In almost any country, finding your first job, even after you have completed your university studies, is quite difficult and sometimes almost impossible. There are additional barriers for people from other countries – they need to have better grades, excellent language skills, and other advantages.
However, it is worth the effort: once you have a job after your studies, you can gradually work your way up from a work visa, through a residence permit, and finally to citizenship. If this is your ultimate strategic goal, take a look at the employment programs that are available in the USA and some European countries.
Spain
Universities in this country are interested in maximizing the employment rate of their students and therefore make every effort to do so. The main areas of their work include cooperation directly with companies interested in employing graduates from the country’s leading universities, as well as the introduction of compulsory internships in real business and social organizations for certain specialties.
You can sign up for an internship as soon as you enter university. In addition, job fairs, student conferences, and other events are held every month where representatives of employers and information about one or another internship appear.
Generally, the notion of an internship in Spain varies from company to company. It
- can be paid or unpaid;
- can last from 6 to 12 months;
- can be full-time (in this case it is not possible to combine it with the classes) or part-time.
Everything happens officially: the company makes a contract with the university and takes the student for an internship for six months. If he proved to be good, then it can be extended for another six months. If the company still finds the student’s application favorable, he/she can be offered an employment contract that is limited to one year and can be renewed. Many students find it difficult to combine study and work, so they turn to essay writers from essayassistant.net and that’ s reasonable. Such services make it easier for students to study and allow them to focus on work tasks.
If the student was not able to get an internship and gain a permanent foothold in a company (e.g. the international student wanted to improve his skills continuously and permanently), he can get a special residence permit which will enable him to stay in the country and take care of his employment.
USA
In this country, it is common to study and work in parallel. Moreover, it is encouraged to work not just to make a living (as a waiter or delivery boy) but to develop your skills and knowledge into the profession that will be your life’s work after graduation.
To be in demand in the U.S. job market, you can take advantage of CAP (Career Accelerator Program). Basically, its name implies the main area of activity and its main goals and objectives.
It is more than just an employment agency – it is a program that integrates services and is based on research findings. The main focus of its training is to shape three important aspects of career building and development:
- know-why (building a sense of purpose and understanding of the significance of a career, in other words, motivation);
- know-how (knowledge and skills which enable you to do your job more effectively and more properly);
- know-who (getting contacts of the right people who can help in getting a job).
Completion of this program (the duration depends on the degree obtained, on average 1 to 3 semesters) has a positive effect on career start-up and is perceived by future employers as an additional advantage.
Germany
Germany also has a similar program to the American CAP – it is called Career Service and its departments can be found in leading German universities. It is quite easy to use its services – you just need to sign up online.
Career Service provides counseling services – for example, how to get a work permit or write your first ever CV, how to proceed to an interview, and also what internships are available. The service tells you which companies are accessible to students taking certain courses. But they also have short-term training programs, such as time management courses or workshops where students are taught how to write motivational letters (a practice unfortunately not found in many other countries, but a well-written motivational letter carries more weight than a perfect CV).
Besides Career Service, there are also local intermediary services in the country. They connect employers directly with students. Their main tool is their newsletters, where they inform their subscribers about internship opportunities or new vacancies for graduates without practical work experience.
In Germany, the language issue is acute for university graduates – in addition to English, you also need to know German to be able to gain access to leading German corporations.
Czech Republic
The country’s universities follow a well-trodden path – job fairs and internships. The former takes place several times a year, offering students internships followed by part-time employment. The fairs also include educational workshops on how to better present yourself in the labor market.
It is a great fortune for an international student to get an internship while he or she is still studying. Indeed, many of the international corporations with subsidiaries in the Czech Republic and local large manufacturing companies are interested in an influx of talented and hardworking students. They are offered various options for combining work and further studies (through individual study plans), as well as advantages in further employment after graduation.
As you can see from the above overviews, different countries and even different universities within the same country approach the employment of their students differently. However, the fact that moving to another country by studying at a local university is the best way to be employed by the best companies in the country.
