Many of us have a dream of working abroad, but in most cases, this turns into reality when they are in their 30s or 40s already. The idea of working abroad in your early 20s may not sound interesting for you now, but it should be. There are many things you can get from this experience that can benefit both your personal and professional growth.
Working abroad can help build your character.
When you go abroad for the first time, you will surely be faced with a lot of challenges. You need to learn how to commute in an unfamiliar place, learn a different language, meet people with different characters, and most of all, eat food you are not accustomed to. But when you overcome all these huge changes in your life, you will realize that there is no better character-building exercise than this.
It opens up a lot of new career paths.
In as much as you want to get a job abroad that perfectly matches your desired job, there is still a huge possibility that you will end up with one that is not in line with your career. If you are serious about working overseas, you have to be open to the idea of doing something different. You may even be required to take another course or undergo different training programs to qualify for the job you want. You should not consider all these a waste of time because they are additional experience that will make you more attractive to employers in the future.
It helps you develop a broad mind.
There is no doubt that traveling can broaden your horizons. When you are abroad, you will have to experiment with new cuisine, see wonderful works of art, visit exotic locations, and deal with unique personalities, which can all add to your education and personal development.
It allows you to sort out perceptions and stereotypes.
We all have our own preconceived notions about other countries and nationalities, which are a result of our religious views, education, racial origin, gender, and family upbringing. While there is nothing wrong with having an opinion on something or someone, these stereotypes can lead to prejudice. The good thing about traveling and working abroad is that you will have an opportunity to meet real people and experience things first-hand, which can prove to you that perhaps everything you had known was wrong.
It motivates you to take risks.
Taking risks when you are still in your 20s is less dangerous than when you do it later on. There are so many opportunities around you that you should grab and take advantage of. Besides, you can never avoid failure, which gives you another reason to just take risks. Remember that in every failure comes learning. And you can never be sure if you are going to succeed or fail unless you try and take the risk.
It helps you decide what you want to do with your life.
When you are put in a situation where you should live alone, make decisions alone, and overcome problems alone, you learn to depend on yourself only. Through this, you also learn to decide how you are going to live your life without any intervention or input from anyone else. As a result, career planning also becomes a very easy process.
Cecile Peterkin is a certified career and retirement coach, and a registered member of the Career Professionals of Canada and the International Coach Federation. She is also the Founder and Senior Career Strategist at Cosmic Coaching Centre, provider of career and life management services for middle managers and mid-career professionals across Canada, United States and Europe.