by Fazila Hanis Hashim
Job-seeking in a foreign land can be one long, lonely and frustrating journey.
How do we strike out on our own in a new country while our busy partners pursue their MIT dreams? Will our (foreign) degrees and work experiences be sufficient to land us a job in the USA? Some of us put our promising careers on hold in order to come to Boston, can we actually land similar jobs here? What about our language skills? And about that networking thing, do we really need to? Job-seeking seems so hard, can we really do this?
These questions and (many!) more swirled in my mind that cold December 3rd evening as I made my way to building E25, where the latest MIT Spouses and Partners Career Connect event was going to be held. I was looking forward to hearing from a panel of five MIT spouses who have achieved the seemingly impossible: land a coveted job in the Boston area.
The room was buzzing with excitement, and filled to capacity. Jennifer Recklet Tassi, Program Manager for MIT Spouses and Partners Connect, kicked off the event by welcoming everyone and asking the speakers to introduce themselves.
Meet the Panel
Boshra Afra is a Junior Research Analyst at McKinsey & Company. She has been in the USA for the past 2 years, with a postgraduate degree from Australia. She landed her current job through a contact in one of the temp agencies she worked for, and emphasized the importance of keeping oneself occupied even with temporary/casual work as it could lead to other opportunities.
Rhie Young Lim is Program Manager at MITx, an online learning portal associated with edX. A journalist from Korea, she outlined her job-seeking strategy: get to know people with similar backgrounds (Asian, female, journalist) who had jobs that she is interested in. One of her contacts led to her current employment. Rhie said that it is important to leverage your unique selling points, as an example she initially offered to translate media into Korean for free.
Jia Liu is Program Manager at a Management Consulting Startup. She has been in Boston for the past five years, and came with her student husband. Her job-seeking process took 2 years. Her neighbor introduced her to a professor at Bentley University, which led to a volunteer research position. A recommendation letter from the pleased professor led to another volunteer position at Harvard’s Psychology Department. In the meantime, she obtained admission into Brandeis University’s graduate psychology program. Later, an alumni contact that enabled her to obtain her current job at a startup company.
Liya Alexandron, VP HR Business Partner in BNY Mellon, began her job search 3 months after she arrived. The main obstacle to her desired job, she felt, was her lack of knowledge of American labor laws and practices. Her husband helped her gain permission to listen in on a class at MIT Sloan, which closed the knowledge gaps. Liya listed the course on her resume, and got phone calls from interested employers as a result. Eventually she landed an in-person interview at BNY Mellon for a position similar to the one she held in Israel. She said that landing a job that suits you is a matter of luck and connections, and emphasized the importance of consistency and not giving up.
Amanda Stranks, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, hails from Australia, and holds a PhD from Oxford University combined with postdoctoral working experience in the UK. She put a lot of effort into job applications. She said that she had to get used to the prolonged job seeking process here in the USA, where it is possible to not hear anything at all from potential employers after sending in painstakingly crafted applications. She eventually came across a postdoc position online, and emailed the person directly. The position was perfect for her as she just had a new baby, and felt that completing ongoing projects (as opposed to starting a new research project from scratch and helming it throughout) would not encroach upon quality family time and be a good fit for her short term stay in the Boston area.
Questions and Answers
Q: How do you keep your spirits up during the job search process?
A: Rhie said that job seeking was a humbling process for her. Her spouse was emotionally supportive, and she also gained strength from her faith. She focused on long-term growth as opposed to short-term gains.
Boshra added that she was part of the Career Connect jobseekers group initiated by Barbara Lipohar Staples (currently Program Assistant at MIT Spouses & Partners Connect), meeting weekly in order to provide emotional support as well as attending networking events together.
Q: How did you address worries about (spoken and written) English language skills?
A: Liya said that improving one’s language skills is a lot about self-confidence. She took classes and practiced with English-speaking friends.
Jia took an online grammar course with Coursera. She said to practice talking to others, as it is more about content and people understanding what you are communicating, rather than being perfect. As Jia said: “In China, being humble is very much emphasized. But in America, if they have 10 points on their mind, they mention 11 points! So at least say the 8 or 9 points out of the 10 points on your mind.”
Q: How do we network?
A: Jia said to grab a drink, look around to identify people who want to talk, and then strike up a conversation. Just introduce yourself, say what your professional interests are, and find something in common. She also said to be selective while networking, it is better to know less people but have more frequent contact with them. She makes it a personal goal to obtain 1 business card per networking event that she attends.
Q: How do we find networking opportunities?
A: Liya never attended any networking events. Instead, she looked for the perfect match to her skill set and identified contact persons via LinkedIn connections in companies she desired to work for. She only received an interview call 4 months after sending in the application for her current job. She said that she did not know anyone in the company, so it is also a matter of luck, and stressed the importance of looking for something that suits your personality.
Boshra said to think about networking differently. Everywhere, even a chance meeting, is a networking opportunity.
Amanda said for jobs in science, get on as many email lists as you can from postings along the Infinite Corridor.
Q: Job seeking seems to take up a lot of time, whereas those on the J-2 visas have limited time to find a job.
A: Liya said that all of us don’t know how our job search is going to turn out. Many employers do not ask about time limitations. And for many cases, it is possible to renew the work authorization anyway.
Q: How do we explain away long gaps in our employment history?
A: Boshra said in her case, she was never asked about it. You could usually explain gaps by saying you are travelling or transitioning between places to live or jobs.
Amanda said she never had it come up as a question, but advised to say something sensible.
Jia said potential employers usually only care about the last 1 month or 3 months on your resume.
Jennifer mentioned that usually job-hopping (having multiple jobs in a short period of time) is a red-flag, otherwise not to worry about it.
Q: Is it important to do classes?
A: Rhie reminded us to take advantage of the upcoming MIT Independent Activities Period (IAP). She attended a few IAP classes on entrepreneurship, which resulted in getting into useful email lists and networking.
Q: Last words?
A: Jia recommended making use of the free one-month premium LinkedIn account to search profiles of top executives in companies you are interested in. She also said to make use of the attendee lists at conferences you attend as potential connections on LinkedIn. She reminded to connect with only people who want to, and to look through their resume/profiles to find something in common.
Then afterwards all of us put what we heard into practice and spent some time networking with the panel and other spouses.
Final Thoughts
Some of the important take-home messages to me were that there is no one single way to get a job, and to be creative in exploring networking as well as volunteering opportunities. It also helps to realize that the job seeking process will take as long as it takes, and not to have unrealistic expectations and deadlines. Volunteering is also nothing to snort at, seeing that quite a few opportunities can arise from donating your time and efforts. What also struck me about all of these accomplished women was that despite not being locals, how elegantly confident they were speaking their minds. Even the seemingly more introverted partners were eloquent and did not hold back on the finer details. I also sensed firm determination from each and every one of them, as well as exceptionally keen minds. Last but not least, all of them benefitted from Career Connect events.
What Next?
Take the next step! If you are interested in attending future MIT Spouses & Partners and/or Career Connect events, do sign up for our mailing list and join our LinkedIn group. You could also contact our Program Manager Jennifer Recklet Tassi at spousesandpartners@mit.edu to attend the weekly Career Connect consult hour.
