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| Jordaan - Amsterdam |
The academic year is slowly but surely
coming to its end. I should be relishing my last couple of months in the
Netherlands but instead I am worrying about my future. The constant worry of
what I’m going to do during my long summer holiday has sort of taken the wind
out of my sails. Like most students, my number one priority is to use the
abundance of time I will have to gain some professional exposure. The overused “you
must get as much work experience as possible – that’s what’ll make you stand
out!” statement resounds in my head. The problem is I have no idea what I want
to do later and in what industry I am aiming to “stand out”. While some people
believe it to be a blessing because I can apply for internships in many fields and
therefore will have better luck getting one, I find it makes the whole process painfully
intimidating. The big bad world of employment is not inviting. Sipping
cocktails and letting the sun bronze my skin is.
Alas I have begun, stroopwafel and tea in hand, the gruelling process of job
applications. I’m trying to sell myself to prospective employers who have most definitely
heard it all before. Strong interpersonal skills, many extracurricular
activities, charity work – not exactly stand-out-from-the-crowd material in
this day and age. However I did feel a sense of pride when adding my Erasmus
exchange in the Netherlands to my CV. After all, I did move to a foreign
country for a year where I didn’t speak the language and to a city I had never
been to before. That’s (fingers crossed) bound to make me stand out.
I am sometimes graced with condescending
comments from friends doing their third year in industry. Yes it’s invaluable for your CV
and you are getting the precious work experience employers are banging on about
but there’s something about living in a foreign country that makes you
extremely adaptable, open-minded and interesting.
The entertaining stories up your sleeve, the confidence to talk to anyone you
cross paths with make you far better company than someone who spent nine months
sat at a desk in a large corporate firm.
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| Reckless behaviour |
Those who believe that visiting and living
in a country are comparable are sorely mistaken. You cannot get out of a holiday what you get
from settling into another country. Granted, you cannot put ‘experience with
opening a foreign bank account’ down as a qualification but the skills you pick
up from living elsewhere will come in handy one day when you will be left to
think on your feet. In most job interviews I have had, the interviewer has been
far more interested in my language skills and the fact that I have lived in
three countries than any of my (not to be subdued) previous job positions. And
that says a lot.
If, however, you were lucky enough to get a
job or an internship in a foreign country for your third year out then you are
on the fast track to success. You also make the rest of us look either boring
for staying close to home or unprofessional for prancing about at another
university for a year. Thanks.
