Why a professional UK OE could boost your career

Taking an Overseas Experience no longer has to be seen as a gap year or a break from a professional career. Planned properly, a professional OE can be a great opportunity to enhance your skills and boost your career, whilst having the adventure of a lifetime.

There is no shortage of roles for good skilled international candidates. Additionally, living and working abroad shows independence and initiative. Here are the main reasons a professional OE can build you up in the eyes of a future employer and help you stand out from the crowd when you get home.

Working for a prominent UK firm enhances your CV

There is no question that perhaps the biggest benefit of working abroad is the boost that it gives to your CV, making you more competitive and marketable when you return home.  A global perspective will always make you stand out, not least because it shows you are ambitious, flexible to change and easily adaptable.

The UK is known as a business capital and some of the largest companies in the world have their head offices here.  Showing that you have the skills and the acumen to handle the UK market can show your potential employer back home you can handle pretty much anything.

Build your own opportunity by expanding your professional network

Ask any successful professional about how they got to where they are and they will tell you that nine times out of ten, their best career opportunities come from someone they already knew. It’s never too early to start building your own network of contacts because this can, in time, become your network of opportunity.

Your professional OE can bring you into contact with incredible people from across the business centres of Europe and beyond. It is through this network that your career can take all sorts of exciting and unexpected turns, explore new industries and learn about career enhancing avenues you may not yet be aware of.

There are abundant opportunities to work in the UK right now

A strong demand for skilled staff and a decline in candidate availability in the UK has resulted in driving up high pay rates for contracting projects. It’s a great time to be young, qualified and available as employers are doing their utmost to attract quality candidates, according to the UK Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

Contractors should also expect a great deal of opportunity to arise from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. This is a period of change and the future of Britain’s trading opportunities with Europe are currently uncertain. Foreign professionals living in the UK may be forced to return home, freeing up unforeseen opportunities in the near future.

If you’re flexible and can move quickly, you’re in a great position to seize opportunities as they arise.

Living abroad is great for personal growth and cultural awareness

Even if it is only for a couple of years, relocating abroad and immersing yourself in a new culture is a challenging experience for anyone.  Overcoming these challenges, accepting different work practices, and surviving without your usual support network of friends and family requires strength of character and determination. It increases your resourcefulness, resilience and confidence, making you ever more marketable to potential employers.

Working with people from diverse backgrounds and environments also exposes you to different working styles to achieve common goals, helping you achieve strong communication skills and adaptability.

Gain global understanding of your industry

Working within your industry in a different country allows you to learn to understand things from a different perspective.  Each country has its own practices, processes and rules of business. Immersing yourself in these allows you the unique insight to appreciate the differences (and similarities) between foreign markets and cultures and the way different people interact in business.  In this ever-shrinking global market, intercultural competencies are key.

So are you ready to boost your career whilst experiencing a UK adventure?

In the end, we only regret the chances that we didn’t take.  Stepping out of your comfort zone and embarking on the adventure of a career-enhancing OE in the UK promises to open up many opportunities for you to develop new skills and have new experiences.

You’ll have plenty of interesting anecdotes to share in future interviews as well. And you never know, your future employer may have boosted their early career with a UK OE too.

Contact us to discuss what your future career prospects could look like in the UK, what your different options would be and how we can help you plan for your departure.   We have also created a great little handy OE guide in our My UK Move Handbook, please see below.