Supporting your foreign-born colleagues in their job search

 By Gudrun Nyunt, Ph.D

Job searching is never fun – it takes up a ton of time and, with its ups and downs, often feels like a draining, never-ending emotional roller coaster. Many of us face some additional hurdles or challenges in our job searches – we may be location-bound, may be going through a dual job search with a partner (whether that partner also works in higher education or not) or may identify as a person of color and encounter implicit biases in the job search. For me, one of those additional challenges was always my immigration status. As a foreign-born professional pursuing a career in student affairs in the United States, I didn’t just have to secure a job but I needed one that would provide me with sponsorship for a work visa. And that was much harder than I had ever expected.

The first challenge was trying to identify institutions that would be able to sponsor me. Yes, some online databases exist where you can look up whether or not an employer or institution has sponsored someone in the past – but their usefulness is limited. Just because an institution has sponsored someone in the past doesn’t mean that they are still able or willing to do so. Some institutions will also sponsor individuals only for certain jobs but not others – for example, some institutions actually have a policy stating that they will sponsor individuals for faculty but not staff positions. On the other hand, an institution may have never sponsored someone but be happy to go through that process for you.

During my first job search, I also tried to call some Human Resources offices to find out whether institutions sponsored individuals for student affairs positions. That strategy also wasn’t very successful. Sometimes I couldn’t find someone in the HR office who was able (or willing) to answer my question. Other times, I got a no only to find out later that the institution, in fact, sponsored individuals when a department pushed for it. And sometimes I got a “it depends." In the end, I gave up on making these calls and went back to just keeping my fingers crossed that the institutions I applied at would be able to sponsor me.

The next challenge was trying to figure out when to ask about sponsorship in the interview process. When I went through my first job search, I didn’t know anyone who had gone through this process. I tried to reach out to our international student services office but didn’t get much help – their knowledge on job searching and work visa sponsorship was limited, in general, and the little knowledge they had revolved around applying for jobs in industry, which is significantly different from applying for student affairs jobs at a higher education institution. My student affairs colleagues and mentors, whom I would usually turn to for career advice, didn’t know how to navigate visa sponsorship either; none of them having gone through or even encountered this situation before. So instead, I spent a lot of time looking for information online, little of which was really helpful. I did come across an online forum, where I posted some of my questions. I remember someone telling me not to share my immigration status under any circumstances until I had a job offer. The person was convinced that employers would not seriously consider you as a candidate if they knew. But going through an entire student affairs hiring process – from the application to phone or conference interviews to a full-day on-campus interview – just to find out, in the end, that the institution wasn’t able to sponsor me felt like a waste of time for me. I also believed – and I still do – that people working in student affairs are more open-minded toward and supportive of international students than people in industry may be. And throughout my various job searches, I have to say that I never encountered anyone who seemed to lose interest in my candidacy just because they found out that I needed sponsorship to be able to work in the U.S.

Following my gut, I decided to ignore the advice I got from the online forum and instead share my visa status after I was offered an on-campus interview. I figured that was a good compromise. It meant that a department got to know me a little bit during that first phone or conference interview – without knowing that hiring me would come with some extra complications. But then, before either of us invested too much time in the process, I would ask about sponsorship. I partially made the decision because of departments' policies regarding reimbursement for on-campus interview travel. I had encountered some departments that would reimburse you, if you were offered and accepted the job offer or if you were not offered the job; but if you were offered and turned down the job, you had to pay for travel expenses yourself. I wasn’t sure if not being able to take a job because of immigration status would be considered “not accepting the offer." And, to be honest, I also didn’t want to risk going to a campus, falling in love with it, only to be turned down because of my immigration status.

Picture: Gudrun and her Resident Assistant Staff at Miami University of Ohio, one of the institution that sponsored Gudrun for a temporary work visa.

Though I felt good about when I wanted to share my immigration status with potential employers, I was still incredibly nervous every time I had to bring up the topic. I have to say, though, that at least everyone I encountered in my various job searches was incredibly understanding and supportive. That didn’t mean though that the answer was always yes. Some departments were able to give me an answer on the phone right away – typically the ones who had gone through the process before – others would have to inquire with their division or human resources department. Several times, I got a “it shouldn’t be a problem," only to get a call the next day from a very apologetic person telling me that they had thought it wasn’t a problem when, in fact, the institution didn’t allow them to sponsor individuals for staff positions. And no matter how nice people were about turning me down, it was still frustrating. I hated being out of the running for a job because of something I couldn’t control or change.

Even once I had an offer in hand and had been reassured that the institution would be able to sponsor me, I couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief yet. At that point in the process, hiring officers, human resources staff, and immigration lawyers took over. I would occasionally get an e-mail requesting certain information but was pretty much left in the dark about the rest of the process. The expectation is that the employer navigates this process to show that they really are interested in hiring this individual and believe this individual is worth jumping through all these extra hurdles for – from completing a ton of paperwork to paying various fees. I get that, and I was glad that I didn’t have to figure out how to navigate the process; but it was also challenging not to know what was going on and whether things were going okay. Some institution took forever in putting all the paperwork together, leaving me worried that I wouldn’t be able to start work on my intended first day. One time, I actually had to miss the first day of training because my immigration paperwork hadn’t come in yet. Working in Reslife that also meant not being able to move into my apartment and not knowing when I would be able to move in. It made it difficult to make plans. One summer, I ended up moving my belongings into storage and then spent the last couple weeks of the summer drifting around the area – sometimes crashing with friends, sometimes sleeping in my car. I wanted to be close, so that I could move in and start as soon as my immigration paperwork came through; but I also didn’t have any really close friends in the area with whom I would have felt comfortable staying for an undefined period of time. I guess part of it was also due to my streak of independence and just not wanting to bother others with my problems. But yeah, it was tough waiting around, not knowing if things would turn out alright.

When I faced those challenging and frustrating job searches, comments from well-meaning colleagues often hurt more than they helped. I know people meant well and often just didn’t know enough to be able to give useful advice, but it was hard to remind myself of that sometimes. There was the innocent “Why don’t you just become a U.S. citizen?” – as if it was that easy! Sometimes followed by a, “But you’ve been in the U.S. for so long, I would have assumed you were already a citizen by now” or a “It can’t be that difficult to become a citizen. Don’t you just apply after a couple years of being in the country?” I used to be amazed at how little many U.S. citizens know about their country’s immigration policies; but then again, I’m not an expert about Austrian immigration policies either and am sometimes amazed when I hear stories about people facing ridiculous challenges as they try to navigate my home country’s immigration process. But, I wish people had just asked in a different way. A neutral question inquiring about the immigration process and the challenges I was facing could have started a friendly conversation. I may have still gotten tired from having to always educate others on their own country’s immigration policies, but at least I wouldn’t have felt like I needed myself for not being a citizen yet...or having to justify why I hadn’t done something that was completely impossible. Trust me, back then, if there had been any way for me to become a citizen, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

Then there were those colleagues who just didn’t realize how big of a deal this immigration really was in my life. One year, I was waiting for an answer from department leadership about whether or not they would be able to sponsor me for a green card. I had been asking for months, just to be told “not to worry” and that they were “working on it." Sometimes I also got the, “be patient, everything will be fine.” My time on my temporary work visa was running out and, if this green card sponsorship wasn’t working out, I needed to find another solution quickly. Doctoral program deadlines were coming up and passing and I was starting to feel more and more anxious about my future every day. Finally, a supervisor called me into his office asking me to set up a meeting with him for the following day. He said, “We need to talk about your green card. It’s not bad news; we just need to talk.” I spent an anxious night trying to figure out what this not-bad news could be. I showed up to the meeting early, heart pounding, and found out that the institution wouldn’t be able to sponsor me for a green card. It was a long, complicated story involving the required education level for the position and union regulations. I know department leadership really tried and I am not upset that they couldn’t sponsor me; but to call that “not bad news” seemed pretty insensitive. At that time, for me, it was the worst news I could get!

Some colleagues also seemed to think it would be easy to return to my home country and find a job there. In each of my job searches, I reached a point where I actually considered that and started looking at positions abroad. And yes, there were some opportunities available, but not many. Higher education systems are so different in Europe, that there aren’t many student affairs type jobs out there. And to “start student affairs in your country," as some of my friend suggested, is easier said than done.

Picture: At Schloss Schoenbrunn in Vienna, Austria. Gudrun spent one year working at a branch campus of a U.S. institution in Vienna, Austria.

I actually ended up back in Austria for a year. Finding a job was not easy. Those wonderful “transferrable” skills didn’t translate well on job applications. In the end, I found a job at a branch campus of a U.S. institution. It wasn’t what I wanted to do; I was basically a glorified administrative assistant, but it was a job and it got me through the year. It also gave me a chance to get to know the branch campus and while there were a few “student affairs” type jobs that I might have been interested in, there weren’t a lot of those. And considering there aren’t many branch campuses of U.S. institutions in Austria, chances of securing one of these positions were slim to none. So the advice of finding a position abroad or starting student affairs in Austria was, though well-intended, not very helpful.

Over the years of working in Student Affairs, I have met a few other foreign-born professionals. There seem to be more of us these days, then there were when I started my first job search in 2006. But in spite of our growing numbers, many U.S. professionals in higher education and student affairs still have little knowledge about immigration processes or how to support their international colleagues. For me, what was most helpful were friends, colleagues, and mentors who would just listen; who showed an interest in my experiences; who let me talk and vent and be frustrated. Some of them would ask questions to try to better understand what was going on. Some would acknowledge the additional hurdles I was facing in my job search and, though they couldn’t help with the visa sponsorship part, try to support me in other ways as I went through each of these searches. Others would just give me a hug and tell me how much they thought this whole thing sucked. It was that validation – that what I was feeling and experiencing was real – that helped the most.

Interested in learning more about the experiences of foreign-born professionals working in higher education in the United States? Join us for our upcoming Webinar:

Navigating Higher Education: Experiences of Foreign-Born Professionals in the U.S.
June 10, 2019 @ 3-4 PM
Registration Link: http://bit.ly/2XBxC9G

For more information, go to http://www.myacpa.org/events/june-2019-webinar-navigating-higher-education-experiences-foreign-born-professionals-us

Bio of Dr. Gudrun Nyunt

Gudrun currently serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education at Northern Illinois University. Gudrun holds a PhD in Student Affairs from the University of Maryland, College Park; a Master’s in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Connecticut; and a Bachelor’s in Journalism from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Prior to starting her PhD and transitioning to a faculty position, Gudrun worked for 7 years as a full-time staff member in Residence Life at Miami University, the University of North Florida, and the University of Connecticut. Gudrun also served as a Resident Director for the Fall 2012 Semester at Sea voyage.

Gudrun’s research interests revolve around educational practices that foster the development of intercultural maturity and prepare students for active engagement in a global society. In addition, Gudrun engages in research that strives to better understand the experiences of international, underrepresented minority, and women graduate students, faculty, and Student Affairs staff members at U.S. higher education institutions in hopes of promoting full participation of a diverse community in higher education.

Gudrun has been an active member of ACPA – College Student Educators for many years. She has been on the directorate boards of the Commission for Housing and Residential Life and the Commission for Student Involvement, and currently serves as chair of the Commission for the Global Dimensions of Student Development.