Today I gave back to the streets that fed me for 2+ years of my professional career and volunteered to help “critique” resumes at the Georgia Tech Resume Blitz.
If you’re still reading, I applaud you, public policy, GaTech, and resumes ain’t exactly tantalizing material, but work with me.
The moment each student sat down and handed me their resume to critique, I said, “before I even look at this, I want you to describe your perfect job coming out of college and be descriptive as possible.”
Answers included: ” I want to do research for the government” “I want to be an aerospace designer for SpaceX” (cool) “I want to work in analytical job” (aaaaaight). Each one pictured their dream job.
The resume critique turned into focusing them on what they want to do, ways to get around HR to the real decision makers, and story telling topped off with a layer of Tony Robbins motivational mixtape on top.
After hyping the guys up to the point where they could hardly sit in their seat, over half of them stated: “oh wait, I can’t do that job, though”
What? Why?
Their answer: “that company doesn’t take people like me because of our visa restrictions.”
Damn near broke my heart, over and over and over today. Many of us talked about ways to find jobs that still suited their passion, but the reality is, if you’re a foreign student and you’re putting in hard work and loads of cash to your education, at the end of the day, you’re significantly limited in your career options.
Stunted.
Imagine a baseball organization recruiting the best talent, training them, yet the moment they attempt to enter the big leagues for World Series glory, the commissioner says, “na, these guys can’t play because they weren’t born stateside.”
Normally I graze over Vivek Wadhwa’s pieces on immigration policy, but not any more — it’s serious. Students are losing, technology advancement is losing, and America is losing.