Student Union
- By Olena
Finding Work Experience in the US: What I Learned (and What I Wish I'd Known)
At this point in the year, international students like myself are starting to think about what to do for the summer. If you’re an international student and you haven’t started thinking about it yet, you should.
It’s not always easy to find a good internship or summer job that will provide you with valuable work experience, a good line on your resume, the chance to be in a different part of the country, and networking opportunities in your field.
But here’s one thing I learned from my experience finding work last summer: If you’re capable of getting admitted to an American university, you’re also capable of finding some decent work experience for the summer. You just have to apply the same dedication in how you research job opportunities and prepare your resumes.
And you should also have the same willingness to rely on the resources available to you, including people who have been through it before. Having gotten used to relying entirely on myself, I didn’t take advantage of other resources that could have helped me. In the end I did get a job I really liked working at a school in California, but it cost me a lot more pain than it needed to.
I talked to a bunch of my friends to find out what advice they could give me (and you!) for applying to jobs and internships this summer, and here’s some of what they suggested and some of what I learned through my own experiences.
Resume
You might be surprised at how much you need to modify your resume to fit American standards. When I first decided to apply to internships in the U.S., a good friend of mine, who is American, showed me her CV and then spent at least an hour explaining how and why I had to make certain changes in my resume.
I was actually converting my resume into a CV, which is what you’re expected to submit for teaching positions, and I had to add lots of stuff, such as minor part-time jobs, presentations, conferences, projects I've been working on, etc. Now my CV runs 4 pages and it will become longer in the future.
But this is not the best format for everyone’s resume. For college students, probably, your education is the biggest asset, so it should come in the beginning of the resume. It's so different for different cases. That's why university career centers can be very helpful in compiling your resume - they'll help you get the right emphasis and format for your resume.
Finding Job Openings
Internet search
Some general job sites I found useful...
http://www.usaintern.com/
http://www.uloop.com/
http://www.internmatch.com/
http://www.internships.com/
http://www.internshipprograms.com/
http://www.experience.com/
http://www.idealist.org/
http://www.simplyhired.com/
When I started looking for summer jobs last year, I knew I wanted to do something related to teaching English as a second language. I started out just looking on websites that post job listings, and found some that were specific to ESL teaching. And ultimately this is how I ended up finding my job.
I think the fact that I found some specialized job sites was important. The internet is the biggest pool to fish out a job, but the search can be overwhelming if you don’t narrow it down. You can ask your professors if there are some specialized websites containing job offers for your particular field.
Networking
But, actually, among my friends I was the only one who found a job this way. Most people I know got their summer jobs through networking. You’ve probably heard of the importance of being “in the right place at the right time,” but it also helps a lot to be connected to “the right people.”
One of my friends contacted the organization she had worked for in her home country, and they offered her a paid summer internship. Some other guys asked their fellow countrymen and got referred to particular websites or people.
I hope I’ll be able to use networking to help me get a job for this summer. The head teacher at the school where I ended up working last summer said she would recommend me for a job at another school she used to work at.
Career fairs
I should just mention career fairs as a resource for finding out about jobs. My university, like many others, holds a career fair a few times a year and invites employers from different fields to talk about their job opportunities.
A standard career fair (Photo: Gabe Chmielewski/Mays Communications)
Start early
This is probably the biggest piece of advice I wish I had taken when I was job hunting last year. I started my search in mid-April, which turned out to be too late.
Several times I found myself in the situation when I had gone through a tiring process of completing an application only to discover that the job I wanted to get had been already given to someone else. I found out that sometimes employers don’t indicate the exact closing date for applications, and leave the job posting up even if the position’s already been filled.
I got in touch with the company where I ended up working in late May, and applied to work as an English teacher for international students. But all the positions had already been assigned by the time I submitted my application. The company ended up offering me a position as a welfare leader instead. I did like the job, but it wasn’t what I had been hoping to get.
Also keep in mind...
When it comes to summer employment for international students, there are two main factors to consider: whether you will get paid for the work you will be doing (many internships are unpaid) and whether you are eligible to work for that particular organization (many employ only U.S. citizens and green card holders).
Private businesses are usually the most flexible about money and eligibility issues. In fact, most of my friends and I got their employment within private sector.
And one final thought. You might get rejected. Everybody gets rejected at some point while looking for a job. I know I did, and I’m sure I will again. Don’t let rejections frustrate you. Instead, analyze critically why you haven’t been offered this job, learn your lesson, and continue your search.
Good luck with all your endeavors! Trust yourself and believe in the best!
P.S. – Thanks to everybody who inspired me in writing this article and helped me by offering their suggestions!
See all News Updates of the Day
- By VOA News
International students have options to pay for grad school
![Children play outside Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus in Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 2024.](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-c0a6-08dcc2504f9d_w250_r1_s.jpg)
U.S. News & World Report tackles the challenges of paying for grad school as an international student with this story giving tips on paying for school. Read the full story here. (August 2024)
- By Tracy Liu
Economics, tensions blamed for Chinese students shifting from US to Australia, Britain
![FILE - Chinese students wait outside the U.S. Embassy for their visa application interviews, May 2, 2012, in Beijing.](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-4fea-08dc96d3d82c_cx0_cy5_cw0_w250_r1_s.jpg)
U.S. universities are welcoming international students as the academic year begins. But while the total number of foreign students is steadily growing, the top sending country, China, is showing signs of leveling out or shrinking.
Industry analysts say the negative trend is mainly due to higher costs amid China’s struggling economy, with a growing number of students going to less expensive countries like Australia and Britain, and tense ties between Washington and Beijing.
The number of foreign students studying in the U.S. in 2022-23 passed 1 million for the first time since the COVID pandemic, said Open Doors, an information resource on international students and scholars.
While the U.S. saw a nearly 12% total increase year-on-year for that period, the number of international students from China, its top source, fell by 0.2% to 289,526.
That’s 600 fewer students than the 2021-22 academic year, when their numbers dropped by nearly 9%. The COVID pandemic saw Chinese student numbers drop in 2020-21 by nearly 15%, in line with the world total drop.
While it’s not yet clear if the drop is a leveling out or a fluctuating decline, analysts say China’s struggling economy and the high cost of studying in the U.S. are the main reasons for the fall in student numbers.
Vincent Chen, a Chinese study abroad consultant based in Shanghai, said although most of his clients are still interested in studying in the U.S., there is a clear downward trend, while applicants for Anglophone universities in Australia and Britain have been increasing.
"If you just want to go abroad, a one-year master's degree in the U.K. is much cheaper,” Chen said. “Many people can't afford to study in the U.S., so they have to settle for the next best thing."
Data from the nonprofit U.S. group College Board Research shows that in the 2023-24 academic year, the average tuition and fees for a U.S. private college four-year education increased 4% to $41,540 compared with the previous academic year.
The British Council said three to four years of undergraduate tuition in Britain starts as low as $15,000.
The number of Chinese students in Britain was 154,260 in 2022-23, according to the U.K. Higher Education Statistics Agency, HESA, up from 121,145 in the 2018/19 academic year.
Australia’s Home Affairs office said in the 2023-24 program year, China was the top source foreign country for new student visa grants at 43,389, up slightly (1.5%) from the previous year.
Chen said Chinese state media's negative portrayal of the United States and concerns about discrimination have also contributed to the shift.
Bruce Zhang, a Chinese citizen who received his master's degree in Europe after studying in China, told VOA Mandarin he had such an incident occur to him after he was admitted to a U.S. university’s Ph.D. program.
When he entered Boston's Logan International Airport last year, Zhang said customs officers questioned him for more than an hour about his research, and if it had any links to the military, and took his computer and mobile phone for examination.
"Fortunately, I had heard that U.S. customs might be stringent in inspecting Chinese students, so I had relatively few study-related data and documents on my personal computer," he said.
Zhang was allowed to enter the U.S. for his studies in materials science, but the questioning left him so rattled that he has encouraged other Chinese to study elsewhere.
Cui Kai, a study abroad consultant in Massachusetts told VOA Mandarin that experiences like Zhang’s or worse happen for a reason.
"Students who were questioned or their visas were revoked at the customs are usually those who completed their undergraduate studies in China and come to the U.S. for a master's or doctoral degree in a sensitive major," said Cui.
Former President Donald Trump signed Proclamation 10043 in June 2020, prohibiting visas for any Chinese student who “has been employed by, studied at, or conducted research at or on behalf of, an entity in the PRC that implements or supports the PRC's “military-civil fusion strategy.”
The U.S. says China has been using students and scholars to gain access to key technology and, under Proclamation 10043, revoked more than 1,000 visas issued to Chinese nationals and has denied thousands more.
Critics say the policy is costly to the U.S. and is encouraging Chinese students to look to European and other universities.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
- By VOA News
Duolingo report details the reality of Gen Z international students
![FILE - A Dartmouth Athletics banner hangs outside Alumni Gymnasium on the Dartmouth University campus in Hanover, NH, March 5, 2024.](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-e46b-08dcc24fe52c_cx0_cy9_cw0_w250_r1_s.jpg)
A report by Duolingo takes a look at the experiences of Gen Z international students studying in the U.S., Australia and the U.K, The Pie reports.
The report, the site says, debunks "characterizations of them as 'tech-obsessed, attention-deficit and self-centered'" and highlights "their emerging role in shaping global politics and economics."
Read the full story here. (August 2024)
- By VOA News
School with the lowest costs for international students
![FILE - A newly printed U.S. dollar bill is shown at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 8, 2022.](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-5bb0-08dba10bf4ed_w250_r1_s.jpg)
U.S. News & World Report crunched the numbers and came up with a list of 20 U.S. colleges and universities with annual total costs at or below $20,184. Check out these best bargains for international students here. (August 2024)
- By VOA News
How to make the most of schools' international student services
![FILE - Students walk down Jayhawk Boulevard, the main street through the main University of Kansas campus, in Lawrence, Kansas, April 12, 2024.](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-b8af-08dca145cc99_w250_r1_s.jpg)
U.S. colleges and universities offer a variety of services for international students.
U.S. News & World Report takes a look at them and details how to best use them. Read the article here. (June 2024)