Despite COVID, International Students Secure Flourishing Career Prospects

New Delhi (India), May 27: Today’s youth are making calculated decisions to invest in studying abroad for better career prospects. However, pursuing a full-time job often requires resilience and commitment from the students, making it a daunting and strenuous task. Not every call for an interview is converted into an offer letter. Adding to this rigorous process are international applicants’ visa requirements and policies that could become roadblocks.

“It may seem odd, but I have applied to so many job openings that I maintain an excel sheet to track the status of each application,” says Akshay (name changed) while relating his experience of applying for jobs in the US. It is, thus, crucial for a student navigating the job-search maze to follow the time-tested 5-step approach. As an international student at the university, the first entry point to job prospects is the career department at the university. Meet the representatives and explore how you can position yourself correctly in the job market. You need to update your resume and ensure it is in the correct format. It is also essential to make connections at the university-organized career fairs. Networking is an indispensable ingredient for landing a full-time job, and students must explore every avenue to build their professional contacts.

The job search process abroad is very different from that in India. International students need to be more proactive in seeking out opportunities through various job portals like LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, etc. It is all about trial and error, where you may not succeed on the first go. Finding a full-time job can often seem like a full-time job, but resilience is key. Multiple rejections can be demotivating; however, it is essential to know there is a silver lining. Collegepond, a premier study abroad consultancy, recently conducted a sample survey of their Fall 2019 alumni to assess their current status. These students had to face the austere and uncertain effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with universities shutting campuses, classes moving to the online medium and an unclear picture of their future career prospects in their host country. Despite these conditions, the data highlighted that 93.4% of students secured full-time jobs after graduating abroad, with the leading five employers being Amazon, Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs, and Microsoft.

In the rigorous and strenuous job-hunting process, the additional advantage provided by consultancies like Collegepond can surely give international students the requisite edge above the competition to secure a full-time job abroad. Mr. Suraj Bajaj, CEO of Collegepond, spoke about the efforts Collegepond has made to help students abroad, “finding a full-time job abroad can be exasperating. At Collegepond, we have made it a practice to maintain a database of recruiters abroad who have in the past helped our students land their dream jobs. We reached out to a number of our students to assist them in their job search, especially given the aberrated situation owing to the pandemic. It is heartening to see these efforts translate into results with our alumni consistently securing jobs in leading companies.”