After spending a few exciting years studying abroad, some international students decide to return home to work. What should they anticipate upon their return? What practical matters must they address, and what challenges and opportunities await them?
Get your foreign degree evaluated and recognized
Before starting job hunting in your home country, you'll need to verify if your foreign degree is already fully accredited there. As long as the foreign university where you studied is accredited and reputable, your degree will also be recognized in your home country. However, it will first need to undergo an evaluation process with the education authority of your country.
For example, if you're an American who earned a degree abroad, you'll need to reach out to the US Department of Education or the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to have your foreign degree evaluated. Canadians returning home with an overseas degree must undergo the ECA (Educational Credential Assessment) process. However, some agreements between specific countries may exempt you from this process. For instance, degrees from EU countries are automatically recognized in the UK, even after Brexit, as long as they are not for a regulated profession like medicine, law and teaching.
Pursuing a regulated profession at home with a degree earned abroad is a bit more complex. In addition to having your degree evaluated, you will likely need to pass local exams and obtain a local license for that profession. Certain exemptions also exist between specific countries. For instance, British students returning with a teaching license from a select list of countries (including Australia, Canada, the US, Hong Kong and Ukraine) are not required to obtain a second teaching license to work in the UK's public school system.
Adjust your work expectations to your home country
The guidance you received from your lecturers and career counselors while studying abroad was likely tailored to the country you were in. However, this advice may not be entirely applicable to your home country, so it's important to evaluate it critically and make necessary adjustments. It's best to combine their insights with advice from professionals currently working in your home country.
Let's take salaries, for one. Wages in the US tend to be much higher than those in the UK. According to The Times, the average American makes $22,000 (or £17,000) more per year than the average British worker. Recent college or university graduates in the US can anticipate earning around $50,000 to $60,000 (£40,000–50,000) in their early career years, reports Fortune, whereas their UK counterparts are likely to earn no more than £25,000 to £35,000 ($30,000–45,000).
Hence, if you studied in the US but plan to return home to the UK for work, it's important to realign your salary expectations with the UK market. To bridge the gap between US and UK salaries, consider applying to American companies operating in the UK, as they also offer higher wages than their UK counterparts. For example, American law firms in London can pay early-career lawyers up to £160,000 (around $210,000).
The demand for skills and degrees can differ between your home country and the country where you studied. You may find that skills that are common and not highly paid in the country where you studied are rare and highly valued in your home country—or the reverse could be true. Before choosing to return home rather than take a work visa abroad, research the labor market back home to see if your skills would be as highly valued there.
For instance, if you're an Indian student who studied engineering abroad, you might find that there is already an oversupply of engineering graduates back in India. However, the prestige of having earned your degree overseas, particularly from a globally ranked university for engineering, along with international internships on your CV, foreign language skills, and firsthand experience in another country's tech industry, could give you an edge in securing a job in your home country's competitive market.
Don't be afraid to market the value of your international education to employers in your home country. Research shows that employers in many countries, especially in the developing world, highly value degrees earned abroad. To employers, it signals having strong foreign language skills, intercultural competence, a global mindset, and the ability to adapt to new environments. Some studies have even found that fresh graduates who studied abroad can secure up to 15% higher starting salaries than those with locally obtained degrees. When negotiating your salary back home, be sure to highlight that your international education was a valuable investment and can bring additional benefits to the company.
Be ready to experience reverse culture shock
In most cases, studying abroad occurs during a person's formative years, typically in their late teens to mid-20s. Students who move abroad at age 18 for undergraduate studies experience the freedom and responsibilities of adulthood for the first time in a new country. Those from small and/or conservative countries who move to large metropolises for university might find this period completely transformative. Away from home, they can explore and discover their own identity.
For these students, returning home can be difficult. They're back in their parents' house, losing the independence they enjoyed while studying abroad. They must also confront the reverse culture shock of readjusting to a home that may not have changed, even though they have. Here are some tips to be able to get through this initial phase:
- Sit with your parents and explain to them how studying abroad has changed you. Explain to them gently how you are no longer the teenager who left home years ago – you are now an adult who successfully navigated life alone in another country, and you're now capable of doing the same at home. Reassure them that you'll be safe and that there's no need for them to be overprotective.
- Once you're financially stable or able to afford it, consider moving into your own apartment to maintain the independence you enjoyed while studying abroad. If a larger apartment is out of reach, an affordable small studio can be perfectly suitable for someone in the early stages of their career.
- Connect with other returning international students in your country. They likely face similar challenges as you in readapting to home, so you can share tips.
Find practical ways to keep in touch with the friends you made
One of the best parts of studying abroad is making friends from all over the world. You will not only have forged friendships with locals from the country where you studied but also with fellow international students, and they can be from completely different countries. This is particularly likely if you studied in countries that attract a large number of international students, such as the US, the UK, and Australia.
Before you head back home, be sure to collect contact details from all the friends you've made. They might be relocating too after graduation, and it would be a shame to lose touch. Keep in mind the country they're from when choosing which contact method to use, as apps like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp are restricted or less popular in certain countries.
If you have Chinese friends, for example, you might want to download WeChat, which is the Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp, to stay in touch with them if they return home. WhatsApp is banned in China and is only accessible to some expats who use a VPN. Russia, Cuba and Iran also have a history of restricting access to mainstream global social media platforms. If you've made friends from these countries during your studies, make sure to obtain their email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses as backup contact methods to ensure you stay in touch.
Maintaining friendships across time zones can be a challenge, but it's definitely doable. Consider starting an online book or film discussion group with your friends, or set up regular group video calls to help keep the friendship going strong. If you can afford to travel, you might also consider organizing yearly reunion trips with your university/college friends, where you all meet up again in the country where you had studied.
