I’ve covered a lot of preparation methods so far. At this point I want to come back to a question that’s easy to overlook: once you’ve done all this, what kind of person do you want to be, and what kind of life do you want to live?
I don’t want this handbook to turn into yet another checklist of what a strong candidate looks like, making you feel you need so many internships, so many clubs, and so much networking before you measure up. People’s circumstances and goals differ, and so should the methods they choose.
A job search requires understanding what companies want, but you also need to gradually understand yourself. Otherwise, every time you see someone get into a good company or land a new internship, you’ll start doubting whether you chose wrong.
Don’t Let People Remember Only Your School and Your Employers
When many students size themselves up, they count their big-company internships first, then look at their GPA and school. Those things do say something about your ability. But when every candidate has a strong background, what else will people remember?
I ask students to imagine how an interviewer would describe them when talking about them with colleagues. Beyond “graduated from such-and-such school” and “interned at such-and-such company,” is there anything more specific?
Someone who has run her own social media for years, for example, may be good at communicating consistently and organizing content. An athlete who has kept up her training and competed can talk about goals, training, and adjusting. And a longtime volunteer can talk about why she committed to it and what responsibilities she took on.
These are examples to help you think about personal traits, not a suggestion that everyone go start a social media account, win sports awards, or volunteer. Smiling a lot, being funny, explaining things clearly, being patient with your work: any of these can be what makes people remember you.
When I talk about a “label,” I don’t mean picking a flattering adjective for yourself first. If you say you have leadership skills, the interviewer still needs to hear an experience that supports that. The same goes for saying you love exploring: back it up with things you’ve actually tried.
Try this once when you write your self-introduction: leave out your school and company names for now, and describe only what you’ve done, how you tend to solve problems, and what you’re willing to keep investing in. If you can’t come up with anything, go back over your experiences first. There’s no need to rush to invent a persona.
Once you’re working, people will gradually form an impression of you too: what kinds of problems they bring to you, what they trust you to handle. Those impressions build up through everyday work, and it’s the same in a job search.
Someone with a Similar Background Only Proves One Possibility
In consultations, students are easily drawn to “where did people with backgrounds like mine end up?” When the school, GPA, major, and internships are close, it really does make you think: if she could, maybe I can too. Cases like that have value. They widen your sense of what’s possible.
But the more people I work with, the more I see that two people whose resumes look alike can be completely different. One settles on a goal early, and when she hits a problem, she thinks, “I’ve already gotten this far; how do I solve the rest?” Another needs more time to explore. One gets more motivated the more competition and fast feedback she faces, while another does her best work in a freer, slower-paced environment.
These differences usually don’t appear on a success-story poster, but they affect whether a path fits you. Someone getting from a certain school into a certain company proves the path exists. It can’t decide for you that you should end up in the same place.
When you look at a case like that, ask one more question: beyond school and internships, how is the way she makes decisions, the pressure she’s willing to take on, and the work environment she likes different from mine? Other people’s stories are there to widen your options, not to turn their finish line into your answer key.
Think About “Want” and “Like” Separately
Students often ask me, “Which is better, this internship or that one?” My usual first question back is, “What do you want to do?”
For one person, “better” might mean an easier path to staying in the US. For another, it might mean exposure to the industry she wants, higher pay, or being closer to family. Until the goal is clear, it’s hard to compare two opportunities.
It’s fine not to know yet what you like most. Figure out what you want most right now. For example: whether you must stay in the US, which cities and kinds of work you can accept, how much more time you can invest, and whether you’re willing to go back to school for a particular direction. These conditions directly shape your choices.
Under the pressure of visa status and time, some choices really are purely practical. I don’t think there’s any need to shy away from that reality. You can take care of your most important need right now and keep exploring what you enjoy at the same time.
But don’t put every reason under “want” until nothing can give. A certain company name, a certain city, a certain salary, plus a perfect fit with your interests, an easy workload, and getting it right away: that combination may not exist. You need to know which things come first and which you’re willing to adjust.
If Staying in the US Is Your Top Goal, Build It into Your Plan for Real
I used to give students very direct advice about direction: if you have a technical background, lean toward related data, engineering, or development roles; if you’re a business student, take a serious look at paths like accounting; if you’re early in college and want investment banking or consulting, start preparing early instead of waiting until graduation to look at recruiting.
I’ve also used a rough progression from business analysis and data analysis through data science, data engineering, and software engineering to get students thinking about how technical requirements and available openings differ across roles. But job titles can’t be treated as a permanent ranking of how easy it is to stay in the US. Beginning with the FY 2027 cap season, H-1B selection uses a weighted process that generally favors higher-paid and higher-skilled positions. Even so, a more technical job title does not automatically give you better odds; the wage level, employer, position, and current rules all matter. Check the current process in the DHS final rule on H-1B weighted selection before making plans around it.
For you specifically, it depends on your skills and experience, whether you want to do this kind of work, whether you have time to meet the requirements, and how target employers handle the current role and work authorization. Roles with the same name can have different requirements.
So try writing out your options more concretely:
| What to confirm | How it affects your choice |
|---|---|
| Which roles I can apply for now | Start from the experience you have instead of fixating on your major’s name or a trendy title |
| Whether target employers accept my actual work authorization situation | Check the specific role’s requirements before investing heavily in preparation, and ask the employer if you’re unsure |
| How long until I graduate or have to decide | Determines which skills you can still build in time and which switches need longer |
| What backup directions or locations I’d accept | Prepare options early so you aren’t left with only whatever comes along |
| What my next experience can build toward | Look at whether the business, skills, and connections relate to your long-term direction |
In the past I’ve also suggested that some juniors who hadn’t gotten the results they were aiming for consider moving toward more technical directions, or use grad school to build skills and buy preparation time. But that has to fit the individual’s situation. It can’t automatically become “didn’t find a job, so go get a master’s.”
Be clear first about what another degree would solve. Is it building specific skills, meeting a degree requirement for certain roles, getting access to relevant recruiting, or just putting off the job search? If you don’t understand your target role, your skill gaps, and the path afterward, you can spend the money and time and still face the same problem when you graduate.
A US master’s isn’t the finish line for your job search. Before choosing a program, look at how it can help you get closer to the job you want. After you enroll, you still need to follow through on the preparation.
Go Straight for the Direction You Want, and Start Early
If you’re already fairly sure in freshman year which industry you want, I’d suggest preparing directly around it. For the front office at an investment bank, that means learning about the business, the events, the interviews, and the people who do the work. Don’t pour all your time into some other opportunity just because it looks easier, hoping you can always switch over gradually later.
Whether what you’ve done is relevant affects your next application. Switching fields is certainly possible, but it usually means learning new material, explaining your motivation, finding new contacts, and proving yourself all over again. Starting directly and early means you don’t have to leave all those costs for later.
That’s what I mean by “Before you can do it, you have to think it.” You can aim higher, but you have to back the aim with action that fits it.
If you’re starting late, take a fresh look at your current situation and the openings you can realistically get into, and make more targeted choices. Going straight for your goal and adjusting your route in time can go together. What matters is that you know why you’re choosing what you choose, instead of just following other people.
Being Good at Something Doesn’t Mean You Like It: I Took the Long Way Too
In college, I actually had a lot going for me if I’d wanted to prepare for investment banking. By the end of the summer after freshman year, I’d already had several internships, including one at a Big Four firm in the US and one at a private equity (PE) firm in China. My school’s recruiting results were good in those years, the finance club offered training, and I went to events often and knew the timeline.
It looked like I should have been well prepared, but there were two problems: I never seriously studied financials, and I really didn’t like networking. I’ve written a lot about networking since, but being good at something and liking it are still two different things.
The president of the club urged me to spend close to a year preparing seriously and land an investment banking offer. I didn’t. Later, in an investment banking internship interview, I was asked about DCF and weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and couldn’t answer. I’d only ever looked at two pages of that 400-question investment banking interview guide.
In the end, I didn’t keep recruiting for investment banking.
That experience makes it hard for me to believe that results happen automatically once you’ve lined up the resources and the experience. You can know what to study and have people around you reminding you, but if you keep refusing to put in the effort, the preparation is still missing.
If you really want it, build the effort into your schedule. And if it turns out you don’t like it at all, you can make a real choice about that too. What I don’t want is for students to be pushed by peer pressure into saying “I have to get in” while avoiding the basic preparation for a long time, until the time is gone and they feel terrible.
Find Out What You Like by Trying Things. You Don’t Have to Figure It Out All at Once.
Many people can’t say right away what they like most, and that’s normal. Internships, projects, and activities will show you which things you want to keep doing and which you clearly don’t like.
Some work you’re perfectly capable of, but it drains you. Other things are unfamiliar at first, yet you’re happy to keep looking things up and trying again. All of that tells you something about yourself.
Be specific when you observe yourself. Is it analyzing problems you like, or talking with clients? Producing a piece of work yourself, or coordinating a lot of people to get something done? Is it the industry itself you dislike, or one company’s way of managing people? If you don’t separate these, one bad internship could lead you to rule out an entire direction.
I still hope students find something they enjoy that also creates value. It could be their job, or an activity or side project outside work. If your circumstances don’t allow that yet, meet your most important needs first, and leave a little room to explore.
There’s no need to treat one job search decision as the final definition of your life. You can commit fully at this stage and still change direction once you know more. Being clear about why you made a choice will keep you much steadier than constantly comparing whether other people are doing better than you.