Professional development for career services professionals

As a career services professional, do you know what your blind spots are when it comes to helping your international students get hired? 

It’s hard to provide effective job search support for international students

The high enrollment of international students across U.S universities has created challenges for career services professionals, especially those who have never had the proper training to effectively help international students secure jobs. Whether you agree with the current business school ranking criteria or not, strong international student job placement is key to the success of highly globalized U.S business school programs. 

The International Advantage innovative content and frameworks continue to help international students beat the odds and get hired. Career services professionals – and to a certain extent their colleagues from admissions and alumni relations – can also benefit from the content we continue to create, and increase their performance when working with international job seekers. 

We find the observation below to be spot on:

“On-campus student counseling and other services addressing student career needs remain primarily designed for effectiveness with domestic learners” Understanding and Responding to the Career Counseling Needs of International Students on U.S. Campus, Stephanie A. Crockett and Danica G. Hays (2011)

Our train the trainer session is targeted to business school professionals who work with international job seekers. Our goal is to empower program participants to confidently execute on innovative strategies that delight international minds, increase their satisfaction and confidence, and lead to higher international student job placements. In addition, our 3-hour train the trainer program allows participants to: 

  • complete a SWOT analysis of their career center department as it relates to how services are provided to international students
  • review career development theory as it relates to international student career development
  • create well thought-out employer relations strategies aimed at international students, including the development of programs that maximize job opportunities for international students during their studies as well as after graduation 
  • review innovative “networking” frameworks that allow international students to be themselves as opposed to adopting U.S. based networking tactics that don’t fit them and make them look like robots 
  • explore creative ways to engage international alumni as a way to achieve short and long-term goals

Upon completion of this program career services participants are able to:

  •         self-assess and evaluate their effectiveness when providing career advising for international students
  • create a strategic plan which focuses on future enhancements for their department that lead to higher international student satisfaction and job placement
  • understand when to correctly utilize our own strengths-based framework (ISEL*) to help international students become more competitive when seeking U.S jobs
  • extract the main points from The International Advantage and decide which ones should be implemented going forward. Program participants are asked to read The International Advantage Get Noticed. Get Hired! ahead of the session.
  •         and more!

Give your career services team an advantage. Invest in their professional development and help your international students get hired. Contact us to learn more. *ISEL stands for I = Interests, S = Skills, E = Experiences, L = Languages

Reviews

Marcelo delivered a lively 2-hour session to our equally lively group of Boston-area career services professionals. His presentation was rich with specific examples of how to apply the ISEL model, and he built in solid opportunities for guided group discussion as well. Marcelo’s passion for his topic is evident and his new book will make a great gift for international MBA students … and their advisers!

Naomi Dishington | Associate Director
Career Management Center, Graduate School of Management | Clark University

Marcelo, thanks for an engaging session. You introduced some fresh ideas to an experienced audience. Your approach is solid and we gained concrete ideas for working with our international students. I appreciated the examples.

Michele Rapp
Career Coach and Life Coach | Alumni Career Strategy, Northeastern University

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