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Recruiting Intelligence

You Mean My Opinion Matters? The Power of International Student Internships

Does your institution work hard to develop employer connections?

Due to the pandemic, Intead paused its international student internship program. We are so glad to have it back as we return to the office.

As a rising Junior from Germany studying at UMass Amherst, Klara Lehmann thinks a lot about her future. She jumped at the chance to intern at Intead over the summer break. We were lucky to have her thoughtful and thorough approach to our work.

The level of effort most institutions put into developing career-shaping opportunities for their students typically underwhelms. Students, like Klara, who push for opportunities are far more likely to succeed than those who do not. So many students require additional motivation and support from their institutions to develop skills through internships.

Yet, skills development may not be the most valuable aspect of internships. From what we have seen, the real value is in how students develop an understanding, outside the classroom, of what they would like to develop into, what they would like their future to be. It is all about learning in a different environment. The networking and resume content doesn't hurt, though.

Learn with us:

  • Recruiting from Bangladesh: The Intead team will be presenting an AIRC Webinar on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. The process and results of our recent digital campaign recruiting international students for Truman State University will be on full display. Register HERE.
  • Global Marketing Strategy & Campaign Analytics: Ben and Iliana will be presenting on a range of marketing strategy and analytics sessions with colleagues from Northeastern University, Clark University, Central Connecticut State University, and University of New Hampshire at the NAFSA Region XI Conference in Manchester, NH, Nov 18-20, 2022. Click HERE to schedule a time to meet us.

Read on for a firsthand look at Klara’s reflections on her internship experience. Consider who, on your team, from career services on up, needs to hear this message. Internship experiences and the student stories you can share with your prospective students will go a long way toward differentiating your institution in a competitive market. Klara’s story makes the case for your institutional investment very clear.

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An OPT Reflection: Starting Points and Destinations

The student journey from one place to another has common elements. It starts with an intense desire to learn and explore. Why else would someone spend so much time, energy, money?

OPT is an essential tool that benefits us all. There is no question. Occasionally, we need to be reminded.

  • As a follow on to the 2021 AIRC conference just completed which is all about creating great learning experiences for students around the world,
  • As our final post for the year (we will take a break and return on January 5, 2022),

Please drink in this optimistic view of how everyone in our field contributes to making the world more connected, stronger, and safer.

Xi Chen held a very important role at Intead almost a decade ago as the company was in the early stages of making a name for itself. She helped us set our course with a fierce dedication and rare level of talent that set a bar for our future international student interns. We asked her to reflect on what her OPT experience at Intead meant to her. We know how much it meant to us!

In writing about her OPT experience, Xi sent us this quote: "Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another."  ~ John Dewey

Read on to get a first-hand look beautifully shared by Xi Chen. This is all about what you are setting your students up to achieve, personally, and for the world all around us.

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The Value of Living Life Abroad: A Student’s Perspective

This week, we turn directly to the voice of the international student–specifically, to our international student intern, Maartje Sebek (pictured above while traveling in Budapest), who has been working in our office since September and concluded her internship last week. (We seriously miss her already!)

Keeping the international student in mind as you create your marketing content is so important. Below, Maartje share's her perspectives on living and working abroad, why she decided to come to the US, and how her experience will benefit her future studies and career goals. Maartje’s motivations for this international experience and her decision-making process identify a few tools you should consider and point to valuable messages you might incorporate into your student marketing.

Among Maartje's many projects at Intead, she helped us pull off our first annual International Student Recruitment Bootcamp, presented in partnership with CGACC. The theme was What Works Where and our conversations, workshops and presentations all focused on building recruiting and digital marketing strategies for the year ahead with a mind toward best practices, metrics and engaging the right audiences.

In the weeks ahead (starting next week) Intead's Recruiting Intelligence Blog will share some of the helpful worksheets from the conference.

Now, let's have Maartje tell her story: Hello blog readers, I’m Maartje, a 23-year old Dutch student who just returned home to the Netherlands after living abroad in the US. Currently, I’m studying at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, in the Small Business and Retail Management program. As part of my third year at my university, I had to complete a six-month internship. This is my story about how I chose my internship abroad and the value of international work experience.

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