By Don Goldstein

Photo by Christina @ WOCInTechChat.com on Unsplash

This is the second post in our two-part series on enhancing the U.S. job search for international students.

In my last post, I reviewed important aspects of the job search for international students, including cultural norms, networking, expanding your knowledge, and researching opportunities. This week, we cover 5 more important tips, including interviewing, negotiating, and strategizing.

5 More Points to Succeed in Your U.S. Job Search

1. Do Practice Interviews at our Office (Especially If You Haven’t Had a Job Interview in the U.S. Before)

I can guarantee that doing a practice (mock) interview with one of our career advisers will reduce the stress of an actual interview and significantly improve your performance. One tip for international students: if during an interview, particularly on the phone, you didn’t hear or didn’t understand the question, ask the interviewer to repeat or clarify. It’s much better than trying to guess at what they said.

2. It Is Not Impolite to Negotiate a Job Offer

When you are so happy to get a job offer, there is always a temptation to accept on the spot. Don’t do it!

After receiving the written offer, you will be given some time to ask questions, get clarifications, and possibly negotiate for better salary and conditions. After you receive a job offer, a negotiation process is often expected, particularly in the private sector. In fact, it is a really good opportunity because, with the offer, they have shown they really want you and they would rather not open up the hiring process again. In other areas like nonprofits or higher education administration, there may be less of a possibility to negotiate.

It is not impolite to negotiate, but it should be done in a polite manner and should not become a long, drawn-out process. You might be negotiating vacation days, working from home, and relocation expenses, but first and foremost you will probably be negotiating about salary, and you need to be prepared by knowing what is the expected salary level for this position in this company or industry. There are resources such as Salary.com or Glassdoor that can help you, but the best way is to find out from insiders, people who work in the industry. There is a cultural sensitivity in the U.S. about asking people to reveal their salaries, but you could tell them your offer and ask whether they think it’s fair.

3. Be Wary of Job Search Scams

Last fall, there was a spate of job search scams, preying on students who, because of the pandemic, were more desperate and therefore more susceptible. First of all, don’t assume that because a posting is on a reputable job board that it’s automatically legitimate. There are thousands of postings and not all of them are vetted.

Here are some identifying characteristics of job search scams:

• You are emailed about a job posting that claims to have gotten your information and a recommendation from a specific CUNY professor or a career center. (A number of CUNY professors were hacked last fall!)
• You are being asked for sensitive personal information or they are giving you instructions to use your personal bank account that they say will be reimbursed. Never make a check deposit to your personal account at the request of an “employer.”
• They are immediately focusing on how much money you will make.
• You are being offered a position without an interview process.
• They are using a generic email address, not from a company domain; the website looks fake or minimalist; or there are spelling errors and it looks unprofessional.
• If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

I want to add a note about independent recruiters who may contact you through LinkedIn. Most of them are legitimate and may have ties to companies you are interested in. Legitimate recruiters receive a fee from those companies. If any recruiter asks you for money, though, it’s a scam. The best way to work with recruiters is through recommendations that you’ve gotten from others.

Another borderline scam is as part of a company recruitment process, i.e., you are being asked to complete a complicated and time-consuming project. That may be a way of getting free work out of talented students.

If you have any doubts, contact our office. Don’t act hastily or rashly. Better safe than sorry.

4. Develop an International Job Search Strategy and a Plan B

Not to be a downer or a smasher of dreams, but you have to realistically consider that you might not land a job that allows you to stay in the U.S. Develop a back-up plan that might streamline your job search back home by working or interning for an organization here that also exists in your home country. Also, consider other countries. Canada, for instance, our friendly neighbor to the north is much more open to granting work visas to skilled international students than the United States.

5. Follow and Utilize the Office of Career Planning and Professional Development

In this blog post (and the last), I could not address every problem or situation that you will encounter in your job search process. That’s why one-on-one, individual career advising is so important. Do make an appointment with one of our career advisers to review your job search documents, develop an individual job search strategy, and do a mock interview. Take a look at our library of past webinars and podcasts and watch the ones that are appropriate for you. Sign up for our mailing list so that you can stay current with our programming including new webinars and podcasts, panel discussions, workshops, and employer information sessions.