Students
Additional Information for International Students
Please be sure you understand the issues related to the possibility of finding employment in the United States, both while in the program and when you graduate. Although we have a number of alumni with backgrounds identical to your own who have secured successful employment upon graduation, we believe that you should have a realistic view of your work opportunities here.
International students on an F-1 visa are not allowed to work anywhere other than on campus for the first nine months they are in the United States, according to US Government policy. While the University does hire foreign students in a variety of roles the competition for these jobs is great and competition for these jobs is great. Occasionally faculty members need assistance with a research project and hire students but this occurs infrequently.
Some international students are able to secure internships through participation in on-campus recruiting, although this is not guaranteed. If you arrive in the US in mid-August you can legally begin in mid-May. If you arrive in the US in January, however, you can not legally take part in a summer internship that begins when spring semester adjourns in May.
Please be aware that many international students do not get internships because most companies use internship performance to determine whether to make a student an offer for a permanent job. Very few companies will hire international students for permanent jobs. Work permits from the US Government are limited, and the quota is usually filled within days of their becoming available. Few companies will use them for HRM employees.
Some international students have been able to get temporary jobs as part of Optional Practical Training, or have continued to work for the hiring organization in their home country after their OPT is over. Others have been able to do an independent study based on a temporary job and can use the Curricular Practical Training option for such a study. Faculty and Staff work with international students to develop work opportunities of both kinds but we are not successful for the majority of international students.
A large number of our recruiting companies have international operations, and may be active in your home country. The best way to find out where the opportunities might be is to research the companies that are coming, and attend all the information sessions for companies that have operations in your home country. ILIR graduates who are familiar with the culture, language and laws of their home countries, and who have been trained in cutting edge HR theory and practice, make particularly attractive candidates for multinational corporations and large national corporations. Follow-up inquiries with international graduates indicate that most international students do get good jobs with global companies in their home countries. Additionally, it is always easier for these global companies to secure a visa to bring a current employee back to the US than it is to secure a visa for a newly-hired international candidate.
Remember that for the HR function within an organization, "fit" with the company culture is a much more important issue than with any other function in that organization. As a result, it's important that you spend as much time as you can improving any deficiencies in your written and spoken English to be a competitive candidate. It is very difficult for a domestic employer to justify making a hire from an international candidate pool if we still have qualified domestic candidates that could be a better fit for their organization. Please ask the career services office if you have questions about where to find writing and presentation workshops on campus. These skills are one big step towards being a more viable candidate for domestic employment.
We do everything we can to provide excellent job-search tools for all of our students, domestic and international, and hope that you will take advantage of ALL of these opportunities. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the career services office.