Question:

I am an international student on an F-1 student visa attending one of the top engineering schools in the country. I am having a very difficult time finding an internship despite my good grades. I use my school's career center, Monster.com and CollegeRecruiter.com to look for jobs, but almost all of the employers won't consider international candidates. I had so much work experience in my home country that my resume was four pages long before I shortened it to two pages. What should I do?

First Answer:

I am wondering if the issue is around salary. If you are on a student visa, I would think that an employer would agree to offer you an unpaid internship since this would qualify as learning not earning.

However, I would suggest that you check into this with the college employment office or, if you don't get the information you need, consult with an immigration lawyer. Also, it's essential that you ask a potential employer why you are not getting an offer. I don't think that you should assume that it is related to your immigration status without verifying this for a fact.

-- Debra Feldman, founder of JobWhiz, creator of the JOBWHIZQUIZ, and specialist in cyber savvy strategic job search consultations

Second Answer:

Companies will consider interns from other countries if the candidate's paperwork is in order but I'm not surprised that you're finding that employers may choose a local candidate over you unless you have a skill or talent that is difficult to find here in the States. In most cases the home candidate will have the advantage.

My understanding is that people with an F1 student visa can't accept off-campus employment at any time during the first year of study; and after that, the immigration service may grant permission for you to work off-campus, say, in an internship. You are allowed to accept temporary employment for educational purposes only, so accepting an internship would be acceptable. Make sure the prospective employers you approach know you're eligible to work.

I suggest you work with your school's career center. Tell them of the difficulties you are having, and ask if they can help you pinpoint employers who have hired the students from your school in the past, as these employers are likely to do so again in the future. If you really don't get anywhere, volunteer and use your skills, at least, so you're not wasting your internship time doing nothing. Also, shorten that resume again! One page should be sufficient for a student looking for an internship. If they're interested, you can provide those extra pages of "backup" later on.

-- Alison Blackman Dunham, life & career expert, columnist, personal public relations consultant, half of THE ADVICE SISTERS®, and the author of the ASK ALISON career advice column

Third Answer:

Presumably the career center has existing relationships with employers and has a track record of placing international students in internships year after year, so what's different now? Ask your career center to identify what they think is the problem: events outside your control, such as fewer slots this year because of the economy or a sudden glut of students in your particular field? You may have more experience than a company's internship program knows what to do with. An ugly backlash against students from certain countries post 9/11? I don't service engineering students, but I have seen that bias. F-1 students looking for off-campus internships are usually welcome except in government agencies that require US citizenship, or in companies that use internships as their primary recruitment tool for permanent hires after graduation. I am talking about summer internships-F-1 students can almost never work off campus during the academic year.

If the career center identifies problems more to do with your presentation, interviewing and interpersonal skills, pay attention. Are your English language skills weak? You may be better off taking an advanced ESL course this summer than looking for an internship. I wish that I never had to suggest a stronger deodorant, more frequent clothes laundering, dandruff shampoo, more appropriate shoes, etc. to my students, but sometimes it's necessary to help them be seen more professionally. Ask for honest feedback because without it you won't know what to change to make yourself more marketable.

It's hard to be more specific since I don't know if you are studying chemical, electrical, mechanical, civil, or computer engineering. If you're experiencing a categorical shortage of firms willing to take international students as interns, do the dramatic and unexpected:

1. Apply for internships in another country. Australia's economy is booming and Canada's is not far behind, as I heard firsthand from representatives of those countries at a conference last week in Toronto.
2. Contact organizations of professionals or firms in your geographic area and find engineers from your home country, who may be more willing to take you on as interns, or mentor you.
3. Join together with your fellow engineering students who haven't found an internship and present yourselves to a professor, or a local firm, as willing to take on a project over the summer for a real client. You may not get paid, but you'll get the additional experience an internship is supposed to provide.

-- Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City

Career Videos