It's a great journey to travel. You get to experience new cultures, see great scenery and landmarks and try things you wouldn't normally. From Bognor Regis to Bangkok, seeing the world is one of the most exiting things you can do. If you've interrailed, travelled or gone on an adventure, it's worth considering what you've learnt to build you're profile.
James's Aussie Adventure
James went as far as possible from the UK to explore Australia. Although you don't have to travel this far and spend months traversing 3500km to travel, if you can, why not try!
I lived in Sydney for 3 months and worked and surfed. I then rented a van and mapped my way down from Cairns visiting different spots along the way, back down to Sydney. I did it because my original plans of working in France fell through due to Brexit issues and my friend went out and did it. I want to work in a multinational company and my experience from over in Australia hopefully should help.
Skills
From travelling, you gain a wide range of experiences and develop a wide range of skills you may never have considered:
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- Independence - Travelling solo or in a group still requires a huge amount of independence. Making decisions about where to stay, where to go, what to do and when to do it demonstrates independence
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- Problem Solving - You are almost guaranteed to have something go wrong when travelling. Plane delays to hotel issues show how you can adapt and work towards a solution
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- Organisation - Even getting to an airport takes ages to plan! Travelling for a long period of time requires a lot of organisational skills
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- Cultural competence - Being in a different culture shows an ability to understand and embrace differences as well as settling into a new environment
Mapping your CV
Writing a CV is hard, especially early into your uni life. You probably don't have two years experience at a top firm, have connections with Steve Jobs or Bill gates and be able to cartwheel whilst painting a masterpiece. If you don't have heaps of experience, that's ok! If an employer is taking on a student in the early years of university, chances are they don't expect you to have many previous professional roles. Make the most of what you have when applying and talk about projects, hobbies and life experiences that are transferrable.
Find experiences relevant to first years using the filter on MyFuture.
To break down an experience onto a CV, its good to break down why you are putting each part of the sentence, for instance:
Planned and organised(what you did) a three month trip to Europe with 6 others(quantifying the experience) involving budgeting hostels and other expenses(extra detail of something specific).
Although there is a good description of what the person has done, there is no reason why the employer should care. By adding something specific to the company or job, you can make your CV light up.
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