Trying to build cultural competency can be hard as an international student. Starting working life is not just about having the right experience, it's also about being able to fit into a new environment. It can be a good idea to try working in a role where you get the chance to interact with people before starting a graduate role. This could be volunteering in a shop, hospitality and retail work, internship or a peer mentor.
Hanqin's experience
As an international living in Bath, if looking back at my beginning years of my university life, the most beneficial thing I did was undoubtedly my efforts to engage myself to the community.
At university I have volunteered to many activities, and being a peer mentor - supporting freshers to get used to their campus and university life - is definitely a shining star on my CV. If we simply look at the job itself, I build up my leadership skills, cross-culture communication skills, and team playing skills and etc. Beyond that, more importantly, I showed my employers my attitude and ability to engage to community activities, adapt to new environment and invite people to join our community. That’s definitely made myself more competitive as I believe the corporate world needs such people.
Apart from university life, I was also a kitchen assistant in a local highly rated Café. I worked part-time was initially not for earning money, but for learning different cultures and observing how people communicate and behave in this culture. I showed my employer my ability to proactively participate in the local community.
One thing I guess I did very well was that, I firmly believe learning is not something only comes from doing a degree or an internship, it can from anything you were a part in. When I had my interview, I pictured the image of the busy kichten and showed my managers that I have good multi-tasking skills, detail-oriented skills and teamwork skills. Imagine in the kitchen if you prepared the food for people who are allergic to gluten with a knife just cut normal breads, that will be a nightmare.. Therefore, having self-reflection of all my experiences and understand how all my experiences shaped me and build up my skills have truly made my self-praises very convincing.
As stated above, participating in local communities and university life has made myself more competitive. Not just that, please do have a think on how your journey comes along and how did you grow up from the start, and such self-understanding will make yourself more active in your interviews!
Writing CV
If you want more information about adapting to the working culture in the UK, there are some useful tips in our Get Started guide.
In the UK, CVs go into more detail about experiences rather than listing achievements. This format gives you the opportunity to tell employers regular tasks or projects undertaken, what you have learnt from them and how it is useful to the employer.
Respond
