International Students

Pathways

Get a Job in the United States: Intern during college and work immediately after graduation
Get a Job in a Different Country (Canada, Europe, Australia, etc.)
Gap Year: Volunteer, travel, language learning, certification courses
Get a Job at Home: Work for a multinational firm and transfer abroad
Graduate School: Immediately after Bachelor’s degree
Pursue a Fellowship: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/career/fellowships/what-are-fellowships/

Internship & Job Search

Make an appointment with your career coach through Handshake. Handshake also has jobs and internships listed that you can apply to, but you should utilize more than just Handshake.
Internship and job search resources:
- Handshake– The Career Center’s online portal for professional opportunities on and off-campus. Use your VUnetID and password to access your account.
- Interstride– Interactive portal to support international students in their job search, immigration journey, and community building. Use your VUnetID and password to access your account
- CareerShift– With CareerShift‘s robust company and contact database, users can find current job connections and make meaningful new connections. You can also upload documents, save jobs, and contacts within the system.
- GoinGlobal– GoinGlobal provides links to H-1B visa employers for every state and is an internship search platform.
- MyVisaJobs– Using quantitative modeling methods to analyze labor certifications for H1B Visa and new job openings from visa sponsors, myvisajobs.com provides customized working visa solutions to its users based on their skills and preferences.
- Uniworld– Uniworld provides contact information for headquarters, subsidiaries, branches, and executives of multinational firms with headquarters in over 200 Countries and 20,000 industries.
- H1B Grader– Search, and analyze H1B Sponsoring companies, salaries, approvals from millions of records from Official disclosure data by U.S. Dept. of Labor, USCIS.
- RedBus2US: Information about applying to U.S. schools for M.S., MBA, Ph.D., and F1; applying for an H1B visa, immigration updates, and travel.

Networking

Only 20% of people (probably all Americans) obtain their job or their internship through online applications. So if you spend only your time searching and applying online, you can reasonably assume to have – at most – a 20% chance of getting an internship or job in the U.S., although probably lower because of the additional obstacles you face as non-U.S. citizens. The vast majority – 80% — of people obtain their internship or full-time job directly as a result of networking. Spend your time accordingly: Searching/applying online = 20%. Networking = 80%.
“Networking” is simply talking to and building relationships with people. It is similar to “referrals” common in many other countries and cultures, but also very different in many ways.
Connecting with Employers at Career Fairs for International Students, University of California, Berkeley– This is a PowerPoint presentation was created by UC Berkeley with excellent tips for international students to use for attending Career Fairs seeking work in the U.S.
18 Easy Conversation Starters for Networking Events, Careerealism.com– This quick-read article gives some pointers on how to get conversations started at networking events.
Mastering the Art of Small Talk, Fast Company– This article provides five tips to make conversations great.
Marketing Yourself – International Students, Northwestern University– Here are a few tips from Northwestern University on how to market yourself as an International Student looking for employment in the U.S.
MeetUp– Use this platform for in-person and virtual meet-ups with like-minded professionals in the industries of interest to you.
Vault Networking Tips for International Students

Employment & Immigration

The most important office on campus for you is the International Student & Scholars Services (ISSS) office. You must keep them informed of your status at all times and check with them first when a question arises.
For F1 immigration questions, click here; for J1, click here.
For F1 employment (including CPT/OPT) procedures and questions, click here.
For J1 employment procedures and questions, click here.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Information on how to apply for and get work authorization and application forms you can download.

Additional Resources

Support and Questions

Where can you find support for international students at Vanderbilt? Everywhere! For example, the Career Center, ISSS, ELC, Center for Student Wellbeing.
Searching for an internship or a job is a challenging and stressful process for most students, including most American students. Make an appointment with your career coach through Handshake.
Do you want to connect with fellow international Vanderbilt alumni? Utilize the Vanderbilt Alumni Association platform VUConnect to find alumni in careers of interest to you.
Visit our identity-based page for some great search sites. Make sure to consult with your career coach to talk through how to best use these resources.