Are you considering taking a job abroad this summer but worried about the long-term benefits? Many of the summer jobs available are in the service sector – restaurants, hotels, gift shops and the like. This might not be your long-term career path. Is it a mistake to take a job like this if you have your sights set on a career that is totally different? Will a summer spent making coffee for tourists ruin your CV? Or will you learn some valuable job skills that could serve you in any field?
Before you scoff at spending your work days behind a counter dealing with the general public, think harder about what you learn. It isn’t the technical skills – operating a cash register or soft serve ice cream machine that matter for your future. It’s the people skills. If you are working at a restaurant or attraction that draws tourists, you’re going to encounter people from every walk of life in every state of mind. And lots of them will be downright unpleasant.
Summer Semester at the School of Life
But those annoying, obnoxious people will give you more than some hilarious war stories. If you can keep your cool and calm down some irate, jet-lagged jerk who is freaking out because he got low fat milk instead of skim in his latte, you can handle any level of heat in the corporate conference room. At a tourist destination, you will have to figure out how to communicate with customers and colleagues from different cultures and countries with different values and communication styles. Doing that will show you can how to bridge those divides and how very much you have in common with people who sem so different. You’ll learn more about marketing and negotiating by helping a frazzled parent appease an overtired toddler in a restaurant than you will in any lecture hall. And yes, you’ll have some great stories that honestly will be funny. Some day.
Often these jobs are the only ticket to a summer abroad. Is it worth it? Arguably, yes. The key is how you frame your work experience on your CV. If you focus on the soft service ice cream machine, well, there’s a future for you making 99s. But if you step back and try to sum up what you learned about dealing with other people, you’ll show future employers that you have the skills that can’t be spelled out in their employee handbook. You’ll also show them that you can indeed see the forest for the trees.
Working those service sector jobs isn’t easy, especially in another country. But you can bring your own comforts from home. Figuring out how to make hard tasks easier is a valuable life skill. Here’s a hint – ship your belongings instead of taking them on your flight. It saves your energy and sanity. And you’ll need both to be at peak performance if you’re going to spend a summer serving ice cream to tourists.
Spratt Personal Shipping offer fast, secure and efficient services worldwide. So you can rest assured that your items will arrive safely in your destination country. Contact us today for a quote!
