An EU mobility is a unique opportunity to enrich students’ professional as well as personal lives, offering them an unforgettable international experience that will in turn benefit their future careers. Ranging from internship placements in Marketing and Media to Engineering and IT, Career Training Internships builds partnerships with desired companies and offers each trainee a host family, while the Erasmus+ Programme secures a grant to assist them through their journey.
Enhance your CV
Doing an Erasmus+ traineeship abroad can give you an edge over other job candidates in the future. Employers everywhere put a high value on previous work experience, and working abroad especially could help you present yourself as a more independent, skilled and driven individual. As an Erasmus+ trainee, you would improve your intercultural awareness, gain international adaptability and train your communication skills. Understanding different cultures, people and their values, helps you become a more broad-minded and empathetic person, and as a result, a better communicator—a key ingredient in the workplace. In addition, international market knowledge gives you a competitive advantage as you gain awareness of unfamiliar strategies and learn from your international colleagues.
Learn the language of the foreign country
A foreign language is best learnt through direct exposure. Working abroad will not only allow you to listen to the language in a real-life context, but also push you to make conversation and improve your speaking skills. Whether it be the formal language in a professional working environment or the informal one in casual, everyday situations, being an Erasmus+ intern means being fully immersed in the language and working on your language proficiency each day. It will undoubtedly make you come out of your comfort zone and learn, both intentionally and accidentally. As a result, your newly acquired language skills will attract employers all around the world. Being proficient in an additional language facilitates making connections and partnerships with external clients and generally makes networking more effective, making you a more valued candidate for any job.
Immerse yourself in the culture
Being an Erasmus+ intern means more than just working and learning. You get the chance to experience the culture of the destination country, make new acquaintances and connections that can last a lifetime. You gain cultural competence through conversing with locals in a way that you would not as a mere tourist. Such conversations can contribute to your personal growth as you start developing an understanding of different perspectives, customs and values unique to the destination country. Aside from the conversations, simply going out to enjoy a festival or a comedy show can give you a great insight into the culture of your country of choice. Living in a foreign country offers a number of opportunities to meet like-minded people of different backgrounds, be it through work, an organized meetup or just a casual evening in town. If you opt for Ireland, where we are located, one sure way of ticking all the boxes would be spending an evening at a pub and experiencing the friendly Irish atmosphere first-hand.
Become more independent
Moving to another place is a challenge on its own, let alone moving to a new country all by yourself and with zero connections. However, as intimidating as it might seem at first, the outcomes are doubly rewarding. It will boost your confidence as you start being more independent and self-reliant and gaining a clearer sense of self. Such clarity translates into your professional life as well, as research has shown that students living abroad continue to report career decision-making clarity. Finding your way in a new, unknown environment is tough, but ultimately worthwhile.
Benefit from the Erasmus+ funding programme
While some internships are paid, it is fair to say that a majority of them are not. However, even if the desired internship is unpaid, European Union funding under the Erasmus+ Programme offers each student a grant to help cover the expenses. Whether you select a 2-month or 12-month internship, the financial support is guaranteed to make your stay in a foreign country easier on the wallet and more carefree.
Why choose an internship in Ireland
Through the Erasmus+ programme you can obtain a period of work experience in Ireland, the only native English-speaking country in the EU. Besides benefitting from being surrounded by English, the global language, an internship in Ireland gives you the opportunity to explore the beautiful, green Irish scenery and its world-famous landscapes. The Irish nightlife is also worth mentioning, with Irish themed pubs being recognised all over the world, but none as authentic as the original Irish pubs here in Ireland.
Why Career Training Internships?
We are one of Ireland’s best internship providers! Here at Career Training Internships, we make sure that interns get the warmest of welcomes as soon as they step foot in Ireland. We achieve this by first securing them a placement in a company in their field of choice according to their preferences. We then secure them their own room with one of the host families we have been working with for years, offering full-board accommodation throughout the whole stay. We also monitor them and take their feedback on board in order to provide the best experience possible.
If you are interested in finding out more about who we are and how we do it, don’t hesitate to contact us—we would be happy to hear from you!