International students in the U.S. require cross-cultural assistance to transition from college to corporate. For facilitators to deliver American work culture programs, see www.authenticjourneys.info

1. Some B-Schools Teach Networking,
American Style
They’re Helping Foreign Students Master Introductory Email, Other
Skills
ILLUSTRATION: POLLY BECKER
By
LINDSAY GELLMAN
March 4, 2015 7:49 p.m. ET
Some M.B.A. programs have a new
extracurricular offering for international
students: lessons in American-style
networking.
Large numbers of international students help U.S. business schools maintain healthy revenue and
fill classrooms, but administrators at some schools worry that cultural differences have put those
students at a disadvantage when it comes to landing prime jobs and internships.
As a result, career officers at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of
Business,University of California-Davis’s Graduate School of Management and other schools
are ramping up efforts to train foreign students in the soft skills American employers expect,
from appropriate email greetings to small talk at networking events.
By and large, international students see Americans as “all hellishly extroverted,” says Dan
Beaudry, author of “Power Ties: The International Student’s Guide to Finding a Job in the
United States.” “They think, ‘isn’t it rude for me to call up somebody I don’t know to ask for
their time and their advice?’” he says.
While most international M.B.A. applicants hail from Asia, counselors say students from
Europe, Latin America and Africa also benefit from learning networking training.

2. To some skills, the training addresses differences in job-seeking around the globe. Europeans, for
instance, might find informal chats at a networking event or a casual introductory email awkward
or rude, but they are mainstays of the job-search process in the U.S.
“Some cultures look at networking as though you’re begging someone for a job,” says Elizabeth
Moon, associate director of career development at University of California-Davis’s Graduate
School of Management, where international students make up 36% of the school’s full-time
M.B.A.s.
Others move too quickly, asking about jobs or a visa sponsorship before building rapport with a
potential mentor, counselors say.
Davis recently hired Ms. Moon, an instructor of English as a Second Language, to help
international students communicate more smoothly. She facilitates English-language round
tables and coaches students at lunchtime workshops as they practice elevator pitches to a
potential employer.
Also key to Ms. Moon’s networking curriculum is the 2008 Jim Carrey film “Yes Man,” which
she shows to students to demonstrate the open, optimistic mien she hopes they will emulate when
forging new connections.
At W.P. Carey, the learning goes both ways. The school’s center for international students hosts
“green-tea talks,” forums geared toward Asian, Latin-American and Middle-Eastern students, as
well as U.S. faculty and staff, as well as local faculty and staff, to talk about differences in
communication; on occasion, a theater troupe of international students acts out the differences.
And both Stanford and Fuqua employ counselors with expertise in shepherding international
students through job searches.
Vienna Wen, a Chinese second-year M.B.A. student at Davis, realized she needed a better grasp
of American networking customs during her internship hunt last year. The 32-year-old applied
online for about 100 internships in consulting or corporate finance, she says, getting interview
invites from a handful but no desirable job offers.

3. Ms. Moon and her colleagues advised Ms. Wen to seek informational interviews through Davis
alumni to establish personal connections with potential employers, which she began to do this
year. Counselors videotaped Ms. Wen in mock-interview scenarios and showed her the footage.
She came off as too quiet and reserved, they said.
“They told me to keep my personal style: Someone who is young, funny, likable, really into
fashion,” Ms. Wen says. Conversely, in her native China, a reserved demeanor connotes
professionalism and respect for the interviewer, she says.
Though her plans after graduation are still up in the air, Ms. Wen is optimistic that one of her
new connections will lead to an offer. A Wells Fargo & Co. recruiter recently commented that
she seemed more at ease and culturally fluent than she had at a previous meeting.
The Davis counselors “told me to get out of my box,” Ms. Wen says. “This is me.”
Write to Lindsay Gellman at Lindsay.Gellman@wsj.com