Excel Your Career With Our Top 5 Holiday Networking Tips
Dear Coach Kwan,
This is my first year in the States after the pandemic and I will be graduating soon. I know networking is important, and I heard the holiday season could be a great time to network. How can I optimize this holiday seasons in the US for networking post-pandemic?
What To Do When Your 90-Day OPT Unemployment Is Running Out
Five Steps To Take If You Are Unemployed Under Optional Practical Training (OPT) I get a lot of messages from international students such as the one above as their 90-day OPT unemployment allowance period comes to an end. Many new graduates hoped that three months would be enough time to secure a job offer. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible in reality. The job market is tough to crack, and it is even more challenging to find jobs as an international student. If you are in this situation, please take a deep breath and follow the 5 steps below: 1) Start being specific about your career goal Employers will hire you because you have the right skills to solve their business problems and you are passionate about helping them achieve their business goals. Don’t just blindly apply. You need to narrow down your job search. Be more specific about the jobs you are applying for and which industries you are applying to. For instance, if you are an MBA international student, your career paths and job opportunities for MBA graduates can be various such as Management Consultant, Marketing Manager, Sales Manager, etc. If you have been distributing your resume to multiple companies in different roles, please pause and think about your specific skill sets and past experience. Find your selling points for your job applications. If you are open to any job, you will not be a strong candidate. 2) Target a stepping stone for your OPT Since you have a limited amount of time, larger companies may not be the right target as there are multiple layers to the hiring process. Look for small to medium-sized companies that have been around for more than 5 years with sustainable revenue. Those companies can be flexible with their hiring policy and might not have a vast talent pool like large global companies. Many of them are willing to hire international students if they are short of manpower and urgently need skilled candidates. After you have built your profile and expanded your knowledge in the industry with these companies, you will become a more desirable candidate and become ready to jump into bigger companies. Most large companies select to sponsor experienced hires over entry-level candidates. 3) Spend only 10% of your time on online job application On average, only 2% of online applicants are called in for interviews. For international students, the odds are even tougher. It is sad that not all jobs posted online clearly indicate whether or not they hire international students. You need to use other methods. Spend 90% of your time connecting with your target professionals. Use your connections and really put yourself out there. You might hear about great opportunities from the most unlikely sources. Remember: if you don’t put yourself out there, people won’t know you exist and are available. 4) Develop a Plan B for Your OPT Find options that allow you to stay past the 90 days period. The term “employed” is not as specific as you might think. Find a job that is related to your course of study. Paid or unpaid job doesn’t matter. It will help stop the 90-day unemployment allowance clock. Please always contact your International Student Services Office at your college or university. Your DSO is the person who can approve if the job is compatible with your OPT. In a normal situation, the OPT job needs to require at least 20 hours a week. However, duration the COVID-19 emergency, SEVP considers students who are working in their OPT opportunities fewer than 20 hours a week as engaged in OPT. See this announcement, Find other options, such as temporary jobs or volunteering positions, that will allow you to remain in the country. Please contact your International Student Services at your school to ensure eligibility. If you are not familiar with the job market and specific industries, it is tough for students to find jobs within 3 months. If you don’t have connections, your search time will augment to an average of 5 to 6 months. Maintain your status with your plan B and continue your full-time job searching! 5) Find a Community to Support You Join a community that helps you move forward. You can build your professional skills and connect with professionals via many professional affiliations. For example; joining Ascend Leadership will give you the opportunity to learn from so many inspiring Asian leaders in the US. At ICAway, we also have a WhatsApp group for International Students so please make sure that you check this out today and request to join our group! Do you want to get more tips on this topic? Check out these resources:
Introducing “Lift as We Climb”: Mentorship for Our Community
Nobody achieves success alone. We all need communities of people to support, and who support us, to build each other up and provide unique and helpful insight. In this way, anyone can succeed. ICAway aims to support a community of international students, immigrants, and leaders who want to pay it forward.
“Lift as We Climb” Mentorship program seeks to help build students’ ability to create mentor/mentee relationships.
True Stories: Turning Job [Rejections] Into Job [Offers]
Hear the journeys of three international job candidates who overcame barriers and landed their dream jobs in the US. By Amanda Rosenberg There is a clear disparity that international students and immigrants in the US face when finding jobs. From lacking knowledge on the US job system to work permits (CPT/OPT/H-1B) to not having professional connections, international job candidates often find that these barriers prevent them from getting jobs in the US. We are looking to bridge that disparity for international students by providing them with the tools and job search skill training they need to land a job in the US. Since 2017, ICAway has had a 100% success rate with the one-on-one 90-day intensive program and over 90% of students who joined the ICAway Talent Platform landed jobs in the US. Here are just a few stories of students who used ICAway to achieve their dreams. Trang Vu – “I was uncertain about my post-graduation outcome” Dr. Trang Vu studied chemistry at Pennsylvania State University before receiving her PHD of cosmetic science at University of Cincinnati. Vu is a self proclaimed “skin care junkie” and has always dreamed of working with cosmetics. She is now the R&D scientist at Unilever. Naisargi Dave – “I wanted to change my job while I was on OPT” Dave received a civil engineering degree in India from the Gujarat Technical University, then received a masters in environmental engineering from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Now, she works as an Environmental Scientist with a private company called EA Engineering. Mario Aguilar Méndez – “I didn’t have a degree and connections in the US” After graduating from Private University of Bolivia in electromechanical engineering, Aguilar Méndez received a Masters in automation and robotics in Spain at Universitat Ramon Llull. Aguilar Méndez now works at Deloitte as an Oracle Business Analyst. Challenges and Barriers Finding a job is always challenging, but there are unique barriers that many international students have to overcome. Our three students each struggled to overcome one specific barrier in applying for jobs. Trang Vu’s biggest barrier was ensuring a job post-graduation. According to Vu, “Finding a job as an international student has always been a challenge. So, I started my job search early on” Despite her early start, Vu “continued to apply for jobs for months and only received rejections for a very long time”. Vu’s challenge would be to ensure a job after graduation. Naisargi Dave struggled with her career future when she decided to change jobs. She recalls, “when I graduated, this research job came along, however a few years into the job, I realized that it’s not where my heart is at. I still like my work in environmental engineering and science. I made the decision to change jobs right on my OPT.” Keeping this in mind, Dave said, “I had to convince my employer that this was a work permit that would expire at some point.” Dave’s challenge was to find an opportunity to switch jobs without it affecting her OPT and future H-1B. Mario Lacking connections in your new country can be really influential on job searches as well. Aguilar Méndez said, “I didn’t have a clear vision of what I wanted…I was trying to apply everywhere. I didn’t know how to sell myself in the network of the United States.” Aguilar Méndez’s challenge was a lack of knowledge on the US job market. Overcoming Difficulties No challenge is overcome without some difficulties along the way. All three of our students experienced this for themselves, when issues arose that affected their job searches. Trang Vu recounted her roadblock, saying “When I got a job offer and I told them I would need a sponsorship, they took back the offer.” Although Vu had the qualifications to work the jobs she wanted, she got rejected due to her immigration status. Naisargi Dave struggled with selling herself to employers, causing networking connections to falter. She said, “After I joined ICAway, my outlook completely changed. I started looking at it as a two-way-street and tried to make networking a lot more meaningful. Then I was really confident when I was giving my answers in interviews.” Mario Not having knowledge of the US job market makes it difficult to decipher the correct job-achieving strategies. Aguilar Méndez recalled, “I only connected with one or two people, but that was it. I had no clue how to get an interview or make connections.” By overcoming this barrier, Aguilar Méndez says his “transformation has been huge…I got different skills and approaches to networking…and achieved a job offer with your gameplan and your coaching.” Becoming Success Stories What brings together our three students is their stories and journey to success. After dealing with their individual struggles, each student joined ICAway. Through this, they were able to overcome all barriers and launch their dream careers. Trang Vu excitedly remembers, “Eventually I landed the job of my dreams…I got connected to people who are very high ranking on Linkedin, like the CEO and VP of R&D…I got connected to Unilever, a week after I talked with them, I received a job offer.” Having had set up connections for herself, Vu was able to find a job that she loved. Naisargi Dave was able to change jobs as she had hoped. She explained, “Everything worked out, I joined ICAway, I met a lot of people going through the same thing, and I thought ‘oh, it’s no big deal,’ it sort of gave me the strength to go through that process…I definitely network a lot more after joining ICAway.” Dave also gained perspective since her journey. She said, “By being from a different culture, by being from a different country, having studied in this country, graduating in the middle of a pandemic, you already bring a lot more to the team and to the work than usual. Even though you feel like you have no experience, you have really good resilience, which is very
[Five Tips] to Convert an Internship to a [Full-time Job]
Dear Coach Kwan, I’ve recently started an internship at a company that I really like and I love working with this team! I was hoping you could provide some tips on how to improve my chances of landing a full-time position after this internship. Can you help? Sincerely, A highly determined international student Creating Your Game Plan to Successfully Convert Internships to Full-Time Jobs First, congratulations on this internship opportunity! This is a milestone that you should be very proud of. I am also happy to hear that you like the company and the team you’re working with! That’s a great start. To anticipate if this role will turn into a full-time position or not, let us look at these general factors: Is their business doing well? Do they have consistent revenue or funding with no risk from the pandemic? Is your position a core function of the business? Will you have access to senior management level or key decision-making of hiring? Once you have evaluated these factors and you said yes to all of the above, let us move on to a checklist that will help you turn this opportunity into a full-time position. 1. Be a good operator The first thing is very simple. Be at your best on what you are here for. Whatever role you got hired for, ensure that you meet all the requirements of your current assignments with minimal to no errors. Be very detail-oriented and ask questions if you don’t understand. Show your supervisor that you are committed to excellence, and poor quality work is not your style. 2. Be a great communicator Just delivering quality assignments is not enough. It is important that you communicate consistently with your team and team manager on the progress of your work or any issues you encounter. Sometimes things don’t go your way, and some young students tend to drop the ball instead of carrying on the task until it reaches its goal. When working in a team, you don’t need to be perfect, but you need to be responsible and communicate well so that everyone knows where you’re at. 3. Socialize with people All after-work events are great when everything is reopened! During this pandemic, due to ongoing social distancing, you may ask to set up a 1:1 meeting (when the timing is right) with key people in each team you are collaborating with or wish to collaborate with. Again, this is not part of the job, but it will help you build a relationship and a sense of camaraderie with your coworkers. Ask about their background, share your stories, and find some commonalities, and ask them how you can help them. Also, ask what their expectations are from you and your team. 4. Go beyond your role Don’t just stay within your assignment. Think holistically like you’re the leader of the company or department. Ask yourself, what are some things that the team can do more to add value or solve the problem, or things that need to be more simplified? When you make a suggestion and gain buy-in from the leader, offer your time to work on it, and solve the problem. 5. Speak in the meetings For any international students, sometimes, due to the culture that we grew up in, we tend to avoid speaking at meetings when we are not sure or we don’t want to interrupt others when they are speaking or if you are not asked to speak. However, in the US, if you don’t speak, it can indicate so many negative thoughts such as you don’t care or you don’t understand. Show up and speak up in the meetings. Make a commitment to that. Always say something in each meeting and share your ideas. If you feel unsure about the wordings you can use. Check these 100 most useful phrases for business meetings. The next step is to ask to present in the meeting. Make sure that key decision-makers recognize your name and your contributions to the company. This is a red carpet for a full-time offer! I hope these checklist items are easy to follow! Again, job performance is important but cultural fit is a deal-breaker! Please follow the above checklist and move your way up to a full-time position in your company! Free Three-Week Career Strategy Series In this 3-week strategy, you’ll find some great examples like… How to plan your career strategy based on your situation How to create an effective networking game plan to turn your new connections into your mentors and job referrals in the future How to build your brand on a resume, LinkedIn profile, and much more to draw recruiters to you Please tell us about yourself and I’ll send your personalized tips to your inbox! Let’s listen to Andrew – How he converted his temporary job to a full-time job. https://youtu.be/Y6zXWtfVxYI Learn more about ICAway Talent Platform, Click Here About Coach Kwan Kwan is an experienced human-capital consultant. Her past corporate experience includes global organizations like Deloitte, Accenture, and BMW. Kwan moved to the U.S. in 2014, earned her Senior Professional HR certification from HRIC, and joined one of the world’s most prestigious consulting firms as a Senior Consultant of Human Capital Consulting Practice and managed multiple projects for Fortune 500 clients. Today, Kwan is the CEO and Founder of ICAway, an educational consulting firm based out of Chicago. Our mission is to be an empowering community for international students and light the way for students to find jobs in the U.S. Connect with Coach Kwan on LinkedIn
10 Ways to Stay on Top of Job Searching during COVID-19 (and the Trump Administration)
Dear Coach Kwan, I’m an international student who recently graduated in the class of 2020 from a notable university. However, I have limited work experience and minimal connections, but I’m looking for a job in the United States. I know it can be hard for international students to stand out among a crowd, and the pandemic is making me really worried about landing a job. It seems like job markets are failing and I’m anxious I won’t get anything on time, as my OPT is about to start soon and I’m on a very tight timeline. I am looking for some help. What advice can you give about staying strong during COVID-19? Sincerely,An international 2020 graduate Without any crisis, an average job opening attracts 250 resumes and only 2 percent of those applicants will be called for an interview. And since the COVID-19 crisis, U.S. internship hiring has been cut in half and the estimates for the 2019-2020 academic year indicate a total of 3,898,000 college graduates in the United States. That’s the challenge every new graduate in the U.S. faces. For international students, your challenges will double if you go through traditional career search – waiting for the job to be open, applying online, waiting for an interview opportunity. When you receive the first phone call, the recruiter will ask about your immigration status and they may say, “We don’t have a policy to sponsor international students.” This is a kind of situation that many talented international students usually stumble through and lose their chances to present their skills in front of the hiring managers. 3 Ways of Thinking about the Job Market Right Now My heart goes out to all of you who just graduated without a job offer in place. With all of the pandemic challenges and the limitation of OPT timeline and unemployment allowance, we are all in a racing mode when searching for jobs. During this pandemic and an ongoing attempt from the Trump administration to impose new restrictions on students who want to work in the United States after graduation on Optional Practical Training (OPT), you are a race car driving on a track where the conditions are more challenging than ever. To win this race, you need to stay: Strategic, Resilient and Mindful. In this article, I’d like to provide you with ten ways to help you achieve these three ways of thinking. Being Strategic 1) Monitor the job market. Monitor the job market on a weekly basis. Look at which industries are hiring and in which parts of the country. Gear toward the industries that are hiring, and stay tuned to our Facebook page as we will share job posting movements by industries every Monday. 2) Know who you need to talk to. According to Payscale.com, there could be as much as 80 percent of new jobs that are never listed but are instead filled internally or via networking. So stop spending so much time on online job applications–it won’t work! Jobs that are posted at this time might not be hiring. Spend 90 percent of your time finding the right people to connect and build meaningful connections with. Don’t ask for a referral right away; it is the biggest turn off if you want someone to advocate for you during your job search. Be patient, but do it right. Use friendly yet concise messages, and show interest in the person you want to connect with. 3) Use a calendar for time management. As I’ve been coaching a lot of students, I see that not many young talents have learned how to use their calendar effectively. During your job search, you need to have a clear work plan. For example, which day and time during the week you should look for new job postings: don’t waste time on ones that were posted over a week ago, as jobless numbers have been skyrocketing. Be mindful of when the best time to apply for a job is, and when the best time to connect with people is. Use your calendar wisely. 4) Find a stepping stone. Many students just focus on big tech firms or consulting firms in their job search. There are lots of companies that are hiring, and many people don’t know about them. Those are the companies you can target. Once you have built your expertise and compelling stories from working in a smaller company, you will have higher chances of getting into those Fortune 500 companies. Some smaller companies also serve well-known clients. This is a golden opportunity for you to build brands working with those top clients as well, in turn building your resume. Being Resilient 5) Move on after you did your best. All you need is one win. Never spend days wondering why you didn’t get a result from your interview last week yet, or trying to predict an interviewer’s behavior (for example, thinking they haven’t called because they don’t like you). You are wasting your time putting yourself through that mindset. Do your best in each interview. Send personalized and memorable thank you notes. Then, move onto the next job interview. Job application is not a numbers game (read about that here), but job interviews are. You need to get weekly job interviews; if not, there’s something you need to fix. Each job interview will help you grow and become better at each round. For many of us international students, English is not our mother tongue. The more interviews you get, the better communicator you will be. You will become at ease about interviewing, and when the right job comes at the right time, it will be yours. 6) Take a small break in between, and know when to do that. Know your limit, and don’t sweat it if you need to take a break. We can compare the job process to a race car track. In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refueling, new tires, repairs, and mechanical adjustments. Just like in