Hello Dr. Lowery,
My name is Mohamed, and I have been looking for employment since last fall. I had a lot of interviews from big and middle sized companies, but unfortunately I wasn’t offered any positions yet. I attached my resume in case you think I fit in a certain Job.
My purpose is not only the experience but also it will help me a lot financially as my sponsor is not paying for my living expenses.
Many Thanks,
Mohamed
Mohamed:
Your resume is well written and impressive, but not good enough for your situation. You are obviously well qualified, but you have made no case for why they should hire you. You have only told them of your extensive past experience, but no matter how impressive it is, that’s probably not what is bothering them.
They wonder if you intend to stay in this country after graduation, if indeed you will even be able to do so. Tell them if you intend to stay in this country to practice engineering after graduation and whether you have guaranteed permission to do so. That they will incur no fees or costs or paperwork that they don’t understand in order to keep you here. How their job fits perfectly with your interests and capabilities. How your current visa permits you to stay, and for how long. Discuss anything that they might worry about and for which they don’t have the time or resources to determine, and so they just move on to the next candidate. You have to consider every worry they have about hiring an international student. They may have never hired one before, don’t know how, don’t know how much trouble and paperwork they will run into, etc.
Obviously your answers have to all be true, or you won’t have a chance. But you must be ready to address any negatives they have about hiring you, and discuss it with them.
International students are obviously at a disadvantage, especially with small companies. They don’t know what the rules are for hiring you, they don’t think you will probably stay after graduation and give them a chance to hire you long-term, after investing a lot of money in your internship. Often they think that all of these unknowns are just too much trouble. You are the one who has to show them why you are an excellent choice for the job.
You should re-write your resume, correct these problems, and keep trying. Also, you should have a list of objectives beyond the educational objectives that you listed, including that you intend to stay in this country after graduation, that you want to work for a specific company (large, small, …) who deals in management, project development, construction, environmental, whatever. Be specific so they see that your interests and talents align with their needs. List the courses you took that they would be interested in, what you covered in the class, who was the professor and what kind of work have they done that you learned a lot from.
You also have an great advantage having interviewed with firms in the past. If they mentioned, or even hinted at any reason why they did not select you for the position, be ready to either fix that problem or to minimize its influence on your next interview. If you really don’t know why, re-contact the person who interviewed you and thank them for the interview opportunity they gave you. Assure them that you are contacting them again only to try and improve your interviewing skills and would greatly appreciate learning what influenced their decision.
Good luck,
L^3