International students have particular experiences and skills that make them stand out in a crowd when searching for employment.
Finding a job can be a challenge, so when you write your resume and meet employers, it’s important to remember the positives that make you especially valuable to a business.
Here are four secret advantages that you can highlight when talking to employers.
1. You bring difference
As an international student, you will bring new ideas and different perspectives into your workplace – contributing to a company’s diversity. Studies show that diverse organisations are more innovative, and more likely to see higher-than-average profits.
2. You are committed
An employer might assume that an international student isn’t going to stick around in the job for very long. The truth is that you’ve dared to venture away from friends and family because of how committed you are to finding new opportunities. You’ve had to make many sacrifices and face many challenges in order to be here – that’s because you are passionate and motivated!
3. You have ‘cultural capital’
You are probably bilingual, and/or you have specialised knowledge of overseas markets and trends – this makes you incredibly valuable to an employer. Australia has lower rates of bilingualism than other countries, so the fact that you can speak more than one language can make you very valuable to a company that works with overseas markets. The same goes for having a special knowledge of the culture, economy or work practices of another region. As an international student, you’ll help your employer be competitive in a global economy and to communicate with overseas markets or clients.
4. You are really mature
Perhaps most importantly, international students have to grow up quickly. You have to do it all yourself – move away from the comforts of home, get through university by yourself and in the process, become highly independent.
You have learned resilience, good work ethics, as well as an ability to work with people who are different from you. This means you won’t fall to pieces when things go wrong; you’ll be a self-sufficient employee who can work well with others and see things through to the end.
Now, what employer wouldn’t want all that!
