Your search begins with information. You need to learn everything you can about the companies that interest you. The U.S. has a wide range of companies, from large Fortune 500 companies to small business to startups. You need to get to know them. You need to know the types of services or products they offer, the type of people they hire, if they hire international students, and if they offer entry level jobs for college graduates.

Your research goal is to build a list of 20-30 companies or organizations that interest you. For each company you find, answer the question:

• Why do I want to work for this company?
• What jobs am I qualified for?
• How can my experience and knowledge benefit this company?

If you can’t answer these questions, you are not ready to apply for any job at that company.

Your university or college usually has a database of companies that they partner with. You can also search LinkedIn for companies, as well as search platforms like The Muse and WayUp. You can also find lists of innovative or industry-specific companies on popular websites.

During your research, evaluate the job opportunities. Ask yourself if you are qualified for the jobs. If you aren’t qualified, review the job post to see what skills you still need and use your time outside of studying to get those skills.
If you are trying to figure out which companies hire international students, try the free course: How to Find Companies that Sponsor H1B.

Once you understand the type of companies that interest you, you must create the job search materials that communicate your skills to employers. For that you need:

• an action-oriented resume
• a cover letter
• a LinkedIn profile

It is easier to create these materials once you know what type of job you are interested in. Use your research from the previous step to identify which jobs interest you. As you write your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile, use the vocabulary and keywords from job descriptions to match the language of the employer you want to work for.

If you want to stand out even more among candidates, create a professional website. This gives you a chance to show off your personality and interests. If you are in a creative program like advertising or design, or in an engineering program where you build products, or write code, you need to use show off your work beyond a resume and cover letter. Platforms like Portfolium are good for showing off your projects or GitHub for code.

You need to create job search materials that reflect your experience, skills, and personality. The resume is the hardest (and most boring) to create. Once you get finish it, get it reviewed by your career services office and make sure there are zero mistakes. After that you can create your other materials.

To succeed in your job or internship search you need to talk about your professional interests to everyone – faculty, career services staff, strangers you meet at events, people inside of companies, employers who interview you. People can’t help you if you can’t tell them what you are interested in.

You don’t have to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. But you do need to be able to talk about what interests you professionally and your experience at university.

After you have done your research, you will know what types of companies, positions, and ideas interest you. Just as you created job search materials to communicate your skills, you need to create a professional story so you can talk to people about your career interests.

Your story should tell people:

• what you are currently studying
• why you study it
• your professional interests
• what you hope to work in after graduation

Almost all interviews will start off with the employer asking “Tell me about yourself.”  This is where you share your professional story. You want to have a smart, interesting story to tell them. This will help them to get to know you better and help you show off your communication skills and personality.  

Learn how to tell a story that summarizes your academic and professional interests. Then practice sharing it with people you meet. When they ask you about yourself, tell them. Practice your story in different contexts: when talking to a professor, at a career fair, with friends who are also searching for a job. You should have a few stories of different lengths that describe your professional interest.

Every time you look at a company or job post, you should have questions:

• What kind of people does this company hire?
• Does this company hire inexperienced graduates?
• Will this company have an internship opportunity?
• How can I get people in this company to notice me over my competition?

Websites and postings don’t answer these questions. Websites won’t be able to tell you if a company treats their employees well or if a certain department will hire in six months. The websites rarely have advice about what types of people they hire.

To get those answers, you need to interact with people inside the companies that interest you. When you make time to talk with people inside of companies, you get valuable information and build relationships. Sometimes people will tell you about a position that isn’t advertised yet. They may tell you about career paths in their company or how their internship is structured. Most importantly, when you interact with people inside a company, you give them a chance to get to know you. Many employers are nervous to hire international students.

You need to help them get to know you so they will take a chance on you. When you seek advice and perspective from professionals in your areas of interest, you build a army of helpers who want you to succeed.

To start interacting, you need to use informational interviews. Start by finding people to interview who interest you and email them to ask for a time to talk. To be successful in the informational interview, focus on the people, not your future job. That can be hard for students who are under pressure to get a job. But you build relationships by being curious about the person, their company, and sharing your ideas throughout the conversation.

As you prepare to interact with people inside companies, think of yourself as a cultural detective. Employers like candidates who are: Curious about others

• Curious about people and their work
• Curious about people’s perspectives
• Curious about people’s career paths
• Curious about organizations and companies

International students are the most curious students. After all, you’ve come to a new country to learn about the people, language and culture. In this case, informational interviewing is simply learning how to communicate with professionals and learning about different cultures inside American companies.

You may find the interaction part uncomfortable. Many international students do and often skip this step. That’s a huge mistake because people need to get to know you before you apply. For some students reaching out to strangers without an introduction is taboo in their culture. In the US, it is culturally acceptable to email someone you don’t know and ask for an informational interview. Americans value equality and when a student reaches out to learn more about a person and their company, the student shows initiative and motivation, two qualities that are valuable in American culture. Professionals enjoy helping students as they were students one too.

So before you apply to any job, make sure you have interacted with someone inside the company so they know you better.

You are ready to apply to a company when you can answer these questions:

Why do I want to work for this company?

How am I qualified for this job?

How can my experience and knowledge benefit this company?

Check your resume and cover letter to make sure it communicates this information. Visit your career services office to get a resume and cover letter review. Before you apply, send an email to anyone you have talked to inside the company you are applying to and let them know their advice helped you. Tell them which job you are applying to and ask if they have any advice. If this person has a good relationship with you it is likely they will forward your resume to the hiring manager. If not, they may do nothing (which is ok – you can’t pressure them to refer you). Then apply to the job.