Today’s college job market has become something analogous to the “survival of the fittest” principle of evolutionary theory. The younger generational cohort of job applicants is more tech-savvy, skill-diverse and determined than ever before. Our vast menu of social media has nearly leveled out general knowledge about personal marketability and internship-bloated résumés are now as ubiquitous as part-time work experience was just a few years ago.   

With cutthroat eligibility deadlocks between candidates emerging from similar academic programs with comparable grade point averages, college students may be left wondering what other avenues of personal brand marketing are available to them. In response to this, I think it’s important to transform the understanding of the individual application process and consider oneself as a marketing manager might regard an actual brand.   

In marketing, there’s a concept called points-of-difference. It deals with creating qualities or factors for a brand, product or service that differentiates it from its competitors. This is highly important when considering the ultimate customer’s perception of the value he or she might receive from choosing to purchase (or whatever exchange it may be) from that company as opposed to its rivals. These factors must be unique enough to the brand in question for the customer to consider it over competing brands—an idea that could be highly useful in relation to your personal branding for a job or internship.

Whether it’s in an interview, application or networking situation, a study abroad program may be the perfect point-of-difference you need to market yourself to recruiters and stand out against the competition. It gets better: with an academic career abroad, there are endless kinds of unique skills and experiences that can really be picked out and catered to different industries or job roles. Sure, as an individual you have undoubtedly become more cultured as a result of your stay in a foreign environment, but there are also various other attributes that can be empathized as you market your personal brand for a young professional. If there’s an internship, co-op or position that you’ve been eyeing, here are a few approaches to market your study abroad experience!       

Acuity for Current Events & Global Issues     
For starters, consider your newly acquired knowledge about the different customs or cultural attitudes of whichever countries, regions or continents you’ve visited in your studies abroad. A firsthand understanding of attitudinal climates that local citizens of these places share towards different social or political issues can help your interpretative acuity for global current events. Knowing what’s going on in the real world is a big part of understanding different industries in the professional world and is additionally a good conversational point for college students who want present themselves as worldly and connected. So if a potential employer were to comment on your semester abroad, don’t just elaborate on your newfound cultural smarts, but underscore your enhanced ability to make connections between your experiences and the current world around you.          

Eagerness to Learn     
A big component of today’s internship programs is the give-and-take learning aspect that interns can gain during the time of their employment. Companies are more willing to teach their interns about their industries and allow them to experience and interact with different organizational functions within the business — even offering mentoring programs to further cultivate their professional capacities. Oftentimes, recruiters aren’t looking for interns who believe they already know how to do everything that may be required of them in the program. In fact, a huge selling factor could be an applicant’s eagerness to learn new and unfamiliar operations and ask their managers questions about things beyond just the minimum assignments. In this case, a study abroad experience is invaluable in showcasing a student’s adventurousness in taking on a situation that he or she is not yet an expert in. You could really market the different courses or activities you participated in while abroad and highlight your willingness to learn something completely new  —be it a foreign language, routine or academic style!         

Problem-Solving Skills & A Can-Do Attitude     
A study abroad experience is not without situations that push you out of your comfort zone, forcing you to be bold and think on your feet. Use particular moments of your time abroad in portraying your ability to take on a less-than-ideal circumstance with confidence and formulate the best solution. Maybe you and peers got lost somewhere in a foreign country and had to blindly navigate to the right place. Or perhaps you dealt with a language barrier in a very sensitive context and had to test different approaches in communicating your point. Whatever it may be, there are endless ways to angle your experience in a way that exemplifies your can-do attitude when faced with a problem. Employers like to see applicants that aren’t passive or discouraged in the face of a challenge, but are ready to use all of his or her knowledge and available resources to overcome it. This mindset can even translate into an entrepreneurial spirit, which is a highly desirable trait in the professional world. The ability to form tactical strategies can be readily applied to tasks presented to you in a future position, setting you apart from people who can only think within a set frame. Use these kinds of skillsets gained from studying abroad to communicate your ability to think and succeed regardless of what's in front of you.

Adaptability and Flexibility to Environmental Change
No matter which sector your dream job is found, there’s no doubt that ongoing political, social, environmental, technological or cultural changes in the world will affect the very industries related to your position. This means that, as companies change in response to their dynamic industry categories, employees must also reflect that flexibility and evolve to continue performing effectively. Your study abroad experience can definitely help you convey this adaptability. Elaborate on how a new setting and routine forced you to make changes in your lifestyle, communication and study habits in order to be successful. Did you learn to reach out more and follow up promptly to long distance conversations with your friends and family back home? Was the different academic vigor of classes with foreign peers conducive to improvements in your teamwork or leadership skills? Do you now approach problems with a different methodology or perspective as a result of your experiences? Focus on the areas where the changing environment, although at first challenging, ultimately worked in favor of your development as an individual.         

In all, study abroad programs are great because you meet new people, experience new things and get to culture yourself beyond your local bubble. But when it comes down to selling yourself as not just a college student applicant, but an individual brand, you shouldn’t shy away from going in depth on your unique experiences and stories that prove the capacities you’ve gained while pursuing your studies in a foreign place. Consider the particular expectations listed in job postings and cater your study abroad experience to respectively present yourself as a better candidate for each specific position. Play it sharp and unique, and be ready to surprise some people with your one-of-a-kind qualities!