Which companies hire international students?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the invite to join the chat! This is an incredibly practical topic and I'm happy to provide my input. I won't rehash what others have said about Banking/Consulting/IT positions - more often than not, they will sponsor but most do have a ranking cut off / target school list.

Earlier in the thread, you all brought up a list of industries so I'll discuss those below and also talk a little bit about the opportunities for internationals in the entrepreneurial space, because we're beginning to see some traction there as well!

ONE THING TO NOTE: when looking for sponsorships, the question the US based firm generally has to answer is "why could you not find a US based resource to fill this need?" For banking, consulting, and IT the answer is pretty easy in most cases. Banking loves analytics and is quant heavy so the argument can be made the US qualified applicant pool is small. For IT and Consulting, they need and want engineers. You'll see a lot more sponsorship in consulting, for example, in the tech arms of global firms. E.g. Deloitte.

ONE OTHER THING: A lot of folks say sponsorship is expensive. In hard dollar terms, it really isn't THAT expensive. Between the fees and the lawyers, it'll run a company a few thousand. So that generally isn't a hurdle. However, from a time perspective it is kind of a hassle.

• Media/Entertainment - sponsorship here is generally limited. These are highly competitive industries and job opportunities are fewer on average in general. Therefore, it's harder for them to justify foreign nationals. However, as these companies become more tech enabled, the roles of product managers and developers is growing rapidly!

• Health Care/Pharma/Biotech - they have always been graduate friendly but as someone pointed out, they're more PhD friendly but they need people to bridge the gap between international PhDs and leadership. International MBAs are being looked to for that more and more.

• Consumer Goods/Retail - limited in general but if this is your goal, you have to look Fortune 500 and above. The ones below that generally don't have the same resource needs

• Manufacturing - if you have an engineering background before your MBA, you're golden. Manufacturing is really evolving and as more people become aware of its use as a strategic enabler and lever, the more they'll need MBAs. They've been old and stagnant and are looking to shake things up in the industry!

• Real Estate - here it comes down to match. There aren't many real estate jobs to go around (even fewer with the recent recession) so you need to demonstrate value

• Telecom - definitely

• Non-Profit/Gov’t - Not so much for the former, almost entirely a no for the latter. Let's talk government first - unless you have a specific need, the government is anti-sponsorship (for very obvious reasons!). On the non-profit side, they generally don't sponsor unless they're absolute massive organizations that have the need. Partially because they don't need you, and partially because you don't need them. That's a gross generalization, but overall, that's the case.

Ah, ok, on to Entrepreneurship!

You might not think Entrepreneurship and sponsorship can coexist but they ABSOLUTELY can and do. Most start ups are tech enabled so you have a direct need there. Additionally, like I mentioned earlier, it's really not that expensive. So if you fit the culture, love the vision, and can demonstrate value, then you can carve your own path forward. You need to target the right stage of organization. A 3 person start up in a garage isn't right. As a rule of thumb, look Series B onwards. They have the size to support a defined role (which you need for sponsorship) and they probably are willing. However, they probably don't have a process in place. So if you can help them figure it out, go for it!

I hope that helps - I'm happy to answer any other questions or provide more info if I can!

Bhavik