Tulane University Freeman School BLOG

Hey Everyone,

Several people asked to hear from an international student about what the job search is like. I sent some emails around and got Max Correa, a real star student, from Chile to respond to your concerns. Welcome, Max!

Max writes:

Every international student knows that it is harder to get employed in the US, to be honest for the longest time I blamed the H1B visa problem for a lot of things. At first I was concerned/angry/disappointed and many other words I don’t even know how to spell. Many companies coming to campus would simply refuse to look at international student’s resumes.

Fortunately we have the CMC, they offer a wide variety of tools to get employment and unlike many of my classmates, I felt the urge to use them early on.

Yes sure it would be really nice to sit at school and wait for companies to draft me, but the truth is that happens but not too often, especially not to international students. Fortunately resources to get a job are there for us to use, and with a class size of roughly 70 there are widely available. Furthermore, when I mentioned my H1B concern to the CMC, they went ahead and bought access to a database of companies that sponsor H1B, giving me thousands of prospects for me to pursue.

I went in and fix my resume (a couple of times); I did mock interviews; checked e-recruit frequently; wrote to my mentor (Mentor program); practice more mock interview with friends (American students can really give you feedback on how to tell stories); attended the seminars; went to Freeman days New York, Houston, NASHMBA (partially funded by the school), and attended about every company visit to school. Even with all that I did not fully use the whole spectrum of tools that they are available, I did not think of a company I would like to work for, and go ask for Alumni to give me recommendations to get hired there (Probably the most effective tool to land your dream job).

I did get several interesting offers to choose from (by several I mean more than 2), and the issue of an H1B visa never even came up. I was never denied an interview because I am an international student, or because our school is not a focus school for the company. I believe that if the company does not sponsor H1B visas, then they probably don’t have any good use for your cultural difference, nor your experience, so you would not want to work there anyways!

My recommendation is to forget that you are an international student, it is easy to think that you don’t get selected because of our status, but the truth is that a lot of U.S. citizens don’t get called for interviews either so there is nothing to worry, just get more applications out there and work your contacts (Network, which you will hear a lot during the first semester).

Finally and to close this post, it is easily blame the world for having visas, and the school for not having more companies on-campus, and New Orleans for being away from NY and SF, and Katrina for depressing an economy, and Bear Stearns for going under and leaving me with one less choice. The truth is that the school and the CMC have the resources for you to overcome all that, your classmates (soon to be friends) will help you improve your interviewing skills, second year students (us) will give you advise, tips and contacts, and alumni most likely will return your calls, so there is nothing to complain.

Cheers and I am hoping to meet you all this summer or this incoming year.

Max

Thanks, Max! If you have more questions, post them in the comments! - Will

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