This past week, the class has begun research and preparation for our problem description presentations. My group has been going at a steady pace in regards to interviewing stakeholders, researching information online, and figuring out how to bring personality and emotion to our presentation. Our goal for Monday’s presentation, is to evoke sympathy and inspire action from our audience using a personal story and strong evidence to support our claims.
Frame: International students need a way to find jobs with higher placement rates, because they pay money to learn with the hope of starting a career.
We want to address the issue regarding international students success, or lack of success, in finding jobs and becoming fully integrated in America’s job market. After stakeholder interviews with international students, we found that many of them believe LCB lacks adequate resources tailored to mentor foreign students through the process of preparing for post-graduation job searches. With 21% of the current business school undergraduates studying as international students, we want LCB to adjust its approach to preparing foreign students for joining the American work force.
Learn: It’s especially true at the Lundquist College of Business that language and writing becomes an obstacle for international students to communicate professionally, cultural barriers make interviews more difficult, and legality reasons lengthens the job search process.
After interviewing Jessica Best, the Assistant Director of LCB Career Services, we realized that many variables play into the success of an international student’s job search and employment. In addition to language and writing barriers, every foreign student to overcome the major cultural differences in America’s job market. While language and writing can be improved through academic classes and tutoring, cultural integration occurs with experience and involvement. Currently, LCB career center only provides personal advising and one workshop per year, to help mentor international students with understanding “our way” of doing business.
As a domestic student, I find internship searches, resume and cover letter construction, and professional interviews extremely stressful–I can’t even imagine if I had to do this whole process in a foreign country. As a business college with high rates of international student enrollment, LCB must put more emphasis on addressing their specific needs.
