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In this episode of Career Guide for International Students, we are thrilled to welcome Shiyun Ye, an inspiring ICAway member, as she takes us through her incredible journey from China to the United States. Shiyun shares how she overcame financial challenges, managed multiple jobs, and navigated career setbacks—such as job offer cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic. With stories of resilience, adaptability, and strategic planning, she offers invaluable insights on securing internships and full-time roles in the financial services industry. Tune in to hear her advice on networking, mentorship, and overcoming sponsorship hurdles, along with powerful lessons on mindfulness and staying present. Whether you’re an international student or someone seeking inspiration, this episode is packed with wisdom for personal and career growth.
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Shiyun Ye: My name is Shiyun Ye. I originally come from China and I came to United States in 2016.
[00:00:07] Shiyun Ye: I am currently working at a fortune 500 company as a private client investment associate in the financial services industry. My journey up till today was not easy, but we can go to details and coach Kwan is certainly playing a big role in my journey.
[00:00:26] Shiyun Ye: So thank you everybody.
[00:00:28] Coach Kwan: Oh, so wonderful. Thank you for being here and , sharing your experience, you know, and your journey with the community. So you said that it wasn’t easy, but you know, at this point, if everyone like, let’s say, look on your LinkedIn profile, they will be saying like, Oh, I want to be her.
[00:00:47] Coach Kwan: I want to be like her. She’s so lucky. Right? Everyone usually say that. And we all say that before, when we were younger, when we see a professional’s life out there, we always say, they are so lucky. I want to be lucky like them. So can you share with our community a little bit? If this depends on luck
[00:01:06] Shiyun Ye: so whether it depends on luck, sometimes I always reflect and think half of it is luck, maybe, but half of it is because we prepared ourselves to the point that when the luck comes, we are able to grab it. That’s how I see it. But of course, sometimes timing is also a big part of it, but we cannot only see that.
[00:01:31] If I have to introduce my journey up
[00:01:35] till
[00:01:35] Shiyun Ye: 2024, and I have to go back so long ago,I came here in 2016, and my first pivotal point comes two years later, was 2018. 2020 was when Coach Kwan came. That’s the most important one, but let me start two years earlier. So, I came here, and I was the straight A student.
[00:01:57] Shiyun Ye: I focused on study only. I got 4. 0 GPA, I was so happy, and something happened in the beginning of 2018. Due to my family’s poor financial decision, I had to cover most of my expenses, including boarding fee, tuition fee, and just smaller expenses. That pushed me to start looking into my career path. That’s why I first started going to Career Center, learning what is LinkedIn, how do I do interview skills, and how do I do network even.
[00:02:33] Shiyun Ye: So, I started working as a cashier at the school’s bookstore, then eventually from there I was able to finally grasp what is interview skills, then I was chosen within campus to be a peer advisor, and then also a tutor. So I had two in campus jobs. When I was a sophomore to junior year. During that time, international students, if we want to work outside of campus, we have to apply for CPT.
[00:03:05] Shiyun Ye: That’s when I did my research on what is CPT, what is OPT, and able to get an internship at a New York boutique wealth management firm. At that time, what this period had taught me was, one, time management is crucial, not only in our career, but also in our life, because I was a full time student trying to save money taking extracurricular, but at the same time, working two on campus jobs, at the same time working a full time internship, so time management is important.
[00:03:40] Shiyun Ye: a good lesson to learn early on. The second lesson from that is a hard pill because that taught me certain sacrifices has to be made in order to survive. The sacrifices I made was my resting time, also a lot of social life. But Without those period, I wouldn’t be able to be where I am today as well.
[00:04:12] Shiyun Ye: Like, that’s a long stretch, but those valuable experiences has taught me these two very hard lessons early on. So that’s lesson in 2018. And then, because of my experiences working. I was able to secure two full-time offers when 2020 comes. I was supposed to graduate in 2019 December because I took extra curriculum.
[00:04:41] Shiyun Ye: My original graduation date is 2020 in May. This is where international students. needs to research a little bit more. In 2019, I learned for international students, we are able to take one lesson or one class in our last semester, if we couldn’t find a job. And this Little, like this small information that I learned saved myself because 2020 happened, COVID happened.
[00:05:13] Shiyun Ye: Even I was able to secure two offers, one from HSBC in Hong Kong, one from Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas. However, in January 2020, HSBC offer was canceled. And then Charles Schwab offer was withdrew because they couldn’t sponsor international students due to budget cut.
[00:05:36] Shiyun Ye: Then what should I rely on? I relied on this small information, enrolled myself in one class. So I’m able to stay in United States as an F1 student. Again, planning ahead was very important. That’s another lesson. However. The difficult part in 2020 was when every company was in hiring freeze, and we were in lockdown.
[00:06:02] Shiyun Ye: We couldn’t go outside to network. And on top of that, I only had nine months in my OPT. So I need to bring up H1B sponsorship. immediately during interviews. No matter I want to push this a little bit further, I cannot. So in 2020, this is when Coach Kwan came into my life because I networked with different people and one other international student has kindly introduced me to this community.
[00:06:35] Shiyun Ye: From there, There are certain lessons I learned. One is certainly the organizing skills Coach Kwan was teaching us about how to organize with Excel with our job searches. The second thing is, networking is not just to go out there and get what we want. Networking is building genuine relationships. Even though we cannot receive what we want today, but if the mutual respect is there, just keep the relationship and we never know, it could be a long lasting friendship.
[00:07:10] Coach Kwan: That’s two lessons I learned from Coach Kwan.That’s wonderful. Wrap up, Shiyun. I’m so proud of you.
[00:07:17] Shiyun Ye: But that’s really what I learned. And that’s why I want to give back to this community a lot. In 2020, that’s when we cannot network. We cannot even go out and feel the social aspect.
[00:07:30] Shiyun Ye: I will say being an international student was very hard because you don’t have family, you don’t have much friends after graduation, and you are in a tunnel vision of trying to find a job. And all you can see is that. the crucial part when somebody else has to pull you out of that. Very narrow vision, and this is what Coach Kwan and this community had helped me.
[00:07:59] Shiyun Ye: I was so anxious, trying to look for a job. Without a job, I feel I was worthless at that moment. However, within the soft skill, hard skill, I was learning and then thinking very hard. What should I do? I believe all international students will be facing these choices a lot when a difficult period came.
[00:08:22] Shiyun Ye: A lot of people will tell us we can go home other set of people will tell us you can keep following your dream but at what expenses. I want to share, in 2020 it wasn’t easy because of the external circumstances. It was a little bit struggle to finally put my eyes in one decision because I always jump back and forth.
[00:08:49] Shiyun Ye: What’s the ending? Like the last straw was the inner voice. So probably that’s where my husband came in years later and telling me, Oh, this is your why. At that time, my inner voice is telling me just try a little bit harder. Because we have come this far. Just try a little bit harder.
[00:09:10] Shiyun Ye: And so the decision in the end was I went to Abercrombie and Fitch and asked them, can you give me a chance to work is your manager with my college degree? However, I don’t need work sponsorship, and I will make sure I study very hard for my GRE so I can get another F1 student visa as a graduate student.
[00:09:34] Shiyun Ye: At that time, I can utilize that work authorization in continuously contributing to you as a manager, and all of this, I will do it myself. with this speech, one of the managers gave me a chance. And I was able to start as an Abercrombie Fitch manager and utilizing the nine months OPT and study very hard with my GRE.
[00:09:56] Shiyun Ye: Fast forward to 2021, I received multiple graduate schools offer, again, financial difficulty, hard choice, how am I gonna fund myself? I already went that far, so I researched a little bit and luckily found an organization that sponsors, I won’t say sponsor, they loan private student loans to international students without cosigner.
[00:10:22] Shiyun Ye: The interest rate was high, but that was my only choice. I decided to take a leap of faith. Yes, this is very important. Just to take the leap of faith, no matter what other people are telling you. I signed the contract. I got the fund for my graduate program. I went to Abercrombie Fitch and I told them I would like to start my graduate school already.
[00:10:45] Shiyun Ye: Is there any way that Abercrombie Fitch is able to sponsor me as H1B? Because I am in a management position. The HR was very nice in the company as well. They actually looked into that, but they couldn’t do it. Due to there will be a gap between my school year and the H 1B, the lottery year. Anyway, fast forward,
[00:11:09] Shiyun Ye:
[00:11:09] Shiyun Ye: So another pivotal point 2021 my graduate school starts. I learned planning ahead was so important. I got an in campus job at the career center at Rutgers. Brunswick University.
[00:11:23] Shiyun Ye: because I work inside the Career Center, I was able to see different network opportunities, different seminars, and different events. From there, I was able to get in touch with a boutique wealth management firm in Jersey City again. Very fortunate they understand sponsorship inside out because they had sponsored people before and they are Chinese.
[00:11:47] Shiyun Ye: So I was able to earn an internship there before I graduate and after I graduate they gave me a full time offer. That’s how I started my career after I graduate school. I believe it was in 2022. those experiences is very, very precious because the knowledge I learned from the industry helped me to move forward with another job opportunity, which is where I am in today.
[00:12:23] Shiyun Ye: The biggest push that made me decided I should look for another job opportunity that may extend my career path to the future. Further, was my husband at that time, he was my boyfriend, but he was so impressed by how international students just keep pushing our limits and keep doing everything we could to be on top of our game.
[00:12:48] Shiyun Ye: He told me in the end of 2022, I am very impressed by you, your personality, your. Strong strive for success, everything. And I wanted to ask you, because he tried to be not offensive, I wanted to ask you if you will be willing to marry me, but not just because It will be easier for your career.
[00:13:15] Shiyun Ye: Just wanted to ask, put it up on the table. See if you would like it. And I will be honest, it took me a month to finally say yes. And that’s the biggest push I decided. Okay. Let me find another opportunity because now I feel my journey as an international student finally reached a peak that I don’t have to go to an interview and the interviewer first question, do you need sponsorship or you do?
[00:13:45] Shiyun Ye: Nevermind. We will talk next time. This experience had happened so many times, but now I have the courage to say I am still in my OPT, but I am in the process of having a permanent work authorization. And that’s up till now, my job search journey.
[00:14:05] Coach Kwan: Wow. It is so inspiring. 100%. One thing that I would like you to share with our friends who are listening to us right now is the question that your husband, asked you when he first met you.
[00:14:20] Coach Kwan: Can you share that one, that question?
[00:14:22] Shiyun Ye: Sure. So when I first met my husband, he asked me this question that I didn’t even think before. So it’s after he learned how international students journey was very hard to find a job. If it’s this difficult and very hard, why do you want to keep trying? What makes you want to stay?
[00:14:49] Shiyun Ye: This question, I have never thought of it myself because I mentioned a tunnel vision or just focus on what’s in hand. We are so focused on our action and I just keep working, keep trying and never stopped and think about why. After thinking about this question for two minutes during that first meeting, I told him it’s because an inner voice was telling me I want to build something of my own.
[00:15:19] Shiyun Ye: And in order to do that, there are obstacles, but In the end, this is our why. I want to build something. He was impressed by that, and I was pretty impressed by this answer myself too. Having this why figured out for myself, it helped to support me in all of my actions later on. And I didn’t know how important this question was.
[00:15:43] Shiyun Ye: And I’m very happy that somebody else brought it up.
[00:15:46] Shiyun Ye: So important. having that. Why? Right. Because the journey whenever you want to achieve something great, there’s a process. There’s a journey. It’s not going to be like winning a lottery because that is less than 1 percent chance, right?yes, yes.
[00:16:04] Shiyun Ye: That’s just very, very hard. The first question you did mention is luck, a crucial part, because we are international students for the lottery, that luck is very important. But we cannot only rely on that. We have to prepare ourselves for every other alternatives and every type of aspects, and then we can sit there and say, let luck be our fate, but we did everything we could.
[00:16:35] Coach Kwan: 100 percent with you on that. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
[00:16:41] Shiyun Ye: Oh, yes.
[00:16:42] Coach Kwan: And Shiyun, you created that luck yourself because you have prepared for it. And when the opportunity knocks on your door, you’re ready to grasp it.
[00:16:54] Shiyun Ye: Thank you so much. I still need to prepare more. And that’s one thing I always want to try harder and harder.
[00:17:01] Coach Kwan: I know. I completely understand. With all of this journey I completely understand that it isn’t a nonstop process, right. It’s a nonstop journey. It’s not like I reached to that point. Now I can just relax and let it roll. It’s not like that. So maybe let us share with our community about your technique to maintain your mindfulness.
[00:17:27] Coach Kwan: To build your professional journey here in the U.S a little bit.
[00:17:31] Shiyun Ye: I see. So, I prepared. Three advices, and the first one is sincerely from my heart, but I do want to warn it could be a little bit hard pill, like a tough pill to swallow. The first advice is we should always be prepared for an unfair game, but never let the negativity get you. The reason is because we know of the role we are playing towards.
[00:18:07] Shiyun Ye: We sometimes will fall under the victim mindset, that why is this happening to us? And why only I am experiencing all of these things? And unfortunately, the way I see it, Yes, it is very hard for me, and I understand it. This is the reality. Recognize it is unfair, unfortunately. But, we cannot let any of it to get to us, because we are the one who owns our story.
[00:18:43] Shiyun Ye: If we want to get out of this reality, we choose to try something else. And that’s the first thing I always do. I hope it helps, but I am afraid it’s a little bit tough. And then the second advice I have for all of our community and even other people who wants to study abroad, but hearing all of our struggles, don’t be afraid.
[00:19:10] Shiyun Ye: Because if I look back, my decision of coming to United States for education is still one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself as an individual growing up. There are three C’s in life, I forgot which book I read it from, but there are three C’s in life. One is chance, choice, and change.
[00:19:32] Shiyun Ye: Our choices today, to take the chance, will be the one that change our life. if I look back, the choice I made to study abroad is the chance I took, and that completely changed my life. this networking call could be the choice you are making today, and could be a chance you’ll be receiving, and might change your life.
[00:20:00] Shiyun Ye: Maybe not immediately, but could be later. That’s a good way to look at it, look at everything you do today. That’s my second advice. Bigger part could be if you want to study abroad or not. Look into this. And then the third advice I will give out is because my culture is very different from the United States culture, when I first came here, there’s so many culture shocks and there’s so many different voices.
[00:20:31] Shiyun Ye: There are temptations, there are different opinions. I usually suggest to reflect daily, weekly, monthly. It’s to help us to build a core belief and to make us not easily be swayed by the outside voices. This internal belief can be different for anyone. It’s different for me, it’s different for you, but your internal belief will help you in the long run.
[00:20:59] Shiyun Ye: Just like how I found my why.
[00:21:02] Coach Kwan: Internal belief. That’s so important.
[00:21:05] Shiyun Ye: Yeah. And this is my three advices or that’s how I deal with my struggles every day.
[00:21:13] Coach Kwan: So important. Chiyun, it came from within.
[00:21:17] Shiyun Ye: Yes. Right.
[00:21:17] Coach Kwan: Build your strength from within. And there will be the unfairness in this game.
[00:21:23] Shiyun Ye: Yeah.
[00:21:24] Coach Kwan: But you have to be prepared for it.
[00:21:26] Shiyun Ye: Yes. Face it because we know it’s there. We cannot deny it. But face it,
[00:21:34] Coach Kwan: yes, yes, and always build backup plans too!, yes, as an international student.
[00:21:42] Shiyun Ye: Yes, that’s actually very important throughout my pivotal points. I do have backup plans. So, for example, while I study for my GRE, I was saving money, too, to make sure if my F1 student visa didn’t go through as a graduate student, if the student loan wasn’t prepared enough, what’s my alternative?
[00:22:08] Shiyun Ye: And of course, the alternative is to go back, but it doesn’t mean just go back, simple as that, where, which city you want to be in, which type of industry you want to be in, the economy is very different, what type of Economy. You really want to stand in all of it.
[00:22:28] Coach Kwan: Yes. And with this, you know changing environment that we are in, right?
[00:22:33] Coach Kwan: Things like change is inevitable these days. We had the pandemic, we had like virtual work and we moved back. The economy hit the banking crisis, and now AI replace human work. What’s going to happen next year? We don’t know.
[00:22:53] Shiyun Ye: We don’t know.
[00:22:54] Coach Kwan: Adaptability is so important. Being resilient and stay, you know, flexible, adaptable.
[00:23:02] Shiyun Ye: Also, another thing is always remember, the only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. That’s how I see it as well. Every day things change. It could be in bigger part or in smaller part of how your hair looks today, how the way you talk today. But be prepared.
[00:23:23] Coach Kwan: Be prepared.
[00:23:25] Coach Kwan: At the same time, be present.
[00:23:29] Shiyun Ye: That’s a good point. do you mind if I ask you, how do we be present?
[00:23:34] Coach Kwan: I don’t mind at all. And thank you so much for asking this question because it means so much to me. during this journey coaching students, I have also seen my younger self in all of them.
[00:23:48] Coach Kwan: And I used to be so worried about my future. thrown back by the past that I, feel disappointed, right? But those are things that don’t serve you. So being present will help you move forward and be able to shape your future. Now to your question, how to be present is about being here.
[00:24:11] Coach Kwan: And now the first thing that is so important is to know how to breathe. Mindful breathing is so important when you start to worry about something. It is common. from time to time worries, anxiety, fears, you know, come to my mind, but how to stop it is to
[00:24:35] Coach Kwan: at least three times and now you become present.
[00:24:39] Shiyun Ye: Exercising also helps giving the chemical in the body that help inject positivity. That will help to become present as well. It just reminds me of a book. I think the book’s title is called The Power of Now. Yes, I have that book too.
[00:24:56] Shiyun Ye: I remember in my most anxious time, I believe it’s between my graduate school is about to start and I was just waiting. Because I was waiting for the new student visa. I just applied for the loan. I actually didn’t know if I will have a job lined up after my graduate school, but I have this loan I need to pay off.
[00:25:21] Shiyun Ye: That was my most anxious time. And that’s when I read the book, The Power of Now. I forgot what it did to me, but I do remember every day for 10 minutes, I will read it in front of. the bench in front of my old apartment. I don’t remember exactly, but I remember the feeling. It was a feeling of listening to the bird, enjoying the sunlight, just A feeling of everything would be fine, but I was still anxious, I will be honest.
[00:25:56] Coach Kwan: That is common, right? But at least you are aware of your anxiety that, okay, right now I have that anxiety. It’s like waking yourself up. From that bad dream.
[00:26:08] Coach Kwan: You are so brave and you’re bold and you keep moving forward.
[00:26:13] Coach Kwan: So where you are right now, you deserve it. And this is just the journey, right? It’s going to be another raft. that will take you to the next destination and you will realize all the things that I have done in the past, it brings me to today. So what I do today, it will bring me to the future.
[00:26:33] Shiyun Ye: Thank you so much.
[00:26:35] Shiyun Ye: It’s a new journey for me at this moment. So I’m still trying to adapt to this new change and hopefully, In the next year or the years forward, we can still get together. I would always love to get back to international student community, no matter which stage I am in, because it’s, it’s just different.
[00:26:57] Shiyun Ye: It’s a different type of job search for us.
[00:27:02] Coach Kwan: And you are doing it right now. You have been helping people in our community sharing your advice, your journey. This is so important for them to be able to listen to you. Oh, thank you so much.
[00:27:15] Coach Kwan: And I’m so happy that you reach out to me, you know, this summer to set up this call for us to talk about all of these important milestones for the students to be aware of.
[00:27:28] Shiyun Ye: Yes, and hopefully in the future, I will be able to help them regarding CPT, OPT, but I know you do an excellent job in that, but if they need the little details of how to talk to international department, how to get that done, I don’t mind helping at all.
[00:27:46] Coach Kwan: Let us do another episode about that. Sure. Okay. Shall we? In the future? Yes, because planning ahead, especially with OPT. Mm hmm. It’s So important. 100 percent with you on that. Yeah, let us plan. Maybe, you know, we can do some other episodes for the students.
[00:28:07] Shiyun Ye: No problem, because I would also like to share the mistake I’ve made.
[00:28:11] Shiyun Ye: I use post OPT as pre OPT without realizing. It’s taking my time out of my post OPT, right? I don’t know if it changed today, but hopefully by sharing this, no one will ever make the same mistake.
[00:28:28] Coach Kwan: Don’t use pre OPT. No. CPT if you can, and if not, that’s okay. Volunteer, you know, in professional organizations.
[00:28:37] Coach Kwan: If you don’t have a CPT, then save your post OPT and always apply for 90 days before graduation, and you can push the date. Further out, if you’re not sure when you’re going to get a job, right, max out to like 60 days after graduation, but never delay the day that you apply for your post OPT, because I know a lot of students who already graduated this summer, they are still waiting for their EAD card.
[00:29:07] Coach Kwan: Yeah, it’s May. Yeah, people that applied for OPT back in April, they are still waiting for EAD card right now. And we are in July. Yes. I advise students to call the USCIS office as well. And they said it’s on track, butthere’s a backlog because I’m not sure how many graduates this year, but this usually happens during spring graduation, because this is the highest amount of.
[00:29:40] Coach Kwan: Graduates, comparing to the winter time.
[00:29:43] Shiyun Ye: I see. Wow. So, when 90 days start hitting, put it in.
[00:29:47] Coach Kwan: Yes. If you’re sure that you are graduating, making sure that you apply for that as early as 90 days before graduation date.
[00:29:56] Shiyun Ye: Wow. I actually know a lot of people will hesitate because they don’t know when’s the first day they should be putting in interviews and those people want to start immediately graduation starts, but what if I don’t get the job?
[00:30:10] Shiyun Ye: And then my starting date I already submitted is July. Yeah, that was a struggle. I remember that.
[00:30:16] Coach Kwan: Yeah, I know. I know. It’s, you know, a process, right? And it’s not just about looking for a job. You have to watch out for those authorizations as well.
[00:30:26] Shiyun Ye: I remember what I did was I really put in my OPT, post OPT, 60 days after, like I extended it as much as possible.
[00:30:37] Shiyun Ye: When I go to interview, I will tell them upfront that my starting day will be this time. And unfortunately did make a lot of opportunities go away. But, I personally still think it’s a good way.
[00:30:56] Coach Kwan: Yes, it really depends, right? Like, if you have a job offer in place, then you should have that start date as early as possible.
[00:31:06] Coach Kwan: But if you don’t, and you, let’s say you plan for, You know, relax a little bit or whatever your plan is, then I would recommend you not towork on that start date by yourself, consult with someone, your academic advisor. Or if you’re part of, ICAway, please always reach out to me so I can help brainstorm that because there are lots of things to consider.
[00:31:34] Shiyun Ye: Yes, different factors at a time. I didn’t know coach Kwan. So, yes, I made the decision myself
[00:31:42] Coach Kwan: well, but you’re here and, you know, you, you have gone through that process.
[00:31:48] Shiyun Ye: Yeah, and hopefully. In the future, other students will be able to learn, so.
[00:31:54] Coach Kwan: Yes, we are trying our best to make sure that we have that on the game plan.
[00:32:01] Shiyun Ye: Yes. So, testimony, Coach Kwan’s lesson is really important. We learn so much, especially so much information on how international students can work around the rules and still be ourselves. That’s very important.
[00:32:19] Coach Kwan: That means so much, Shiyun, coming from you. Yes, how we can thrive through all of this, but remain our authenticity, right?
[00:32:30] Coach Kwan: Well, we have learned so much from your journey today. If anyone has any specific things to ask Shiyun, let’s say if you are listening to us, through YouTube, comment below the video, leave some questions or any other topics that you want Shiyun to share with you in the future.
[00:32:50] Coach Kwan: We can create an episode on that.
[00:32:52] Shiyun Ye: Yes. I would love to share anything you would like to hear.
[00:32:57] Coach Kwan: Wonderful.
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