“Nothing opens your mind or your eyes like travel.” – Unknown
Resumes rarely feature a person’s travel history. Frequent travellers have a lot going for them, as you will see from this list. If you are a frequent traveller, make sure you highlight this. If you are an employer, you need to see travel as a definite plus. Here are 10 reasons why frequent travelers make excellent candidates.
1. They don’t limit their personal growth.
Frequent travelers are better positioned to grow as professionals and as persons. Several studies show that qualifications and experiences will count for about 25% of a person’s chances of getting a job. The remaining 75% will depend on their people and communication skills. Traveling provides an ideal training ground for that. They will know how to deal with people from different cultures and backgrounds. In an increasingly globalized world, this will become more and more important.
2. They don’t view change with suspicion.
Globetrotters have a wealth of experience, and this is especially true if they have actually worked abroad. They are much more likely to have a more cosmopolitan view of the world. They are much more open to change and will probably cope with adjustments in staff structuring, reorganization, or other management issues with much greater ease than a candidate who has never left his hometown or state.
3. They don’t mess up their time management.
Frequent travelers are adept at meeting deadlines and sticking to timetables when they have to organize trips and catch planes and trains. Time management skills are honed when the traveller has to see the main city sights in a short time or explore a country in one month. Calculating time, learning from experience, and setting smart travel goals are great skills.
4. They don’t shy away from learning another language.
Frequent travelers usually are keen to learn the language of the country they are visiting. This is the springboard to learning a language really well. If your company is dealing with international clients, it makes good sense to take a candidate with those extra language skills. They will be invaluable for communication, conferences, and networking.
5. They don’t mind moving out of their comfort zone.
Frequent travelers often have to face stressful situations that force them to be resourceful and to push the boundaries of their comfort zones. How many travelers have lost their way, had language problems, missed a flight, or had their passport stolen? This is a true test of how they keep their cool and how they get out of a tricky situation. It is an excellent training for their career because there will be parallel situations where the comfort zone has to be abandoned.
6. They don’t mind working on a team.
Globetrotters often have to collaborate with their friends if they have travelled in a group. This is crucial to how they will perform in a team in the workplace. It is always worth probing the candidate to find out how she contributed to group goals and collaboration on the trip. A good question to ask is what she had to renounce for the good of the group.
7. They don’t neglect their decision-making skills.
Frequent travelers have to make decisions all the time while they are on the go. They have to weigh up the pros and cons of transportation, accommodation, and assessing risks. They also have to be good at prioritizing. These are the same skills that they will bring to the workplace.
8. They don’t panic when there is an emergency.
Frequent travelers love to talk about when things went wrong and they had no money or were in a tight corner. It is here that it is worth listening to how they used their problem solving skills to get out alive. This is usually a good indicator of how they will approach an emergency in the workplace.
9. They don’t have health self-management problems.
Frequent travelers will have their health and well-being continually challenged. It will also be an indication of the precautions they have taken and the planning that went into that. There will be decisions to be made about vaccines, emergency medical care, how they organize their prescriptions, and their emergency health kit. Asking about how they planned for all these will be an indication of how they will deal with self-management on the job.
10. They don’t shy away from innovation.
Frequent travelers are curious. This is what drives them. Their appreciation of diversity will help them to be more creative in their approach to life, ethics, politics, and work. This will be a key factor when they are encouraged to be innovative in the workplace. Innovation is everyone’s job, and if your company is striving to bring in new products, services, or processes, everyone will feel empowered to pursue their creativity. The frequent traveller will usually fit the bill perfectly.
Let us know in the comments how traveling has helped your career take off.
Featured photo credit: Traveler young woman sitting on suitcase. Low contrast effect via shutterstock.com
