Spring is a busy time for international student advisors. They are busy managing on campus programs, processing I-20 requests for Fall’s incoming international students and they are busy preparing current international students for life after college.
There are about 176,000 international students on Optional Practical Training (OPT). Advisors have to process their OPT applications and instruct the students on the procedures and requirements of the OPT process, usually done through mandatory workshops. Some advisors also help students find jobs.
Finding jobs as an international student can be difficult because many US companies will not hire foreign students they will need to sponsor. This lowers the job pool quite a bit. To make matters more difficult, students’ OPT period does not start when they have a job but rather at a set start date. So, students will probably feel the time crunch.
eShipGlobal has been helping international student advisors and international students with the shipping of I-20 documents through their UEMS solution. However, last year they added OPT mailing to UEMS, allowing international students to save money on expedited shipping, while having the security of a customer service team dedicated to helping customers should any trouble arise.
This year, eShipGlobal is launching a new service underneath their international student-focused initiative, CollegeThink. The new service is a job search site just for international students. In addition, they have partnered with recruiting agencies to help boost the job prospect of any student who shipped their OPT through UEMS by sending recruiter the students resume.*
The eShipGlobal team has many employees who came in as an international student and have been through the OPT process. Which is why we want to help this next wave of international students find jobs within the US.
If you would like to share this information with your international students or with a fellow international student, here is a PDF taking about both UEMS and the job search site. We are also interested in working with universities when it comes to OPT. Let us know if there is something we can do to help.
We hope you have a great semester!
By Ashleigh Cue
*Limited to those who fall within our partner agency locations and focus.
**We do not guarantee any jobs or interviews will come from our services
