Applying for jobs in the US as an international student is a path littered with hurdles and frustration.
It’s expensive. Cultural clashes are bound to happen. Some have even suffered discrimination. But the biggest hurdle is often finding a company open to sponsoring a work visa.
Jahnavi Shah was ready to face them all. She dedicated years of her life to doing just that — ultimately landing a full-time job as a Product Strategist at Persona, a software development company in San Francisco.
Shah has received several Women in Tech scholarships throughout her education, including Anita B. Org GHC 21 & 23, and D.E. Shaw India Ascend Fellowship. Source: Jahnavi Shah
A must-have when applying for jobs in the US
Shah’s tried and tested method to successfully applying for jobs in the US is to intern.
“Having several internships on my resume was how I did it,” Shah shares. “Getting a few work experience up your sleeves before your move to the US is extremely important, especially when you’re planning on applying for jobs in the US.”
Having an internship, or several, benefits international students in many ways. It builds resumes. It helps you network with professionals who have been there, done that.
However, the most crucial part of an internship is that you’ll be able to experience what it’s like to work in a professional setting. You’ll see how a business operates firsthand, how teams collaborate, how decisions are made, and learn how to carry yourself in this environment.
A clearer picture of your future career will be painted out. Your future employers know this and are likelier to hire someone with one.
“If you’re going to move abroad and try to apply for jobs, it’s best to have a couple of work experiences up your sleeve,” says Shah.
Today, Shah has completed four internships, one of which was as a product manager with The Washington Post, a role she landed despite having little product experience.
“When applying to The Washington Post, I did not have much experience as a product manager, but all the different experiences I had as a content creator, growth marketer, and programme manager helped me secure the internship with the newspaper company,” she shares.
“Having a couple of internships with a diverse background in the job scope is essential.”
But is there such a thing as too many internships?
In Shah’s case, she knew that having several internships would only help her when applying for jobs in the US.
Shah has over 60,000 followers on LinkedIn and is the top voice on the platform. Source: Jahnavi Shah
Hardships and failures made her resilient and led her to success
Before living in the US, Shah was a tech geek growing up in India. In high school, keeping up with new gadgets and learning how to code was part of her daily routine.
When choosing her degree programme, there was no question about what she wanted to do: computers. But getting into the universities she wanted was not easy.
“The IIT JEE exams were challenging to the point where I couldn’t take the pressure, and I gave up,” Shah says. “To say the least, unlike my group of friends, I did not get into any of the top universities in India. I felt inferior.”
Shah attended the Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering. As soon as she started her first year at PDEU, she decided that her goal for her master’s degree was to get into a good university.
“I maintained my grades. I joined several extracurriculars, and I started working too. On top of that, I also scored high marks for my GRE,” Shah says.
Five years later, all that hard work paid off. Today, she holds a Master’s in Engineering Management degree from Cornell University.
Cornell was not the only university that accepted her; the University of Southern California, Arizona State University, and the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University offered her a place in their computer science and engineering management programmes.
But even with an Ivy League degree in hand, landing internships was hard for Shah.
In 2023, there were more than one million international students in the US, but only 23,000, approximately 2.3%, secured internships.
And only 23% master’s degree graduates managed to stay and work there.
These odds and the fact that she couldn’t find a place to stay took a toll on Shah’s mental health.
For eight months, Shah lived out of a suitcase in three houses, with everything she owned scattered.
But the day she got her apartment, she knew she had made it and all her hardships were worth it.
“My stuff was scattered all over the US and at different houses, and when I got my place, I had to collect them and consolidate them under one roof,” she shares. “The night I slept in the apartment I’m now renting in San Francisco, I’ll never forget the feeling I felt. It was all worth it.”
Fortunately, with the support of her friends, she would later land a full-time role as a Product Strategist at Persona, a software development company in San Francisco.
Shah graduated from Cornell in May 2024 with a 4.0/4.3 GPA. Source: Jahnavi Shah
Looking to study abroad? Here’s some advice from Shah
Before moving abroad, the best way to prepare yourself is to reach out to friends or people who are currently a year or two into their international student life.
Shah realised that being a student in 2023 and 2024 was completely different from being a student in previous years, especially before 2020. In 2022, she found that fresh graduates were getting several job offers; meanwhile, students who graduated in 2023 were leaving university without job offers despite seeing several layoffs from companies.
“You have to be strategic about your move abroad. Carefully curate your classes for your degree and talk to people who have graduated in recent years to ask them what mistakes they think they made and what they would do better,” she advises.
If an opportunity to study on a scholarship pops up, take it. As an international student, you will face financial stressors, and having a large part of your finances covered will help ease the financial burden.
Shah’s last piece of advice is, “Whatever’s meant for you is going to find you, and always keep the end goal in mind,” dedicating it especially to international students planning on applying for jobs in the US.
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