October 23, 2015

Preparing International Students for U.S. Corporate Culture

Since 2014 Authentic Journeys has delivered College to Corporate (C2C) sessions to several colleges in New York State on the topics of networking, career readiness and cross-cultural problem solving. The below details these seminars with some related images from the sessions.

How to Prepare for the Real “Work” World
Binghamton University: Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development

College to Corporate Program for International Students

International students representing different disciplines and majors received a brief on what to expect their first day at work. In this discussion we talked about and practiced:

Do’s and don’ts of professional small talk
Dress codes
Introductions & Handshakes
Body Language

Listing on the BU website:
At the School of Management Website
At The Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development Website

Executive in Residence – Resume Critique
Binghamton University - School of Management

At Binghamton University, Southern Tier New York State

The Executive in Residence program brings in alumni and other reputed community members to mentor and provide guidance to students of the School of Management (SOM). In this Executive in Residence event, I had the opportunity to mentor a handful of Master’s degree students in the School. In sessions we talked about wording on resumes, how to conduct oneself in interviews (body language, eye contact, and handshakes) and reviewed professional small talk to make a good impression at interviews and during interview follow up.

Resume consult for international students

American Ways to Impress, Network, and Get Hired
The State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo: SEAS Conference

International Student Career Workshops at SUNY Buffalo

On Friday, April 17, 2015, Authentic Journeys presented a workshop on Influential Networking for Career Building for the international students in STEM fields at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at SUNY Buffalo (New York, USA). This seminar provided participants context to:

Making appropriate small talk during networking events and interviews.
What confident body language and tone of voice looks and sounds like to American recruiters.
Do's and don'ts for job fairs.
Important tips on follow up.

As noted on the SUNY Buffalo website

Interview with Confidence
State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo: International Students & Scholars Office (ISSO)
This hands-on seminar was open to the International Student community at the college. Students from a wide variety of disciplines, both graduate and undergraduate practiced handshakes, introductions and were able to draft answers to three common interview questions.

This seminar was featured in the ISSO newsletter, embedded in the blog here.

Balancing Cultures at Work

Monroe Community College: Introduction to Entrepreneurship Class
In this workshop, we shared case studies on cross-cultural business challenges and held small group discussions to solve them in the context of different cultures.

Thank you to all the staff and colleagues in all of the locations to help plan, coordinate and deliver these programs. Some of the talented colleagues in the list include: Kristi Fields, Wren Fritsky, VIshal Gupta, Roslyn Joy-Colon, Yolanda Owens, Dick Petitte, and Carolyn Schapiro. Of course the programs couldn't take place without participants. Thank you to all participants for your attendance and interaction. You made it all worthwhile! If you attended the sessions, feel free to leave your feedback about the sessions in the comments below. Thank you!