{"id":2579,"date":"2016-03-03T10:51:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T15:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=2579"},"modified":"2025-10-17T17:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T21:11:56","slug":"boosting-career-prospects","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/boosting-career-prospects\/","title":{"rendered":"Boosting Career Prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Boosting Career Prospects\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Standing out in the competitive job market can often be a challenge for new graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Nasrallah, a policy officer at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission<\/a> and former Carleton University graduate student, says going on a student exchange can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It sets you apart from others and provides you with a sense of confidence you might not have had,” says Nasrallah. “I\u2019ve learned that it makes for a great conversation when interviewing for a job, especially when the university you attended is well recognized internationally.”<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image image=”2586″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nasrallah spent a semester in Paris attending Sciences Po University<\/a>. She lived in a tiny studio by herself in the heart of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“My exchange experience consisted of plenty of croissants, baguettes, cheese, strolls along the Seine with new friends and school work.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After the semester was over, she spent a month and a half travelling in Europe and the Middle East before returning to Ottawa. While abroad, some of her most fond memories involved exploring France\u2019s fine cuisine, including a six-hour meal on top of the Eiffel Tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nasrallah graduated with an MA from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA)<\/a> in November 2015. She chose NPSIA because of its reputation, location, co-op option, strong alumni and the variety of courses it offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carleton
Carleton University graduate student Jessica Nasrallah in front of The Seine in Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nasrallah dreams of one day opening up her own caf\u00e9. As to whether she plans on returning to the city of light, she says: “Paris is always a good idea.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Master\u2019s student Neil Hauer, who is in his third year at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (EURUS) program<\/a>, agrees that a student exchange is a great opportunity. In 2015, Hauer spent the better part of a year in St. Petersburg, Russia while attending Saint Petersburg State University (SPSU)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The city is stunning \u2013 massive cathedrals and monuments everywhere, and the architectural style is very much evocative of a 19th-century great European power. It\u2019s very lively and there\u2019s little cultural shock to be had in the city, aside from the occasional time when you stumble across a recruitment booth looking for volunteers to fight in Donetsk.”<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image image=”2591″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hauer says studying abroad gives you a very different experience than you get in the classroom. “I found it helped me understand the realities of Russian daily life and the views of average Russians to a much greater degree.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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“It can challenge your perceptions \u2013 narratives that I had trouble believing were actually commonly accepted \u2013 which is something that might not occur to you without experiencing it firsthand.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After leaving St. Petersburg, Hauer spent another two months travelling and working on his language skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carleton University Master\u2019s student Neil Hauer is in his third year at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (EURUS) program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“I had taken three years of Russian before visiting so I had a good handle on grammar, but I could barely put a spoken sentence together when I got there. Now I\u2019m conversational in the language and can read at a pretty advanced level.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hauer intends on going back to Russia and spending a few years working there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more about Carleton\u2019s student exchange program by going to this website<\/a>. Carleton offers exchange opportunities with over 190 partner institutions in more than 30 countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standing out in the competitive job market can often be a challenge for new graduates. Jessica Nasrallah, a policy officer at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and former Carleton University graduate student, says going on a student exchange can help. “It sets you apart from others and provides you with a sense of confidence you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25],"cu_story_tag":[1923,1926],"class_list":["post-2579","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-graduate-studies","cu_story_tag-international"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/2579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/2579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97778,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/2579\/revisions\/97778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=2579"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=2579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}