By Qianyu (Margaret) Cheng
Hi everyone, welcome back! How was your Winter break? We are now on a brand new page: 2015. I'm looking forward to the start of Spring semester.
There is a really significant event every semester: the career fair. Some of you may already have heard about it before, and we had several blogs about career fair too. I personally also went to a career fair, but I also realized how hard it was for an international student like me to find a full time job or even a internship. I am new to this culture, this language, and many other aspects. How can I stand out in many other candidates and get the position I want?
Last semester, I learned about International Career Certificate program in ISSS newsletter. I heard about the program a lot, and that it was especially designed for helping international student succeed in job market. Since I recently met some difficulties in job hunting, I thought: why don't I take a try? And the result is, the ICC program is way more awesome than I thought.
After applying and being accepted, I went to the first section of the program. I got to meet so many motivated students, the instructor, Un-Yeong Park, and also other ICC volunteers who attended the program earlier to help the students. Mr. Park illustrated the statistics from ISSS to show us the number of OPTs (what international students need for work off campus after they graduated) issued every year, to help us see that it is not impossible for international student to stand out. The program is here to acknowledge international students, provide tips and teach them the resource on campus that can help them to launch a job search.
I was really encouraged and touched that I am not alone. I am with all international students, and our University has such a great program to assist us. Later on in the program, something particularly helpful was the guest speaker. Almost every session has guest speakers, and they are either from The Career Center, who share inspiring advicem or are currently working in job field. Also, some international students who had successfully found their dream job also presented to us their experience and how they did it.
My favorite part of the program was actually practicing elevator speech. Elevator speech basically is assuming you met the CEO of your dream company, and you had to persuade him or her to give you a position during the time in an elevator. So you have to tell the audience why you are perfect fit for this position. Later on, in each session, we needed to find people we had not talked to yet and practice the elevator speech. The first time I did it, it was awkward and I began to blank out in a few seconds after telling the other person my major, year and name. Nevertheless, when I practiced several times in front of strangers, I got better and better. In the last ceremony, when I did it, it really improved a lot. I even participated in the elevator speech competition. Although I did not win a prize, it was an exciting experience.
After completing several programs in the series, I received the certificate. I really learned a lot. What I enjoy most about this program is that it taught me if you work hard, nothing is impossible.
This semester the ICC program is also here for students. I will be a volunteer this time and help out the ICC program to help students to gain an even better experience. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there!