Will my chances of employment in the Chemistry field increase if I do a year of study abroad?

Megan Greaves answered on 1 Jun 2020:

It definitely can’t harm your chances! It looks like you’re willing to be put outside your comfort zone, which will be helpful for employment in whatever career you decide on. Specifically for chemistry; it will definitely be an improvement than staying at your current institution but it would look even better if you could get some industrial experience instead (home or abroad).

Rachael Hallam answered on 1 Jun 2020:

It will definitely help towards any application – working abroad shows independence and initiative, and it won’t count against you!

Hamish Cavaye answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Great question, Jack.

I didn’t study abroad during my undergraduate degree, but I did go abroad for my PhD. I ended up living and studying for 4 years in Brisbane, Australia. It was pretty nerve-racking getting on a plane for over 24h with a one-way ticket but I absolutely loved the experience and wouldn’t change it for the world.

Getting pushed a little out of your comfort zone, immersing yourself in a different climate and a different way of life (even if it’s not *that* different to home) are great ways to make yourself more attractive to potential future employers.

It wasn’t relevant for me in Australia, but if you also pair that with learning another language, that would definitely be a great asset to you as well.

Fred Mosselmans answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Hi Jack, i assume by this you mean do a degree where you have the option of going abroad for a year. I think this probably seen by employers as good experience, but also if you do a sandwich degree where you spend a year in industry during your degree i think that looks good as it should give you good relevant work experience.

Ruth Patchett answered on 1 Jun 2020:

I think this is an excellent question so thanks for giving me the chance to talk about it. I think a good degree in chemistry will always stand you in a good position to get a job so a year abroad isn’t essential. Being able to spend a year abroad is a great way to show that you can adapt to new environments and will give you a different perspective as all labs, universities, countries work in slightly different ways. I did a Year in Industry abroad and LOVED it and learned so much, years in Industry at home or abroad are also useful and sometimes you even get a job offer from the company you worked for after you graduate.
Essentially time abroad or in different labs help but don’t feel like you HAVE to apply for one of these courses to be employable, there are so many different opportunities that will help your employability like getting involved and leading in clubs and societies, getting involved in Outreach activities, internships and even non-science jobs that show that you have essential skills for working help.
Loads of Universities are having online open days this month, I recommend you sign up for a few and have a chat with admissions staff about what course is best for you. Hope this helps but happy to discuss more if it isn’t clear or you want more detail.

Joe Staddon answered on 1 Jun 2020:

I studied abroad for a year, and can definitely recommend it! In my experience, you spend the year doing a research project, which is excellent for building employable skills and your academic network.
Additionally, it shows to potential employers you are willing to move out of your comfort zone, and gives you lots to talk about in interviews etc. I would recommend seeking out a summer industrial placement too – you can interview for this abroad as well, you just have to be flexible and proactive in your arrangements.
Ultimately, the more experiences you can gather, the more you have to bring and speak about with a potential employer, so I would recommend trying as much as possible. With that being said, its not the be all and end all – not having these experiences won’t prevent you from getting where you want to go.

Tiffany Chan answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Hi Jack! As others have already said, it definitely won’t hurt your chances. It’ll give you an opportunity to meet new people (contacts are always helpful…) and plenty of things to talk about in any interviews.

David Izuogu answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Oversea travel can help you to cultivate vitality in your chosen career. While this is a good thing to do, your chances of employment partly depend on your experience and how you might have navigated such experience. Study abroad programme will definitely boost your chances if you are able to demonstrate how that made you a better person, what you gained from it and how that knowledge could be relevant to your employer. I must also add that it could increase your chances of working for top international firms. For example, I studied in Japan for part of my undergraduate as well as my master’s degree. I now understand the Japanese culture as well as the societal norms plus the language. Therefore, if there is a UK firm that is planning to recruit somebody from the UK to work at their Japanese company, my Japanese experience might give me an added advantage. In summary, yes, a short study abroad could increase your chances of employment in any subject, not just chemistry, but that depends on what you make of your time during the period. I hope this helps.

Maurits van Tol answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Great question, Jack, and I would say: yes, going abroad has a distinct advantage. We are more and more connected across the globe, international business is very important. Going abroad leads to a strong personal development (it is an adventure, not always easy to arrange things, and you need to “struggle through”, which is a learning journey in itself!) and an understanding of how important cultural differences are. If you are aware of that it is so much easier to gain the trust of people from other countries and showing a genuine interest brings you so much credits. I spent 1 year abroad for my masters, 6 months for my PhD and 8 years so far for my work.

Carin Seechurn answered on 1 Jun 2020:

It would most definitely give you an advantage over other people who have not spent time abroad. But not for the reason that it “looks good” on your CV; it is an advantage to yourself as an individual since you will learn things you cannot possibly learn if not going abroad. You will grow stronger and more confident as a person. I am Swedish so did my A-levels (or rather A-level equivalent) in Sweden, then spent a year working in Switzerland (and learned German), then moved to the UK to do my MChem degree and as part of that degree, spent a year in France (to learn more chemistry AND French). Now, 20 (!) years later I am still in the UK. Spending time in another country teaches you so much about life in general. If you can, I would recommend going somewhere where you will also learn a new language fluently.

Fatma Salahioglu answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Doing a year of study abroad doesn’t necessarily “improve” one’s chances at a job in the field of Chemistry. A year spent working in industry, on the other hand, will give you an advantage over others who might have done a normal course (without the year in industry, or a ‘sandwich’ year). This is because you gain valuable experience and insights into how things really work in the industry, which is quite different from the academia and what we are taught at university.

That being said, I would always encourage you to do a year abroad for the reasons everyone else has already mentioned. It gives you perspective, you grow as a person, become more confident and your horizons broaden. Plus, who knows, you might like the country you go to so much, and end up making so many connections, that you get a job and stay there!

Good luck!

Caragh Whitehead answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Being able to spend a year abroad is an amazing opportunity if you are able to do it. What is important is that you are able to get work experience in some form even if it is just working in labs over the summer.

Katharine Stokes answered on 1 Jun 2020:

I think it shows you are independent but in my opinion something like a year abroad for study should be a fun chance to experience another country whilst you have chance. So if that’s what you’re interested in do it!

Eleanor Barber answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Like everyone else has said, a year abroad (or in industry) can’t harm your chances. Thinking purely in terms of CV, a year in industry (which can also be abroad) is probably more useful if you’re looking for an industry job after graduating. But a year of study abroad is a great experience to get out of your comfort zone and explore a new culture, and will definitely give you a lot to talk about in interviews. I went on a year abroad to Germany and would recommend it to anyone!

Leila Moura answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Hi Jack.
Thank you for your question, this is a really important one.
I think doing a year of study abroad or getting any kind of work experience abroad does increase your chances and is also very enriching from a personal level.

Chemistry is a very cooperative and international field, the experience and whole will give you an edge over the competition for many reasons. Apart from the obvious advantages of a more varied chemistry education and the obvious life skills you will get I will state some other reasons below.
As an example I am Portuguese, did my PhD and first post doc in France (lived there for 5.5 years in 3 different cities) and here in the UK my close work colleagues include locals, Polish, French, American, Italian, Spanish, Sri Lankan, Greek and German awesome people!

– You get (potentially) to experience a different language, culture and way of work. Knowing how to navigate in a new place and connect with people from different backgrounds is incredibly useful nowadays almost in any workplace. In an interview setting you can use it as an example on how you are flexible, independent, adaptable, fast-learning, mature, open minded, etc

– You gain experience with different methods and different chemistry focus

– You will network and gain a whole new set of contacts, potential collaborations and potential job opportunities

– You will make a ton of international friends!

I cannot recommend it enough!
As someone that performs interviews for positions for research in chemistry (PhD, post doc etc) that would definitely give you extra extra points!

I hope this helps and good luck!

Loretta Wong answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Hi Jack,

I think spending a year abroad will definitely give you the experience of working in a different culture whether it gives you a better chance of employment I don’t know. Certainly any first degree which involves time out in industry will stand you in better stead of getting a job at the end of it.
If you choose to progress to a PhD then time spent working in a different lab (anywhere) will definitely give you a different perspective on your project.
Science is so international now that there is always a constant flow of movement across borders and continents anyway whether in industry or academia,
Hope that helps,
Loretta

Fiona Coomer answered on 1 Jun 2020:

I think that the more different experiences that you have, the more attractive you will look to a potential employer, so studying abroad will definitely improve your employment chances, and you will almost certainly have a great experience.

As someone who has recruited graduates to work in chemistry roles, getting industrial experience will set you apart from other graduates, and is something that we deliberately look for when shortlisting candidates. So, if you can get a chance, gaining some industrial experience will definitely make you more attractive to employers.

Daniel Jones answered on 1 Jun 2020:

A year abroad would stand you in good stead regardless of which career path you ultimately take. There are a wealth of transferable skills you’ll gain from it! I won’t rehash what so many others have said here – all of it greatadvice – but I will emphasize a point a couple of people have only skirted around. Language. If you can pick up proficiency in a language as part of it, that’s a fantastic take away. English might be the lingua franca of science, but people will respect you far more for speaking (literally!) in their own language.

Heather Walton answered on 1 Jun 2020:

Hi!
I think a year studying abroad will make you stand out for any job, it is great life experience and will teach you a lot of skills!
What I would recommend is that you look at an industrial placement year, either abroad or not, doing a university course that includes this means that you have a full year of work experience in a relevant role when you leave, which gets you over the ‘no experience’ hurdle, and also means that you can see whether you enjoy the job and want to continue to do something similar after you finish.

Andrew Stonor answered on 2 Jun 2020:

I think it will help if you plan to work abroad in a country with the same language in which you intend to study, especially if studying the language is part of that Chemistry degree. It may also generally help in job interviews too as studying abroad can show a more rounded and diverse degree experience.

Katherine Haxton answered on 3 Jun 2020:

There are lots of things you can do during your degree that can make you look really good to employers. The important thing is to do things that are interesting to you and to make the most of the opportunities available during your degree. If study abroad’s something that interests you, do it. Industrial placements, sandwich year, shorter internships, research placements in university labs…so many things. It would be worth asking the staff who teach the degrees you are interested in what opportunities there are outside of the curriculum.

Fiona Scott answered on 3 Jun 2020: last edited 3 Jun 2020 9:53 am

I did a placement year abroad in Switzerland during the first degree I did after school, an MChem integrated masters and the placement was a compulsory part of the course. It certainly gave me a more global perspective of the pharma industry and it was nice to see what working as a chemist full time was like before graduating.

That said, I know that my coursemates who chose to do placements within the UK also gained useful experience during this break from our degrees and have been able to get PhD positions/jobs after graduation.

I was lucky in my placement that the drug I worked on a few years ago has now been approved for the market so that is something I particularly enjoy writing about in cover letters.

Kat Hunter answered on 3 Jun 2020:

Yes definitely!

Employers are looking for people who have experience as well as education. Studying abroad for a year is a great opportunity to take if you can. You will be immersing yourself in a new culture, new climate and new learning environment. You will widen your professional and social network increasing the chance of opportunities opening up for you down the line. Taking the option of the year abroad will show employers that you are adaptable to different environments, have the ability to learn quickly and independent. I’d definitely recommend taking one or doing a year in industry if you can. I guarantee having one of these on your CV along with a good chemistry degree will put you above other job candidates who didn’t do this in the future. If you have more specific questions about working abroad or year in industry let me know. I think as you can tell from the many replies that doing a year abroad will only enhance your chance of getting a job.

Tom Backhouse answered on 3 Jun 2020:

I may not be able to answer your question directly here as I’m not involved in the recruitment process however, I would make two points:

Firstly, I personally didn’t do a year abroad during my studies – however looking back I wish I had. Some of my colleagues did have this experience and learnt a lot – this could be personally (gaining independence, learning a new language), culturally (exploring different cuisines, pastimes, natures etc.) and educationally (gaining experience in other labs/research environments). By engaging in these programs you would extend your network of academics/researchers in the field and gain more practical experience.

Secondly, based on what I said above, if (hypothetically) I was hiring then personally I would certainly look positively on any such experience.

I hope that helps!

Maria Yanez Lopez answered on 5 Jun 2020:

Hi Jack! I think it will, it certainly will not harm them and probably most importantly will give you the chance to experience a new culture/new environment, which is very rewarding for all aspects of life, so if you can, I would recommend to go for it!

Chris Holdsworth answered on 8 Jun 2020:

Probably yes. It’s no guarantee but it expands your horizons and opens your eyes to opportunities in a different place and with different people.

Zoe Ingold answered on 9 Jun 2020:

I have not done a year abroad in either my undergrad or my PhD but I did travel a bit in my gap year. It hasn’t hurt my employment at all because the skills you gain (such as adaptability, stepping outside your comfort zone, cultural sensitivity etc) are all things I was able to demonstrate from other experiences. Whether or not you can do a year abroad can also depend upon your circumstances, for example you may not want to leave your family if they’re going through a difficult patch, and that is perfectly valid too.
Saying all of that if you can do it, I would go for it and hopefully you’ll have a great experience! I certainly intend to move abroad after my PhD.

Question: Will my chances of employment in the Chemistry field increase if I do a year of study abroad?

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