Increasing Visibility and Engaging International Students in MBA Career Research Career Services at Chicago Booth The Career Resource Center (CRC) is a small library embedded within a large MBA career services department comprised of career coaches and employer relations staff. The CRC’s purpose is to support the career research needs of students throughout their internship and full-time job recruiting. Chicago Booth Career Services provides ongoing educational programming, workshops, special events and individual coaching appointments for full-time MBA students. Students can make an appointment with either a career coach or the CRC librarian. Key Facts (as of 9/2013): Full-Time MBA Enrollment: approximately 1,100 International Students: 36% Countries Represented: 52 Program Length: 21 months Average age: 28 Average work experience: 5 years The CRC houses books, computer stations, a Bloomberg Terminal, periodicals and a study space. There are generally two categories of international students at Chicago Booth : (1) those who studied/worked in the U.S. prior to business school and (2) those who have come to the United States specifically for business school. From a career services perspective, international students often face additional challenges. Common challenges for international students include: Acclimating to a competitive recruiting process Learning American-style networking Finding people with similar backgrounds to network with Finding companies that sponsor international students Navigating work authorization issues The CRC supports students to face these challenges, specifically with finding companies and people to network with. Based on research appointments with international students at the end of the Spring Quarter, 2013, I learned that many students were not aware of the library resources that could help in their career research, and that the CRC could increase support for international students. For the school year, the Career Resource Center took specific steps to meet the challenges international MBA students face, including the following: 1. Make the website easier to navigate: Information for international students was previously grouped together with information for U.S. students who wanted to work abroad. Webpages were changed for a clearer presentation. 2. Create a Guide - then market it: The CRC created a resource guide for international students that included screenshots of the databases along with when and how to use them [see figure 2]. The guide was printed for take-away handouts in the CRC and also uploaded to our website. 3. Talk to Staff: I presented the above guide to the Employer Relations staff, a division of Career Services. This helped increase awareness of our resources among staff, who could also communicate with international students. 4. Work with Staff: Throughout the year, I increased my attendance at international student programs and often volunteered assistance at events. This was helpful to: Become familiar with international student needs outside of the library Get to know international students and build relationships Get to know staff who work with international students outside of Career Services Generate invitations to additional events CRC Librarian Hana Field presenting a workshop on library resources for international students. Challenges for MBA International Students Figure 1: The CRC Figure 2: Create A Guide Figure 3: Create Programming ActionAction, Continued 5. Create Programming: While library programs are usually based on industry and functions, there was an opportunity to create a program for job-seeking international students. A series of workshops designed to help all students create a target list and find contacts are held for those seeking positions in Corporate Roles, Private Equity/Venture Capital, Investment Management/Hedge Funds, Social Impact and Start-Ups. This year, the CRC created a workshop specifically for international students– regardless of industry or function—and it was the best attended out of all six workshops. Feedback from staff and students on the program showed: Live demonstration of databases was helpful Students learned at least one new resource Students benefited from meeting other job-seeking international students Students liked having a forum to ask questions Having a career coach in attendance to answer questions was helpful The above actions will continue in the school year and will continue to be improved upon to meet international students’ needs. Suggestions From SLA Hana S. Field Assistant Director, Career Resource Center, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business The resource guide uses screenshots, arrows and context as to when and how to use a specific resource. What are you doing at your school? What would you like to do? Contact Information: Hana S. Field Librarian, Career Resource Center The University of Chicago Booth School of Business