Maximise your employability after a year abroad
You’ve returned from a transformative year abroad, had a great time, made some new friends and developed skills that will help you in the future. By taking a year abroad, you are more attractive to employers. Graduates who have taken a year abroad have higher employment rates and higher average earnings (Universities UK International, 2025).
However, taking what you have learnt from the year abroad, translating it into something employers value, and into a future that you want to aim for, is not always straightforward.
Returning to Warwick
There are many ways you can continue to make the most of your year abroad once you return to Warwick. Below are some resources and activities available at Warwick to support you during your final year.
Careers Support
Warwick has many resources to support you thinking about your career options. From 1 to 1 appointments if you are not sure where to start, all the way to interview practice and application feedback. The careers team will be happy to support you in translating your year abroad experiences into job applications and interviews.
Academic modules
There are several academic modules that can help you build on the skills you developed in your year abroad. These include modules to take if you are considering a career in teaching, as well as modules to help develop your intercultural skills, such as:
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
The School of Modern Languages and Cultures has modules for students from other departments who wish to develop their knowledge of global cultures:
- Translation in the digital age
- Translation and translators in the contemporary world
- Exploring Zeitgeist: Politics, Culture and Society in Germany Today
- Reframing history: French popular revolt in the graphic novel
- Journeys and Cityscapes in Latin American Film
- Italian and English translation for visiting students
Language Centre
Language Centre modules can help you consolidate the language skills you developed during your year abroad or start a new language to further enhance your employability (options include French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, and Russian).
Intercultural training
Warwick offers several different workshops and online courses to support developing your intercultural skills and articulating those skills. You can access these resources at any time, and completing them contributes to the Warwick Award.
The Warwick Award
By taking a year abroad, you can claim 20 points on the Warwick Award, which is one third of the way towards getting the gold award (60 points). The Warwick Award is designed to recognise the activities you have done at Warwick to develop your skills. It also supports your reflection and articulation of those skills which helps you make the most of your year abroad.
International careers and opportunities
If your main goal is to go abroad again, we can also support you with this:
International Careers
GoinGlobal: worldwide job listings and internships
Student Circus: job search platform for international students.
British Council
The British Council can also support you with working and studying outside the UK:
British Council guide to studying and working outside the UK