Once you have decided what country you would like to go to and you have decided you want to carry out an internship or job for your year abroad placement, it is essential you start planning and organising early.
- It will probably not be an easy task, but the benefits and rewards that will come from a work placement abroad far outweigh this.
- It is advisable to contact as many organisations, institutions and companies as possible â you canât be too picky!
- It is advisable to contact employers directly, because even though they may not have vacancies at the time, but they may be able to offer you some other form of internship or work placement.
- It is useful to have an email template and make sure you adapt it to each enterprise in order to personalise it.
- It is useful to have a CV and covering letter in the target language. The europass© website offers the facility to create a standardised CV in different languages.
- For future reference, keep a record of who you have contacted and when.
- Try to avoid âInternship Programmesâ as there are usually lots of hidden costs.
- The Prospects website contains a section on working abroad, with links to vacancy sources as well as a section on employers.
- The European Job Mobility Portal provides vacancies in over 30 European countries.
- Your universityâs careers service may be able to offer advice on working abroad so please make an appointment to see one of the Careers Advisers.
- There is also a student-run organisation, AIESEC, which offers help locating posts abroad.
- You will also be able to find links, advertisements and tips on the Blackboard site.
- Search on the countryâs search engines i.e. for Spain: http://www.google.es/ and online newspapers.