Job Search Strategies for International Students

Today I decided to talk about something that caused me trouble since my freshmen year for job search. Although job search and hunt is a little bit more complicated and time-consuming for international students. don’t be discouraged. You have all the resources you need to find a good internship or job. Although some companies do not accept international students or sponsors visas for full-time jobs, there are many more out there that do hire internationals.

The first tool you can use is the H1-B database located inside the CDC website. If you click on the Students tab on the left hand side and then go to Tips for International Students, you will see many websites listed on the bottom of the page that specifically help international students looking for jobs. The first and the most-extensive one is the H1-B database, you can type in the name of the company that you’re interested in and see if they sponsored any visas before.

The second important thing is having your JobFinder information 100% complete. The JobFinder database uses the personal information you enter when you search for jobs and automatically decide if you qualify for a job or not. If a company is not accepting international students, a red warning sign might show on their job post as ‘You do not qualify for this job’ and if you click on the position, it will tell you that your applicant type does not match the position. If you see such a message, do not get discouraged. Go below on the job post and read under the sections that say ‘Requirements’ or ‘Work Authorization. If nothing is indicated about not hiring international, but the post does not let you apply, you can email the contact person listed in the post and follow-up with them.

Another thing you can use is the business card database. The CDC front office has a database of business cards for all employees who attended WPI so far and who let CDC scan their business cards. You can use this database to find a contact person in the company that you’re interested in. I hope this information eases things a little bit. Be agressive and never give up, I’m sure you’ll end up with an internship or job you like. Good luck!

Evy