Are you ready for the real world? A degree does not seem to guarantee employment anymore.

As a young graduate or as a student, you can have a lot of hopes and fears about your future life and especially your career. We know why you worry about it.

When AIESEC tried to probe this scenario using our global YouthSpeak survey, the insights were simply surprising and interesting to record. With over 40,000 responses from 100 countries and territories, the survey insights highlight the need for trust built upon the existing education system through evolution.

61% of millennials plan to become entrepreneurs while 8.7% already are. The question is: are education systems across the world able to accommodate what students actually desire for a career?

Globalisation presents a lot of challenges, but also opportunities. As for the future careers of students, more than 50% believe that professional experience can support the future career development. Research of www.graduatecareers.com mentions that:

Graduates who did any work in their final year were more likely to be employed full-time after graduation than those who did not work while finishing their degree.

It means that employers value experienced students, even if it is outside their field of study. Some students are working part time while studying, but the problem is that many of these jobs cannot really contribute towards their future career.

One of the solutions can be professional internships for students, which can be even more beneficial if the internship is undertaken in another country.

Stuart Fuller, Global Managing Partner at King & Wood Mallesons said:

“You cannot understand Asia by just sitting in Australia or in Europe. Equally you cannot understand Australia or Europe by just sitting in Asia.

My advice for everybody is mobility and global mindset. When you come to do something, you have to use not only your local mindset and the way things you have done things in your particular region or market. You also need a global mindset, to understand how to work in a new and unfamiliar market, see the world through the eyes of different people, and most importantly the need to listen carefully.”

With current political and economic situation in the year 2016, globalisation is not a trend, but a reality. The more students are ready to deal with it, more competitive they can be.

What skills are the most relevant right now?

Nowadays, employers are looking for students that are not only skilled in their professional fields, but are also innovative, responsible, and able to deal with uncertainty and different challenges.

In AIESEC, we call it leadership. We believe that the world needs leadership as a fundamental solution to all the challenges we face, and we also believe that it can be developed in anyone.

We play our part in sending students and recent graduates abroad for volunteering and professional experiences to help them develop their leadership skills and qualities.

Going on global professional internship program can help you develop your self-awareness.

Imagine that for the first time in your life, you will need to deal with new customers in a small start-up, or imagine that you are working in a team with five other interns, and every one of them is from a different country. How would you find the way to communicate with them effectively, how will you develop your own skills to adapt the new style of working and different business etiquette? All of this will make you more self-aware as a person.

Coming from another country and trying to implement new things in a company requires from you ability of empowering others. Overall, spending between two months to one year in a different country and working environment gives you a better understanding of what is happening around the world and the ability to have a global mindset and become a world citizen.

«World citizen», «Self-awareness», «Empowering others» and «solution oriented» are the four qualities we aim to develop in youth through our leadership development model.

Going on the Global Talent or Global Citizen program develops your leadership through a professional or volunteering experience abroad, giving you the environment and opportunity to acquire relevant skills for the real world, making you a prospective employee of every company’s dreams.

If you are a student or recent graduate you can apply for any of AIESEC programs. Find more info on AIESEC Internships