Yes, the evidence suggests that Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) help your career: the European Commission's own studies link international mobility to lower unemployment, faster hiring, more job offers, and the skills employers say they want. Youth Works Hub goes through what the studies found and how to turn your own experience into something a recruiter can see. Our guide on what Erasmus+ is explains the programme, and what the European Solidarity Corps is explains the other one.
Last updated: October 2026.
Do Erasmus graduates have lower unemployment?
Yes: graduates with international experience are half as likely to experience long-term unemployment compared with those who have not studied or trained abroad and, five years after graduation, their unemployment rate is 23% lower. The Erasmus Impact Study of the European Commission, from September 2014, is the largest of its kind and received feedback from nearly 80 000 respondents including students and businesses. Both findings point the same way: time abroad is associated with a stronger position in the job market. Our guide on Erasmus+ vs regular study abroad compares the two routes.
Do Erasmus traineeships lead to job offers?
Yes: the Erasmus Impact Study reveals that more than one in three Erasmus trainees is offered a position at the enterprise where they do their traineeship. The Higher Education Impact study of 2019 found that nearly half of Erasmus+ trainees were offered a job in the company where they trained. Erasmus trainees are also more entrepreneurial than their stay-at-home counterparts: 1 in 10 has started their own company and more than 3 out of 4 plan to, or can imagine doing so. A placement abroad is not just a line on your CV; for a lot of people it becomes the door into a first job. Our guide on paid internships abroad explains how funded traineeships work.
What do employers value in people who have been abroad?
The study shows that 92% of employers are looking for personality traits boosted by the programme such as tolerance, confidence, problem-solving skills, curiosity, knowing one's strengths/weaknesses, and decisiveness when making a recruitment decision. Staff with international experience are given greater professional responsibility according to 64% of employers. Employers are not just impressed by the destination; they value the person you become. Time abroad builds competences that are hard to teach in a classroom: communicating across a language and culture gap, working in a diverse team toward a shared goal, adapting quickly when plans and surroundings change, and taking initiative and solving problems independently. Our guide on what non-formal education is explains how this kind of learning works.
Do you get hired faster after Erasmus+?
Yes: the Higher Education Impact study found that 80 percent of Erasmus+ graduates are employed within three months of graduation, with 72 percent stating their Erasmus+ experience helped them land their first job. Nine in ten Erasmus+ alumni say they make use of the skills and experiences acquired abroad in their daily work. Over 70% of former Erasmus+ students say that they have a better understanding of what they want to do in their future careers when they return from abroad. For this study almost 77 000 responses were analysed, including from around 47 000 Erasmus+ students, 12 000 graduates and 10 000 staff members with Erasmus+ experience. Speed to first job matters, and mobility appears to help.
Does ESC volunteering help your career too?
Yes: 83% of participants in the European Solidarity Corps reported improved personal and professional development. In the European Solidarity Corps, 91% of participants felt more capable of making meaningful social change. ESC volunteers gain a foreign language used as a tool in daily life, independent living, professional experience in real organisations, and project and organisation skills. In job interviews the attitude you show often makes the difference. Our guide on how volunteers turn ESC into a professional career shows how it plays out in real lives, and is ESC volunteering worth it weighs it up honestly.
Do bold claims about leadership positions hold up?
No: the claims about very high shares of participants reaching leadership positions years later are not part of the well-evidenced findings above. The well-evidenced findings are the ones on unemployment, hiring speed, job offers and employer preferences. Treat bolder claims online with care.
How do you make the experience count on your CV?
Document it: claim your Youthpass, put the competences on your Europass CV, and write specific, results-focused lines. Every young person taking part in European Solidarity Corps activities is entitled to go through the Youthpass process and receive a Youthpass certificate at the end of the process. Youthpass identifies and documents the competences developed during the project. Youthpass is recognised in practice by employers and universities.
When you put the experience on your CV, write the organisation's name and your task description, not just "I volunteered", and give concrete results: how many people you reached, how many activities you ran, in which language you worked. A documented experience beats an undocumented one. Our guides on what Youthpass is, how to prepare your Europass CV, how to put Youthpass on your CV and LinkedIn and exact ESC CV bullet points go through each step.
Frequently asked questions
Does Erasmus+ really help you get a job?
Yes: 80 percent of Erasmus+ graduates are employed within three months of graduation, with 72 percent stating their Erasmus+ experience helped them land their first job. Our guide on paid internships abroad covers the traineeship route.
How much lower is unemployment for Erasmus graduates?
Graduates with international experience are half as likely to experience long-term unemployment compared with those who have not studied or trained abroad and, five years after graduation, their unemployment rate is 23% lower. Our guide on Erasmus+ vs regular study abroad compares the two routes.
Do employers care about time abroad?
Yes: 92% of employers are looking for personality traits boosted by the programme, and staff with international experience are given greater professional responsibility according to 64% of employers. Our guide on what non-formal education is explains how these traits are built.
Does ESC volunteering help your career too, not just study exchanges?
Yes: 83% of participants in the European Solidarity Corps reported improved personal and professional development. Our guide on how volunteers turn ESC into a professional career shows how it plays out in real lives.
How do you prove this to an employer?
Claim your Youthpass, add the competences to your Europass CV, and write specific, results-focused bullet points about what you did. Our guide on how to put Youthpass on your CV and LinkedIn shows how.
Find your next step
Youth Works Hub has a Match page that finds projects suited to you; using Match requires an account on the site, and signing up with Google is available but not required. The Youth Works Hub pages below cover the next steps.
Related pages: is ESC volunteering worth it · what Youthpass is · how to prepare your Europass CV · paid internships abroad · how volunteers turn ESC into a professional career
👉 ESC projects: youthworkshub.org/?tab=esc-projects
👉 Erasmus+ projects: youthworkshub.org/?tab=erasmus-projects
