Resumes Going Overseas

Meg Twomey

As unemployment across the nation reaches all time highs, some students are going to great lengths and greater distances to get hired. Skyrocketing unemployment rates nearing 10 percent in America have led some students to look for internships abroad.

“There’s been a rise in people asking about it,” said Mandi Work, a study abroad advisor at UGA’s Office of International Education (OIE). Actual numbers are hard to track, since students only have to register through OIE, if they are receiving course credit for the internship, but Work said that there has been an increase in the number of programs that offer internships. Two popular UGA programs with intern possibilities are a summer program to London and UGA en Buenos Aires.

Mary Evelyn Gray, a broadcast news major from Atlanta, is currently in the Buenos Aires program and is interning with Colmobo-Pashkus, a public relations firm. Gray and two other UGA students are working at the firm for six hours a week while also studying at Universidad de Palermo. Working with Argentinean students, they speak almost entirely in Spanish.

“I would love to work in a foreign country, and even for this company,” she said. “[My co-workers] are really nice people with a great work environment,” said Gray.

And it may be easier to get a job outside of the U.S. According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, that collects and compares data about countries across the world, the U.S. had an unemployment rate of 9.4 percent in July 2009, the second highest rate on record for the year.

U.S. unemployment rates have historically been below European rates; however, both the United Kingdom and Germany both had about 8 percent in the last sampling. Recent grads are also hoping that internship experience in another country will increase their chances of finding a job at home or abroad.

Sarah Knapp, a senior from Marietta majoring in German and Slavic studies, interned at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin this past summer.

“I enjoyed it greatly,” Knapp said. She said her internship was a great way for her to make sure she would enjoy a career in public service, especially abroad. Knapp found her internship through a state department Web site and worked with about seven other American students. Knapp mostly spoke English at her job and wouldn’t recommend the program to someone just trying to learn German, but would definitely recommend it for someone interested in a career in foreign service.

Laura Hagele, a peer advisor with the OIE, said that while studying abroad has always been popular, she has noticed an increase in students studying and working in non-English speaking countries.

“I didn’t want to go somewhere were they all spoke English,” said Hagele. She studied in Graz, Austria for a year, and is now involved in the International Student Exchange Program, a world wide network of schools and students that helps set up affordable study abroad in foreign countries that is becoming more popular according to Hagele.

Some students who study abroad for a semester decide to extend their stay for an additional semester or summer. These students make interning arrangements through their host university, so UGA has no record of their experiences. Private companies and non-profits such as CDS International, Transitions Abroad and the Peace Corps also allow students to work abroad without going through the university.

Work said these programs are recruiting on campus more frequently and they have been very popular. This rise in interest may be more than a short term alternative to looking for a job. “We’ll see what happens after I graduate, but I’d love to go abroad again," said Hagele.