Work Experience Abroad. First Steps...

Getting a work placement abroad is a great way to gain valuable experience in the work place with the added bonus of experiencing and understanding other cultures and seeing other parts of the world. But before applying for a placement, it is extremely important that you do your own research into what it is exactly that you wish to achieve and what kind of work you wish to do in order for you to gain the most out of your experience.
Work experience abroad is not just about getting paid. In fact, in many placements, you will not get paid for the work that you do. Often the placement may be a voluntary placement and you must remember that being paid a salary is not the point of getting work experience, especially abroad. What you will learn on a cultural and personal level will be invaluable for adapting to other environments and work situations in later life and the experience will be something that you will always remember.

What to do before you leave

Firstly, the most important thing that you have to decide is how you would like to organise your trip. You must decide first of all whether you would like to organise the trip and work placement totally by yourself or through an organisation. However, whichever way you decide to approach getting a placement, research, done by yourself, is paramount to getting a placement that is right for you and is important for ensuring that you can make the most of your placement and enjoy it as much as possible. Going through an organisation does reduce to some extent, the paper work and research that you would have to do by yourself since organisations have access to and information already on the kinds of placements that are available and have established contacts with many other companies abroad. Understanding the laws of the country, company welfare policies towards their staff is imperative before embarking on a work experience placement.