By Colter Billings, Chao Guo, and Yujing Zhao
Although US academic institutions are welcoming international students, the job market after education is shrinking for them. Graduation season for international students marks not only the beginning of the next stage of life, but the debilitating start for deciding whether to stay in the U.S. or return home.
They face more challenges than resident students when applying for jobs, either due to the language barrier or culture differences, but they are not fighting alone, and there is always help out there.
Living in the U.S. is never their primary goal, chasing their dream job is.
1. International Job Hunting
Many international students want to stay in the U.S. after completing their education, and the job hunting process is never easy. If they want to stay, they have to find a job or an internship that will sponsor them through a lottery. If they cannot find a job or failed in the working visa lottery, then those international students have to go back home.
Wenjia Wang is an MIT graduate and it took her six months to find a job. She describes herself and her work on her personal website (https://wenjia.squarespace.com/).
“Wenjia Wang is an engineer by practice, but an artist/hippie at heart.”
(Wenjia wang’s paintings posted on her website. Some rights reserved.)
With all her achievements in engineering and art, this talented woman still got rejected by almost all of the corporations she applied to at the beginning of her job hunting process. The language barrier seemed to be the biggest problem that held her back from expressing herself during a job interview.
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“Everything Always Works Out OK in the End.”
There are many organizations available to help international students find jobs.
While some international students may need to improve their interview or communication skills, or need a career center to help them develop documents like resumes and cover letters, there are some offices that love to help students.
Ellen Goldman is the Associate Director of Career Development Department at Northeastern which is in charge of holding and planning job searching workshops for international students.
Christi Barb is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern University, as well as an Accentologist & Intercultural Communication Coach. She devoted herself to training students in modifying their accents and speech related skills, as well as providing job interview instructions through her workshops in collaboration with the Career Development Department at Northeastern (http://www.northeastern.edu/careers/).
More information about Dr. Barb is available at: http://www.adastraspeech.com/
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A blend of China and America: International Students and their Businesses
It’s hard for international students to find a job, let alone start a business. However, many international students are pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams in Boston.
For those young entrepreneurs, living in the U.S. with different cultural backgrounds is something they can take advantage of when starting a business by combining cultural customs to attract new clients.
Wow Barbecue is a restaurant and food truck business that aims to bring a new definition of Chinese style barbecue to Boston. Similarly, the co-founder of Born in Union combines Asian aesthetics with Western street style to produce high-end fashion that is both affordable and attractive for college students and people around the world. Zhisheng Liang, brings to Boston his business of the rarely seen outdoor party activities, inspired by a famous Korean TV show “Running Man”.
(Photo credit to Borninunion.com, some rights reserved.)
(Photo credit to wowbarbecue.com, some rights reserved.)
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