EssaySnark

  • about
  • contact
  • help
  • sign up
  • login
CLICK FOR MORE!
  • Essay Questions
    • Harvard
    • Stanford
    • Wharton
    • Chicago Booth
    • Kellogg
    • MIT Sloan
    • Tuck
    • NYU Stern
    • Columbia
    • Yale SOM
    • Berkeley Haas
    • UVA Darden
    • Duke Fuqua
    • Michigan Ross
    • UCLA Anderson
    • Cornell
  • Strategy Guides
    • MBA Reapplicant Guide
    • Pitching Entrepreneurship as Your Post-MBA Career
    • Applying to European Business Schools
    • School-Specific MBA Application Guides
      • Harvard 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Stanford 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Wharton 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Kellogg 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Chicago Booth 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Columbia 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • *MORE SCHOOL-SPECIFIC GUIDES HERE*
  • MBA Consulting
    • Free essay reviews
    • What stage are you in?
    • Military MBA
    • Testimonials & Reviews
  • My SnarkCenter
    • My Strategy Guides
    • My Favorite Posts

($) International MBA students and post-MBA employment in the U.S.

October 10, 2018 by EssaySnark 2 Comments

Did you know that the standard student F-1 visa allows international students to work in the U.S. for 12 months post-graduation without requiring any sponsorship from an employer? This is granted under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program and your school’s career services office will help you secure an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) by graduation — whether or not you have an employment offer in hand. There are no restrictions with this (no quotas) and it simplifies the hiring on the employer’s end, as they only need to complete the standard I-9 form for you. International students may also work for U.S. employers during their summer break from school under the Curricular Practical Training (CPT) program, so there are no major hurdles to jump through for your summer internship for either you or for the employer. The CPT might even allow you to work part-time during your second year of school. You’ll want to contact your school’s international student support office about these details.

Outside of these student employment scenarios, the most common work visa for a non-U.S. citizen is the H-1B visa which an employer must sponsor you for (which is not cheap) and which is only awarded via lottery (meaning it’s totally random and the current U.S. government is whittling away at how many visas they hand out each year).

Lots of top bschools are providing more information on the situation for their students such as this post from the Harvard Career Services team — though always recognize, info from Harvard about how many of their international grads find employment in some type of company or another isn’t necessarily applicable to what grads from another school may be seeing. Because Harvard. Still, there’s useful information there. It’s just that YMMV.

If you go into recruiting thinking “Well heck, I can at least work here a year!” and you’re not making your citizenship or request for visa sponsorship central to your strategies, then that’s not likely to work so great for you. It’s going to come up from the employer’s side. If they think that they can only have you as an employee for a year before you’ll have to ship out, then it’s hard for them to justify making the investment in you, particularly when there are so many other well-qualified MBA grads on their list of interview appointments that day. You’d need to be an exceptional candidate — and if you’re exceptional, then they’re likely going to want to sponsor you for the visa anyway. But they know that it’s no guarantee, based on that lottery system, and this is why it’s much more likely (despite what the HBS article says) that a larger company will be open to it, because they’re going to have offices in overseas locations that they can transfer you to. Provided you’re open to that type of mobile lifestyle for the next few years of your career.

And, who knows what the future will bring in the U.S. Anyone applying for an MBA today will be in the Class of 2021, and the U.S. is having its next Presidential election in November of 2020. Depending on how the politics evolve here, there may be more uncertainty, or less, at that stage in our country’s grappling with all of these issues of nationalism and the ramifications on immigration. You’ll have already gone through the recruiting cycle for your summer internship (recruiting happens almost immediately when you get on campus, so Fall 2019 to secure your Summer 2020 job) and that’s actually likely to be a time of even greater uncertainty. We’ll know more next month (November 2018) when the midterm elections happen and we can see which party will be in control of which parts of the government. While many employers may be willing to hire for an internship program even if they lack visibility on how many full-time offers they will want to extend a year later, it throws a real wrench into the works — especially if there are any shocks to the economy along the way.

These are the issues that affect hiring at companies.

So, keep reading up on the schools’ blogs and definitely ask these questions at MBA info sessions, to see what the schools are saying to prospective students and applicants. And also definitely ask your contacts at the schools; current students are the best source of information on what current employers are doing on campus.

And recognize that this is a fast-shifting landscape. There have been changes already in how companies are approaching their on-campus recruiting, as has been reported from this current-season BSer who works at a huge multinational.

The MBA grads who were spit out of bschool in 2008 and even more so in 2009 were surprised and dismayed and often really stressed out by the job market they inherited. Hiring went down radically when Lehman Brothers and all of that happened (some of you graduated from college in that era) and it was a time when employers actually rescinded job offers, and the employment stats at all of the schools really suffered. We don’t want to be doom-and-gloom ‘Snark but you’re coming into this at a precarious time: There is so much uncertainty on the medium term horizon, and we aren’t suggesting you should change your plans or not try for an MBA at this time — but recognize that plans may need to change, and the world you’re living in today will not last forever. We’ve got low unemployment and record stock market gains and the longest economic expansion on record — which is wonderful today and may make you excited by the opportunities you see available. But those are also the factors that have spurred all this money going into venture capital and entrepreneurship which is high-risk type investing and those dollars are likely to dry up at the same time that the economy pulls back and larger employers also go back to their conservative stance. It’ll happen at some point and if you’ve never lived through a downturn in the economy as a working professional before, it can be completely unnerving and fairly awful — and even more so if you’re in school at the time.

So, international student or American, have your eyes open and stay in tune with the news. Politics may be a lot of angry shouting and all this stuff you can’t control anyway, but knowing what’s happening in the world (and voting so your voice is heard) is really important.

Filed Under: recruiting Tagged With: immigration

« Previous: Want to really impress at that interview? WEAR GOOD SHOES
Next: ($) Things you won’t think of for your interview until it’s too late »

So who the heck is EssaySnark, anyway?!

We're the snarky experts in MBA admissions!

Sometimes amused and often appalled by what candidates write in their MBA applications to top bschools, EssaySnark created this little blahg to share common mistakes. Learn from them and avoid making admissions directors laugh (or want to hurl) when they read your essays. If you are hoping to have your essay reviewed anonymously on the blahg for free, submit it for consideration.

Want EssaySnark's personal assistance with your MBA applications? Start with our menu of consulting services and please read the Help FAQ to learn how we operate. Still have questions after doing all that? Email Team EssaySnark at gethelpnow at essaysnark dot com.

Good luck on your apps, Brave Supplicant!

Here's what others have said about this:

  1. OmManiPadmeHBS says

    October 10, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    Minor suggestion: “the most common work visa for a non-U.S. citizen is the F-1B visa”

    I believe the correct visa is H-1B, which is the visa that I currently have.

    Here is how you can maximize your chance at the H-1B lottery: go STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Kellogg’s MMM program and Wharton’s Data Analytics major qualify as STEM. A student with a STEM degree qualifies for the 24-month extension which means s/he has 3 chances for H-1B. Thank you!

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      October 10, 2018 at 4:24 pm

      Ack – you’re totally right! Thanks for the correction!

      Thanks also for the info on the STEM path — that’s probably already well known among many internationals but it’s great to make this post more complete! To add to the list, some of MIT’s non-MBA Master’s degrees also qualify as STEM.

      This stuff has become increasingly important and it’s also quite complicated!! Your contributions on the topic are much appreciated. 🙂

      Reply

Tell us what you think. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for the 'Snark via email

Enter your address to get weekday blahg posts by email.

UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 2
    in 3 weeks
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 3
    in 2 months, 4 weeks
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 4
    in 4 months, 1 week
   
   

CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
  The 2022 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   
   
Get started now - without doing any work! The Comprehensive Profile Review will help you start your strategy for your MBA applications.


EssaySnark® is a registered trademark. All content copyright © 2010–2023 Snarkolicious Press · Privacy Policy