’re hot off the press from interning abroad or you're contemplating making the move to undertake a new adventure, one important piece of the puzzle to keep in mind is how to update your resume after interning abroad. It might not be so obvious for some (or, y'know, most — writing the perfect resume is difficult!).

Though it should go without saying, your standard resume should not be the same as your resume with international experience. You’ve grown, changed, and now you’re a better you...so too, should your resume! Freshen that bad-boy up to include your new skills and competencies. 

Your intern abroad resume is a few tweaks away from being a-okay. Here’s everything you need to know to start updating your resume after your internship abroad!

Why do future employers care that you have international work experience?

Great question. Why do they care? Well, sorry to spill the beans but the future is both local and global. Not one nor the other independently. (Humbly) Showing off your abroad experiences on your resume will help display your ability to be flexible and open to change. Your intern abroad resume should showcase your cultural competencies along with your cross-cultural communication skills too. 

Whether you know it or not, you honed so many important skills while interning abroad. These nifty new skills are ones that can be translated to many different contexts. Now, it’s your task to figure out how to do just that. Your future employers want to know that you will work well with a diverse team and that you have a sense of culture. Updating your resume after an internship abroad is a must. You don’t want to hide any of those international experiences. Show them what you’ve accomplished to help give an idea of what you’re capable of. It’s also healthy to reflect on our personal evolutions and adding your abroad experience on a resume will help you do just that.

10 ways to highlight international experience on your resume

...though there are many more than ten, my friend. This is to help get you started with updating your resume after your internship abroad!

1. Identify transferable skills

This is so important. You have a freshly polished skill set and now it’s up to you to transfer those skills to the positions you are applying for. For example, you can communicate with a host of people. Let this competency shine on your intern abroad resume. “Communicated in both English and Italian with colleagues on a daily basis,” for example.

2. Showcase culture-specific experiences and interactions

Who did you intern alongside? Were you in a multicultural professional environment? Or were you with only the Spanish while interning in Santiago? Think about the stories you lived outside of the professional context as well. Did you live with a host family? All of these experiences are gold on your resume. You’ve mined the goods so now you simply need to display them.

3. Describe your language experience

This can be a simple, short section at the bottom of your resume with international experience. Being multilingual is a major asset. Think about something like...English: Native Language. French: B2 level. Mandarin: Beginner. Show what you’ve got up your sleeves.

4. Display technical skills obtained (both in and out of the office)

Think about what you might have planned or organized in your personal life while you were interning abroad. What about that awesome weekend when you took trains, planes, and maybe an autorickshaw? You made it back unscathed and had the time of your life. You can organize and successfully execute multi-destination getaways. Those organizational skills are highly sought in the workforce. Tell a bit of your story to help portray your assets when updating your resume after your internship abroad.

5. Quantify your tasks

When explaining your professional experiences, it’s safe to always start with action verbs. Now were talking more of an achievement-oriented resume with international experience if anyone asks. Check out this article on 3 Steps to Include Study Abroad on Your Resume to give you an idea. Collaborated, communicated, organized, wrote, etc. Consider the tense that you write in as well and make it uniform throughout your document. You know what you did (;

6. Soft-skills

Soft-skills are those which relate to your personal attributes. This is where you can honk your own horn. These skills are how you work and relate with others. For lack of better words, soft-skills are your people-skills. Think about how you interact, communicate, and relate to others. These are oh-so important skills that you employ in nearly every aspect of your life. If your internship involved any sort of teaching, this article is just for you. 

7. Show results

Explain what you’ve done—of course! But you should also consider explaining the results, or the fruit of your labor. It’s one thing to do something. It’s another thing to do something successfully with stellar results. We want to know how you performed; focus on your outcomes when updating your resume after your internship abroad.

8. Get specific

To say that you’re this, that, and the other isn’t enough. Get specific about your experiences and personality. To simply say that you are motivated is not enough. Say that you’re motivated but then follow-up with a concrete example. Maybe you left for Central America barely able to mutter hola but by the end of your experience you were able to converse during those company meetings. Your determination and diligence really pulled through with this one.  

9. Forget those recommendations

Save the space when you’re updating that resume after an internship. Don’t bother adding those references or that silly “References Available Upon Request” phrase. You can talk about this during an interview. Your prospective employer will certainly ask if they are interested in contacting a few of your references. Fill your resume with more relevant information about yourself rather than a pointless phrase that consumes some of your precious resume real-estate. 

10. Proofread your resume

Proofread it, read it forward, then read it backwards. Take a walk and then come back and read this baby out loud. Have mom and dad look at it. Ask your professional advisor to give it a good, hard look. Proofreading your resume is crucial. You can put together the bestest of an intern abroad resume but a simple their v. there mistake looks less than ideal. There’s no excuse for incorrect grammar and spelling. Being called for an interview is half the battle. Make a lasting first impression. Your attention to those nitty-gritty details will shine through with this crucial element.

Pro tip: Keep your travel spirit alive—add more international experience to your resume!

Once you start, it’s difficult to stop! Traveling that is. Keep that post-travel energy alive and consider more international experiences. There are thousands of internships abroad. And with your newly updated resume with international experience you’re a more competitive candidate. Having your resume ready at a moment’s notice will save you time and stress.

Have a look at your growing list of competencies and find that next international experience that will further sharpen your resume with international experience. Keep these skills and tools in mind while at home and abroad as networking cards in your back pocket.

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That internship abroad on your resume looks gooooood 

So, now you know how to include international experience on your resume, and you’re ready to apply for bigger and better positions both near and abroad. Updating your resume after an internship abroad will have you locked and loaded for that next perfect position. Just. For. You.

Create yourself a better and brighter future and never look back. As you gain new experiences your future positions should reflect that, both in your responsibilities and your salary. Being able to appropriately translate your skills and competencies on paper is crucial. Your resume is the first impression that you give to prospective employers. Make it a good one!

Read, edit, and read again that flashy new resume with international experience. With these tips on how to update your resume after interning abroad, you’re ready to roll! Ready, set, add your abroad experience on your resume.

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