Sunday, June 23, 2013

Money | guardian.co.uk: Interviewers don't understand my European experience

Money | guardian.co.uk
Articles published by guardian.co.uk Money
Interviewers don't understand my European experience
Jun 24th 2013, 06:00

How do I sell the fact that I have worked abroad as an asset, in both application forms and interviews?

Each Friday and Monday we publish the problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Guardian Money supplement so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy's own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?

After a few years working in internships and six-month contracts in Brussels, I want to make the move back to the UK. However, whenever I have had interviews before, most of the time the interviewer does not understand this "European experience". I don't want to come across as aloof or sound patronising in interviews, but most interviewers don't know what this entails.

My background is law, although I am not a lawyer. At the moment I am applying for legal traineeships, paralegal jobs, policy jobs, NGOs, research and media. I thought that getting international experience would look good on my CV – which it does – although some people feel intimidated by it.

I have a master's in Law with Merit (higher than a 2:1, but not a 1), but only a 2:2 undergraduate degree in law, which also hinders a lot of my applications. I am fluent in French and have basic knowledge of Spanish. My present job entails high-level policy work.

How do I sell my experience and qualifications as an asset, in both application forms and in interviews?

• Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy's and readers' help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@guardian.co.uk. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or reply personally


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