I’m frequently asked whether it’s ok to have an informational interview with someone by phone.  It’s always best to have a face to face meeting; that’s what’s going to help you build a relationship with someone.  But if you can’t secure one (and often times it’s just not practical to meet someone in person), then a phone call is fine.  Just know that you’ll probably need to put in a little extra work to be remembered.  And keep in mind that being remembered is most easily accomplished by being helpful.  Spend some time during your phone call trying to understand what the person you’re connecting with might need.

Keep in mind as well, that what will help you be remembered is selecting the right people to connect with.  Do some research in the beginning to target people who are likely to respond well to your outreach and your interest in connecting.  Generally speaking, people who are in your professional field – or field of interest – are going to be easier to connect with.  The best place to start is with your alumni database and former international students who may have also been in a US job search. Sometimes after my book presentations, students will come up to me and ask for an informational interview.  Unless they’re interested in writing a book, selling recruitment services or education media (which are my lines of work at the moment), an informational interview with me isn’t going to be the best use of their time – and I tell them so.

As I explain in my book, the best path to finding an H-1B visa, is through building connections.  If you’re able to connect with someone in your field, and the only way to do it is by phone, definitely make the call!

“Why won’t career services get out there and bring more companies to campus?”  or “Why doesn’t career services convince more companies to sponsor H-1B visas?”  Sound familiar?  International students (particularly international MBA students) around the country ask these questions en masse each year.  They’re all wondering where all the employers are and why career services isn’t providing the jobs they’re expecting.  Continue reading

I’m going to begin this post by saying (as I probably too often do), that I’m not a lawyer.  Everyone in the U.S. is afraid of being sued, and I’m no exception!  So none of this is legal advice.  But ever since I went through the immigration process with my wife (who is from Spain), I discovered that there are quite a few things related to immigration that the average person can do on his or her own.  My wife and I worked through both the J-1 visa (when we were dating) and the K-3 visa (when we were married) and never used an attorney. 

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Applying to jobs online is not a good use of time for a serious job seeker.  One of the reasons for this is because the information contained in a job posting is generally unreliable.  For some details on why, see my blog entry on why you never hear back from the company after applying to a job online. But one particularly useless piece of information in a job posting is the application deadline. 

Most people think that recruiters collect applications online up until the application deadline, and then begin to evaluate who the best candidate is.  Not true.  Continue reading

This post is written for all of the people coming to the US to study this coming Fall.  This entry contains some reasons why, if you want to work in the US after graduation, you should set your job search as an early priority.  If you’ve just graduated and you’re still looking for a job, you’re not alone.  Every year a large number of international students either wait too long to start their job search (amazingly, sometimes even until after spring break), or waste a great deal of time doing the wrong things.  In The International Students Guide to Finding a Job in the United States, I address at length the common mistakes that international students make in their US job search.  Perhaps the biggest mistake is waiting.

International students, particularly MBA students, understan Continue reading

International students get very excited about lists of companies who sponsor H-1B visas.  These lists are readily available on the Internet (usually for a fee), and are compiled from public information gathered by the US Department of Labor.  These lists of ‘H-1B sponsors’ usually show the title of the position sponsored, the salary paid, and the name of the company sponsoring.  It’s good to review these lists from time to time in order to remind yourself that there are, in fact, many companies who sponsor H-1B’s each year.  However, these lists are far less valuable than you may think.  Here’s why:

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International students always want to know when the best time is to reveal that they require sponsorship.  The most important thing to remember is that you should always be up front when someone asks you directly what your work status is.  If you don’t have full time U.S. work authorization, don’t tell a recruiter that you do simply because you have OPT.  It’s mis-leading and I speak more about this issue in my OPT to H-1B blog entry.  Being clear about your work status when asked about it is critical to establishing trust.  So if someone asks, tell them you require sponsorship for full-time employment. Continue reading

I was giving a presentation at Baruch College in New York City last Friday.  And as I typically do in al my presentations, I made the point that international students shouldn’t invest time trying to get a job through HR department representatives – particularly if the compay has a policy against sponsoring visas.  The reason why is because recruiters aren’t typically empowered to overturn hiring policy even if they want to.  What I didn’t have time to mention in my presentation at Baruch is that lots of HR people actually do want to.  But they can’t. 

HR recruiters like to fill jobs; many of them get paid commission based on their fills and lots of them are likely to feel Continue reading

Career fairs can be useful for getting an employee’s perspective on a company that might interest you; or maybe to get insights into what new things the company will be doing. Career fairs can also be useful practice grounds for making converation, connecting with people, practicing your English, and potentially connecting with alumni from your school.  But beyond the general company information angle, career fairs have pretty limited value for international students.  Here’s why: Continue reading

Follow up always gives people fits. And in my opinion, it’s harder than actually setting up the first meeting.  The reason why it’s challenging is because follow up communication has to deliver some value.  You’ve got to say something.  I’ve received (and unfortunately sent) many meaningless post-meeting emails like the following:  “Hi Mr. Jones, Just thought I’d send you a note to follow up.  Best Regards, Dan” 

What is the recipient supposed to do with this?  After quickly deleting the message, what further motivation does your Continue reading