#27- Crossing Borders Building Careers Starting the Job Hunt Within Higher Education
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
position, international students, institution, faculty, work, students, visa, job, share, research, higher education, michaela, sponsor, international student advisor, started, supervisor, industry, find, student affairs, resume
SPEAKERS
Hanna Lee, Michaela Dengg, Katie Koo, Laura Vaughn
Crossing Borders Building Careers Starting the Job Hunt Within Higher Education
Katie Koo 00:00
I am an associate professor and student affairs program at the University of Georgia. This is my third year at my current institution, and my seventh year as a fulltime faculty member. I’ve been to two different places before working for my current institution. And I research international students and minoritized students mental health and well being that’s my major research agenda. ACPA is my professional home. I am beloved member, and also leader of the global commission. I used to be faculty in residence for the global commission. So I’m so happy to be here. And with my wonderful colleagues, thank you for having me.
Hanna Lee 00:50
Hi, everyone. I’m Hanna. Thanks for joining today. I work as an international student advisor, it has been five years since I started this position. I work with international students who will get a degree from my institution, as well as exchange students. And one unique thing about me is that I got my bachelor’s from Korea. So as someone who didn’t go to school here, landing in higher ed job after graduation was not easy. So I would like to share what are my struggles and how I navigated those times. So I’m really excited to be here. And I hope to inspire some of you and hope you can get some takeaways from today’s panel discussion.
Michaela Dengg 01:37
Hi, everyone, I’m so excited to be here. My name is Michaela Dengg, and I just defended my dissertation on Friday, I can’t believe it’s finally over. Thank you. So I guess I’m Dr. Michaela Dengg now that still sounds weird. And I getting my degree in Educational Studies with a focus on higher education and student affairs. And in my research for my dissertation, I specifically focused on international students. And I also work in career services at The Ohio State University where I also just got my degree from an I’m currently just starting the job search in the industries, I’m looking to get a job in industry with my PhD. And we’d love to share a little bit about how that is going things to look out for things that are a little bit different when it comes to faculty and administrative positions and things like that. So thank you all for joining. All
Laura Vaughn 02:31
Thank you to all of our panelists for being here. So we will go ahead and get started. And for our audience, if you have questions that you would like to ask our panelists, I like to hold them for a little bit in case the question you were asking is one of our prepared questions, but maybe around the halfway point, so around 12: 30, or maybe 11: 30 or 10: 30 your time, if you could start typing in your questions into the chat at that time, we will then work to answer them. So we’ll start off with our first question, which is: Tell us about your first job search within US higher education after graduation. And Dr. Koo, would you be willing to kick us off?
Katie Koo 03:14
Sure. So my background, I did my PhD in student affairs and my student affairs PhD degree was the counseling background, counseling based Student Affairs degree. And I have a pretty interesting educational background because my other degrees are counseling and I used to work as a mental health counselor with the license. So well, instead of me talking about my counseling, job search, during you know, between in my degrees, let me talk about faculty job search, because that’s what I I was more aiming for. So, I was graduating, I graduated spring 2012 With my PhD, like other very typical, you know, faculty job search or anyone i i try to apply as many places as possible. And I even applied to outside of the US jobs. I applied to the third countries, Canadian universities, University in Dubai, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, just to maximize the chances that I got in. So, like for the faculty job search, you know, the first round is that the reviewers will screen your, your application and then they invite the zoom or Skype or the first round of interview. And once you get into that second level and you are invited to the campus visit which is sometimes two days or three days or one day, campus visit. You will meet a bunch of different people, the leaders, faculty, colleagues, grant office, students, administrators, and then you wrap up your interview. So that was pretty much a brief summary of my first job search, as our faculty candidate. Many more stories to come.
Michaela Dengg 05:26
Great, I’m happy to go next. Because that is actively the phase that I’m in right now. And I kind of want to talk a little bit about how I got here. So I went into this PhD and into grad to graduate school knowing very well that the faculty life wasn’t really for me, maybe admin, but I was always more looking into industry. And I started out by looking for resources that would tailor my my experiences towards that particular industry, because it is a very, very different job search strategy from faculty or even administration or positions in higher education, just because they demand different things. So one of the big differences is that you need a resume, often a one page resume instead of a very long CV. So I was looking and encourage everyone, if that is the route, you want to go go down on, to look for webinars, look for resources that can help you with that, because in higher education, we use CVS, and we are very proud to put all of our conferences on there and all of our papers, and it is so incredibly difficult to reduce that to just a one page resume, it really, really is. So find resources, find webinars online that helps you do that. And just be on the lookout for what the differences are in the application packages as well. What does the cover letter in industry look like versus higher education and things like that. And then I would also briefly like to talk about finding kind of your niche. If you are currently in grad school, if you’re getting a PhD. Your industry isn’t the obvious route, like usually you get a PhD to become faculty to work at a higher education institution, but you have incredible skills that are very transferable to industry as well. But you need to know how to market them. So again, find the career services office, at your university, look for other websites and kind of look for how can I market the skills that I that I developed in school and market that to industry. So very obvious paths are some think tanks that you research or just in general, companies that do research, market research, UX research is up and coming, all of your research skills are very, very applicable in industry. For me personally, since I got my degree in Educational Studies and higher education, I’m looking at consulting groups, so kind of the in between between a business world but still serving higher education helping higher education from the industry side. So that is what I’m currently looking at. And again, networking, networking, networking, reaching out to people, honestly, just cold messaging people on LinkedIn, asking for so called informational interviews, where you just meet with someone for 30 minutes and have them tell you about their work, how they got that job is so incredibly helpful to really get your footing in the industry world.
Hanna Lee 08:40
I cannot agree with you more Michaela. You just shared what I was gonna say I should have gone first. So I will just tweak it a little bit and then say it from the administrator’s perspective. So as I said, I got my bachelor’s from an institution in Korea. And when I started my master’s program, that’s when I also immigrated to this country. So my visa status was very unique. I couldn’t be more international than other international students but my visa status status was domestic. So after I graduated after I got my master’s degree, that’s when I really had to find a position as a practitioner or administrator that I could work for college students. And so I started with the campus resources like Michaela shared. So I don’t like meeting strangers too, especially if English is not your first language. You can be really intimidated when you go to public or big meetings where you meet with a lot of people that you don’t know. But I thought I had to push myself because that’s where I could start, and that’s the opportunity that was laid out in front of me. So that’s where I started. So I went to the alumni events where higher ed program alumni were there And so, to my surprise, they were willing to help. So what I did was I just placed myself into the event. And I didn’t really say that much. But they were there to help me, they provided all the help or websites where I could find positions, or I could create notifications based on my interests. So for me, because I do have an international background, I wanted to find an advising position for international students. So they, you know, like, told me or showed me how I could create notifications where I can find International Student Advisor positions in higher ed in the United States. So that’s where I started, and I am happy to share all the websites that I know, some of the positions are on website A, but you may not be on website B. So when you especially if you’re looking for the first higher ed position, I will recommend looking at different places, so you can increase the chance that you will find a position. So um, there’s some send the chat down here, and I will share the websites that I know personally. And so that’s how I was looking for a position. And as Mikaela also shared that I think it’s really important to know how to market yourself, how to sell yourself. And so for me as a bilingual, which means this is a fancy word to say English is not my first language, right? I had to come up with a way that I could showcase my skills and knowledge and visualize those so my employer can see beyond my English level, right. So what I came up with was a portfolio. So I brought the file that I organized the work that I took when I was in undergrad and grad. So let’s say if the job description says that you need organizing skills, or you need to have some kind of experience that you work with students, then the posters or Excel file that I created as a student that I worked with other students, that’s what I took a screenshot, and I print it out for my first position. And then I just placed them in the in the in the folder. I will share more later. But just to fast forward, I failed to land in higher ed when I tried for the first time. So it took me one and a half years to get in higher ed after I got my master’s degree, so more to come. But I want to share it that the portfolio strategy kind of worked for me, because when I showed my portfolio to my boss now, he didn’t really take a closer look at the point back then. But he shared later that he thought that if I was really wanted to show me what are the skills and knowledge that I have, even though he didn’t take a close look at it, he knew that I’m confident about what I’m what I was showing to them. So if you’re an international student, if English is not your first language, I would highly recommend utilizing those visual resources. So your employer possible employer can see what are your strengths and what are projects that you are working on, which would increase the chance that you can lead a higher education position in the United States.
Hanna Lee 10:25
Wonderful, thank you all for your fantastic answers. So the next question that we’ll be asking is what was the hardest part of the job search?
Michaela Dengg 13:40
I have talked both working for Career Services through my graduate assistantship here. And just personally, I’ve talked to a lot of people who all of them said in the end, what it comes down to is luck. There is a lot of ghost jobs out there, there is a lot of jobs that are being posted, where people already have someone in mind who just have to post it because they have to. And it can get incredibly discouraging getting one denial, one rejection after another. And I think the hardest part is to not take it personally. Because it is yes, it’s about what you can bring to the table, how you can sell yourself and, and this is not just coming from me this is coming from many, many career services and from many, many professionals for many people who have jobs now is sometimes you just need a little bit luck of luck. And you gotta keep going and you can’t get discouraged even though it really feels like it. And I think something that I forgot to mention earlier is you know, sometimes a unicorn job will pop out and over and you will get the job and you will start next week but start early. Really start early, which I know is we have so many things to do already and then to think about the job search while you’re actively finishing a degree and things like that. It isn’t exciting, but with industry jobs, they usually hire about six months out. So I’ve been told to start applying six months out, maybe go up until three months. So it’s really something that you have to keep in mind. And as international students, of course, and we’re going to talk about this a little bit later, there’s all the hiccups with the visa, right? There’s all the hiccups with the sponsorship, so it can get even longer. So, as international students, I know we’re all on top of our game, otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. But keep keep up the good game and keep thinking forward and keep thinking months in advance, so you don’t run into a wall later on.
Hanna Lee 15:38
Um, so for me, the hardest part has to do with the language again. So for me, what if precedents were the most challenging questions that I could get as a candidate? So for example, I still remember, one of the institutions asked me, So let’s say I am hosting an event. And there is landscaping going on outside, how would you deal with the situation? The problem is, I didn’t know what is landscaping, if this person said that, like, how would you handle the case when there’s a lawn mowing going on? Then? I wouldn’t, I would have understood that. But I didn’t know what the landscape meant. So those are the hardest part for me. And that never happened in my five years of higher ed, where the landscape is keeping us going off-site. So those are the things that you go through as an international student. Other examples are like, if the student is struggling with this issue, how would you handle this situation? So those are the things that made me, oh, like, I don’t know, like if this is the best answer, because again, I didn’t go unit, the US university for my bachelor’s. So what registers do and what student accounts do, and why other offices do, understanding how other offices function in higher ed is really important for administrators. This may not apply to the faculty positions. But if you’re looking for administrators some position, then it will be really helpful for you to understand what each office does on campus. So I would recommend doing your research and see oh, if this if the student has issues with a bill, then that will go to student accounts. And you may not know all the answers if you don’t have practical work experience. So I will say for this type of scenario, I would ask my supervisor to seek clarification. So just brainstorm your answers to what-if questions, because that was the most challenging part for me. And other things that I will share is I see, I know we’re gonna answer the questions later. But the challenging part for international students has to do with the visa status. And so one thing that I will say is job postings, some of them will say that this position is not sponsoring visa. So those are the automatic rejections for international students. So I would avoid those job post positions, postings. And if the job posting doesn’t say that that would not support the visa, then I would say go for it. Because they might really be looking for global talent like us like you, right? So I would say go for it. And when you go further with the interview process, and they will bring it up or you can bring it up. But yes, there are positions where a green card, permanent residency or US citizenship are required. Those are the things that you can plan for the long term career plan. So because of the visa status, you might not be able to apply for that position at this point. But that doesn’t mean that that would not happen in your lifetime. So I would say start your career in higher ed with other positions. And then after you go through the state employment-based visa like h one B and permanent residency, that’s when you can apply for those positions so you can plan your career to be suitable for the International Student Advisor position after five years or six years or eight years. So again, it took me years for me to land in higher ed position. I think that’s one of the things that we cannot lie to ourselves that everything will be okay like I will get the advisor position because those roles require permanent residency and US citizenship, but we can plan our career so we will get there eventually. So that’s what I want to share with the attendees today.
Katie Koo 19:52
Thank you so much for sharing your great experiences Hannah and Michaela Well, I Guess that by by this time audience will be so overwhelmed by all the informations and stories. And I’m sad to add more overwhelming stories. So I want to be more positive in my occasion. So searching for the faculty job. So this is a case for the doctoral candidates who are looking for the faculty job in the field. And the one of the hardest part for me was that I’m fighting against my dear colleagues, my dear friends, because as you know, higher education, counseling or student appears, this is such a small world. Everybody knows everyone. And since I had a very specific research agenda, and the direction of scholarship, my CV and my research agenda were very, very specific. So I will say that I was competing against other candidates who are getting PhD, and who are also advancing their career. So I thought that I was fighting against the fresh PhD, and also the current faculty members, which I thought of when I lose the game. Well, anyways, you just need a one job right one position that you get. So that was one of the hardest part, but I tried to overcome that notion or bad mindset, okay, I can just need one, I just need one job, one position, one call. Other than that, you know, as any other doctoral candidate, during your last year, you are finishing up your dissertation. So you’re writing your book for 200 300 pages long book. And most doctoral students are doing some research work, maybe part of the research fellowship or research assistantship. So you are expected to work for 20 hours for your research fellowship, plus, I was working for the University Counseling Center at that time, so I was juggling among different type of job that I was completing. And also you have your own life, you have family, you have your other life, and you are not just applying for one job, you are applying for multiple job. So your zoom interview, or your on campus visit interview, those are all overlapped. And by this time, it’s NASPA or ACPA season. So you have multiple things in your agenda, multiple things on your plate. So you are just working on those things under a lot of pressure under a lot of stress. So that was one of the hardest part. Um, you know, actually being on campus visit interview, you’re meeting multiple people, you’re meeting with the dean, you’re meeting with the provost, sometimes, if you’re, if you’re applying for a teaching institution, you may have a chance to meet with the president of the of the college. And other than that, I mean, your summit with the faculty, colleagues, your students, your future student, your your future colleagues, your future staff. So it’s just so hard just to get into that service of the meetings, you sometimes you don’t even have a time to go to restroom, your stomach is empty, as you keep talking. And as you keep presenting something. So you know, in that public space, without really having having a rest, that’s pretty overwhelming process. But I want to say that that’s for one day or two day or three days. And after the interview, you come back, you’re home, and then you have this rest for maybe one day and that you continue to work on your dissertation. So that was my life during that last year of you know, a PhD degree. But the best thing is that it’s passed and passes a pass. And then, you know, that’s all the necessary process. So I just wanted to briefly share about the hardest part. I’m happy to share more about it later, individually as well. Thank you for listening.
Laura Vaughn 24:20
Great, thank you for your wonderful answer. So let’s go to something a little bit more positive. What was the easiest part of the job search? And Hannah, would you like to kick us off?
Hanna Lee 24:30
What was the easiest part of the job search? I can’t really think of other than being honest. So I will say keeping a list of job positions that I applied for, and customizing the job resume cover letter. The things that I could control are the easiest part of the job search. These things were not easy at all. And I say this because I work as an international student advisor, so I know that some of the students would apply for multiple positions with one resume with one cover letter. And when I heard that I was like, no, that’s not how you apply for jobs. So I really wanted to say, I know if you are attending this webinar, you will not be the type of person. But in case you were considering applying for jobs with one resume one cover letter, I highly recommend customizing the cover letter, at least. So it could include the wording or the institution name based on the job descriptions. So that’s what I wanted to say. And I, I am honest person. So being honest, was important. And I say this again, because I know that some of the students will not be honest, because I understand that they really want to get full time position after graduation in the United States. And it’s really tempting for them to maybe like tweak one thing and may just wish that it doesn’t cause any problem. But I’ve been into search committees at this point, I’m pretty sure Katie or other colleagues in this call have more experience than me, but I happen in two search committees at this point. And I did see that still skilled professionals lie in their resumes, and I can tell that they’re making false, they wrote false information about their careers. So for example, if you do have an international background, you will know that the advising position like what I have, will not issue any visa, but then I see in the resume that the person wrote that they issued the visa. So those are the things that if you really want to get this position, you will make the you will put the false information. And it can be caught by the search committee or by the leadership. So I really recommend being honest, that will be the best strategy and be kind as well. I also experienced that the candidate called the office and made a drama. And later, I got to know that she applied for the position that I’m in the search committee for. So those are the things that I’m at, teach me again, that we might need that be kind and be honest, when, especially when you’re looking for a position.
Katie Koo 27:34
For my own experience, the easiest part of the job search was the job talk. So the job talk for the faculty search process, this is the highlight of your campus visit, which is a final interview. You know, without winning your job talk, you cannot really win the job. Well, that’s, that’s the deal. That’s the wisdom for the falculty job interview. So for that one hour job talk, you really talk about your research, your teaching and your service. And because that was what I had done, in the four or five years of PhD life, you are already confident you already know what to say. Because this is your research. So although like I said five minutes ago, it’s it’s very overwhelming, very stressful process. But this is your stage, this is your time. This is this is your stage, people invited you to talk about your research. And then your research has been your your life, your your breathing, your eating, your living your research. So this is your time to brag about your research brag about your teaching. So when it comes to teaching demonstration for the teaching institutions, you know, you have been teaching for your doctoral life so you just show whatever you’ve done before. And also the good thing about the teaching demonstration, we’re gonna talk, you could you could prepare one material, and that you can actually repeat that for other institutions. For example, if you are invited to 10 different institutions for the final campus visit interview. You can it’s not like recycling but because you have a very similar research agenda. So you can simply do redo your your job, talk for that material. So be using the same material, be the star, be the center of the stage, just show off who you are as a researcher as a scholars that I think that was the easiest part. And I believe that that’s also the same story for any job candidate or faculty position or international students.
Michaela Dengg 29:47
Thank you both for sharing. I think once I got over it, those informational interviews that I was talking about earlier, and really networking and connecting with people has become a lot easier, and it has been invaluable because sometimes, especially if it’s smaller companies, there might be kind of kind of like there’s a hidden curriculum at universities, there’s like a hidden strategy to hire people that you won’t know about if you just apply for a job. But if you talk to people, they can be like, Hey, we do internal referrals. So send me your resume, let me talk to you a little bit. And then I can use my connection that we just made to get you hired. It’s really, it’s really easy to get people to agree to informational interviews, because we love talking about ourselves, right? We love talking about our, our lives, and we want to share and help others. So don’t be afraid to reach out to anyone, don’t be afraid to just find someone on LinkedIn that has a job that you want that has the job title and job position that you want, and just message them and be like, Hi, I’m really interested in your company, I’m really interested in the job that you’re doing. Do you have 30 minutes for a zoom call or phone call and talk to me about it. And once you get to that stage, and you make a good impression with that person, you don’t know how far that can go, that it might be the one person that can lend you that job through kind of like the insider perspective.
Laura Vaughn 31:16
All right. Well, I mean, amazing answers hopefully, that our audience is taking a lot away. I know. I mean, I might not be an international student, but I’m a doctoral candidate. So I know that I am gathering some information and taking notes as well. So the next question is, I think one that many of our participants, you know, can give insight on how did you navigate the visa process with your job?
Katie Koo 31:45
I’ll be really quickly, just because this is very obvious. So for any faculty job is more likely to sponsor your your H-1. So if you apply with your OPT status, some institutions for the faculty position, they will sponsor you for the green card directly from your OPT. And this is something that you can also come up with the negotiation. So saying, instead of me getting and you sponsor me, the H-1 visa, why don’t you sponsor me with the green card, because I’m religious before applying to NIW, which is a specialized visa for the candidate with a doctorate degree. So I want to say that compared to other higher education positions, faculty job positions, they are more likely to sponsor your visa or green card. And so that’s, that’s one of the benefits being up equity members, I just just wanted to briefly talk about it. And I like to hear more Michaela and Hannah’s perspectives.
Michaela Dengg 32:54
Yeah, I again, just want to harp on using the resources that are available, my university offers a lot of OPT workshops to kind of get you started also, workshops from like student legal services in terms of H-1B in terms of getting a green card and all that. I really, really look for those workshops and use them. Also, don’t be afraid to make an individual appointment, because certain situations might be different, right? Like, maybe you’re a dependent, maybe you’re gonna get married at some point and things like that. So use those resources, because the visa part is such an iffy topic, right? And it’s so individual, you really, this is where you don’t want to make any mistakes. And since I’m representing the kind of the industry side, like Hanna mentioned earlier, it is of utmost importance to check if that company is going to sponsor you in the future. So I might put it right into the job postings, and we do not sponsor, okay, great move on. But other companies that aren’t that straightforward, there are resources on the internet, there are forums, there are also organizations that have like running lists, one is called Going Global. And I’ll put that in the chat later. They have lists about companies that will sponsor you. And that is just so important to know because what you don’t want to do is you don’t want to waste your OPT or you don’t want to waste your time with a company that can’t sponsor you in the future, right and then you have to start this process all over again. So be incredibly intentional, where you apply use the resources that are available to you as a student, and just be on the lookout and double check triple check because you don’t want to run into problems later on. My OPT start date is coming up. So I’m like in the process of doing all of that. So again, think forward. I am only graduating in May but the OPT start date I think is next week I’m gonna check that just be very, very forward thinking in terms of like, okay, this deadline is coming up. What do I need to do next? Because this is the part where you don’t want to mess up.
Hanna Lee 35:02
Thank you. I think this is a great time for me to share the job search sites that I shared earlier. So as Xiaoyun also shared in the chat, My Vita Job is a great place to look at the positions that sponsor visas. But as Katie, Dr. Koo shared, it is less likely for the administrators position to get the visa sponsored. So it’s one thing that you, it’s important to be aware, but what I’m gonna say is, if it is the position that had a hard time filling in, filling for the position, or if it is a small school where they can, if it is challenging for the institution to hire domestic labor for the position, then that would ironically, increase the chance that you can go further with a visa sponsorship, even though it is in the institution of policy, that they couldn’t provide the visa sponsorship for the staff position. So just keep that in mind. So here’s where my knowledge about the visa rules can come in. As Michaela shared, in the OPT, students can look for a full time career in higher ed, as long as the position is directly related to the major. So if I don’t know if there’s any STEM OPT-eligible major here, but still, the students can extend the ability for two years, but what you need to consider is that the universities or colleges may not be E-verified. And one of the requirements that STEM OPT regulates is that the institution needs to be verified. So for the student to apply for the STEM OPT. So that’s one thing that you want to consider if you’re eligible for STEM OPT, because I do know that some students who study let’s say, human computer interaction, might find staff positions in the university or college. So that’s one thing that I want to share. And if you got the position, and if you build a relationship with your supervisor, and she or if he is willing to sponsor, the employment based visa, which is commonly called as H-1B. My colleagues ultimately shared with me that being bold is really important. So as an H-1B applicant is really easy to be intimidated by a lot of factors that there are, it is a team effort for the staff to get the h1, B, they have to get the necessary legal documents, and they have to work for it to meet the salary requirement. And so your supervisor, you feel like your supervisor is doing extra work for you. They’re going the extra mile. And what I want to share that my colleagues also echoed this, if they decided or if they’re considering going with a visa sponsorship that says that you’re an asset to the institution. So that’s why they’re saying that being bold. And when it comes to following up with your supervisor or HR team, and asking about the updates on your application, or how you can help them to expedite or proceed further with your h1 B application. So my colleagues shared that it really, felt like they were walking on eggshells because they had to consider multiple factors that go into the visa sponsorship. And they really had a hard time really advocating their needs. And they would, well my supervisor or the HR team is doing a lot. So I would just you know, like not ask them or not reach out to them. But they share that being bold is really important. You are the global talent and so when you go through the H-1B, it’s not a secret that the turnover rate in higher ed is very high. So the research states that the higher ed job, the administrators will look for other jobs in their first year. And that’s half of the administrators who consider transitioning to other positions in their first year. But when international applicants go with the H-1B then there they will that will be they will they will decide to be there because of the complication that is associated with the H-1B for three years at least. And if you renew for the other three years. So those are the things that you can advocate to your supervisor and H-1B. So from the institution, they can save time and effort and money that goes into another job search. So those are the facts that you can utilize to make the case for yourself. So be bold and use those facts and make a claim why this employment-based visa will not only benefit you but also the institutions and the students In the long term. So that’s what I wanted to share with all the nonimmigrant visa holders in this call.
Laura Vaughn 35:19
Wonderful. Thank you so much. We did have a question in the chat box that asked, I understand not all institutions are willing to hire international staff. Do you have any advice on how to find the university departments that would sponsor aside from those websites? And I will say, honestly, email, pick up the phone and ask, is one thing that you can do. Does anyone else have other things to add to that?
Hanna Lee 40:30
As I shared earlier, my colleagues who went through the H-1B, shared that they didn’t, when when the job posting doesn’t say that they will not sponsor the H-1B, they just went for it. Because again, if the employer and the supervisor or the search committee really likes you, then you’re getting the chance, by starting to career. And after six months, after one month, you can advocate the need, again, like just what I shared, you can build a case for you to go further with the H-1B. Because it’s not the federal law that the institutions can sponsor the sponsor staff position, it is more because of the HR limitations that they have. As Dr. Koo shared, it is more likely that equity positions will be sponsored. So there are limited resources of HR because again, H-1B rule, just the US government made it so difficult. If you’re an international student, you weren’t providing the financial resources to the US society. But when it comes to being paid by the US employer, that’s the other other side. Right? So US government intentionally made this H-1B process so complicated. So that’s why there are there, there are a few institutions who would willingly hire international candidates for the position. But again, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, right? So I would say if the job posting doesn’t say that they’re not going to sponsor any visa for the position, go for it, and prepare your job, interview, resume cover letter, do what you can. And so after you get your foot into the full time career, the first full time position, that’s where you can work with your supervisor and see if there are other options available for you to stay longer at the institution or go with the H-1B visa.
Katie Koo 42:41
Evelina that your question is so necessary, it is really important to know, there are a certain I believe that there are certain student affairs divisions that welcome more international staff just because the international staff will provide socially sensitive, sensitive cultural responsive services for their international students. With that said, it is very, you know, you really need a strategy plan to target those specific student affairs divisions that help more international students. So for example, Career Services for international students, Counseling Center for International Student, international student office for international student, Global Engagement offers for international students. And also in addition to the functional area of student affairs, you also want to look at the institution type. You know, as international student, you may notice that there are certain institutions that host more international students compared to other institutions. So I want to say it’s not to speaking for all the institutions, but there is some tendency that R1 institution they host more international students, engineering school or stem STEM majors, they host more international students compared to their humanism, or social science or College of Education building. So just think strategically. I saw that School of Engineering, they are more likely to hire international staff to help international students as advisor compared to the, you know, Psychology major or anthropology major, less likely to hire international staff to help international students because depending on the major, some program, they will have international students some program they have more and more international students. And for that they need more staff member who are having this global perspective and who have more international experiences and backgrounds. So just think about magically and try to to target that specific division position,or institution type. That’s my advice.
Laura Vaughn 45:05
We are getting very close to the end of our tim3. Evelina, I see you have one question. So this is an interest, do you have any power to negotiate a salary benefit if you also require sponsorship? Would one of you be willing to answer that kind of quickly before we wrap everything up?
Hanna Lee 45:26
I can go. So, one of the H-1B one of the happenings of H-1B application process is the domain you choose to call the prevailing wage. So the US government listed so they look at the geographic region, and they look at the industry. And then they say, for this position in this area, the staff position must be paid this much this amount of dollars or above. And the truth is, compared to that requirement, staff positions are usually paid less than the requirements. So I will say H-1B applicants would go through the negotiation process because of the H-1B system. But so if you were asking if it requesting a visa is already a request, Can I request a higher salary on top of that? And of course, it depends on the it’s case by case. But I just want to point out that yes, the the wage component is a part of the H-1B process. And it’s more like the government or the USCIS will provide the requirement. And your supervisor and HR team will have to work together to meet the requirement to finalize the H-1B application.
Laura Vaughn 47:00
I hope that answers your question. And so our final question for our panelists to wrap everything up is what advice would you give to those looking to enter the job market in higher education as an international student? So sort of what is your what do people need to take away from this session? And Michaela, would you like to start us off?
Michaela Dengg 47:23
Yeah, I’m gonna go philosophical towards the end, but don’t sell yourself short. I know that all international students, students struggle with impostor syndrome. I don’t I myself, do that. I don’t know if it’s ever gonna go away, you bring so much to the table, you speak another language, if not two, or three, you have intercultural skills, you have those outside of skills from the country that you grew up in, and maybe that you’ve traveled, you have so much to offer, but you got to know how to market it, you got to know how to sell that. Because some employers might look at you like, Oh, this is gonna be like, sponsorship, and like extra work and do I really want to hire this person over the, the easy American applicant that I have here, you really got to sell yourself, but you have a lot to offer, and you’re gonna bring this company, or this university or this, this office forward, so much more than you actually think. So, really, do not sell yourself short, don’t overestimate your skills and find out how to market them. And again, there’s a lot of resources out there that can help you with that.
Katie Koo 48:29
My advice is pretty similar to Michaela. You as an international candidate, this is your asset, you are representing your culture, you’re representing your country, your race. So you are the star from your culture. So be confident. And please think about what you can bring and how you can bring and how being an international student is your asset. So just try to to see the selling point of your CV of your experiences of your background, and then go there and then shine like a star. For those who want to be a faculty and are looking for a job and the faculty position. Be very strategy with your research, teaching and service experiences during your PhD journey. So I will say that be doctoral students, who are the already candidate for a faculty position. So try to maximize your experiences as a researcher, as a scholar, as a teacher and as a service provider. Be very intentional and try to get your CV from time to time and check what area that you want to develop further before you graduate, since your job application begins from the day, one of your doctoral journey, so that’s my advice.
Hanna Lee 49:48
My last piece of advice comes from my personal failure experience, as I briefly mentioned when I introduced myself. ight after I got my master’s degree in higher education administration, I didn’t get my full-time position in higher ed. So I started my full time career at the E-commerce company. Little did I know back then that all the skills that I learned from the company helped me to work better and more efficiently at my current position after 1.5 years. So what I want to say is don’t give up I thought that because I started late, you know, I came here for my masters. So it will take longer time for me compared to others, but I will get there. That’s what I believed. And so I want to finish my like my part by saying don’t give up and do your best and, and you will get there and I wish you all the best of luck.
Laura Vaughn 50:48
All right, thank you so much to all of our panelists. If the those who are in our audience would like to get in touch with you, and you’re willing to share your email. Could you please share that in the chat? If they would like to ask more questions follow up on anything that we’ve discussed today follow up on various fields of the job search process. And okay, so we’ll let that go for a little bit. But thank you everyone so much for coming to our lunch and learn today. I hope that you had a good experience that you’ve learned something new and that you are able to take away some important things for your future job search. So thanks to everyone and I hope everyone has a fantastic rest of your afternoon.
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