How travel can aid your career

Travel is one of the more enjoyable experiences in life. However, it can be worth more to you than free drinks and the serenity of pristine resorts and beaches. Learn how travel can aid your career.

Gain foreign language skills

High school and college foreign language courses are only the beginning of being able to communicate in another language. The only way to ingest a language and make it a part of you is to immerse yourself in another country. Traveling to foreign lands and learning new languages makes you much more employable in an array of career fields, as you are upgrading your communication skills.

Adaptation skills work for you

Job applicants who travel show that they can quickly adapt to different cultures and language. Being well-traveled generally means that a person is able to more readily adapt to different environments, a skill that is highly prized in careers that involve dealing with clients. Showing you can stretch outside your comfort zone by adapting to foreign environments helps convince prospective employers that you will be able to stop on a dime and change direction when work flow demands it.

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Understanding global economics

The type of expanded world view that travel can grant is also useful when it comes to understanding global business. Travis Katz, founder of travel review website GoGoBot.com, told Main St. that three-quarters of all economic activity occurs outside the U.S. International job applicants, or applicants with experience in international travel and living, tend to have a broader view of how other countries do business.

“International travel gives applicants a level of credibility to take on an international role that people who have not traveled don’t have,” Katz says.

Stories of experience to tell

With a resume of worldly adventures under your belt, you’ll also have a great deal more stories to tell. In many situations, these kinds of ice-breakers can be useful before a corporate interview. Faraway places make for an interesting story. The teller also seems more credible, experienced, curious and creative.

Organized for success

Various career experts point out that extended travel requires a great deal of organization. If you have traveled through or done business in multiple countries on a single excursion, you’ve navigated through the bureaucratic maze of visas, currency exchange, transportation and personal budget concerns. All of this takes patience and organization to do effectively, traits that are admired by potential employers.

Sources

Main St.

Passport and Toothbrush

Verge Magazine