Testing the Hypothesis

1. Opportunity: I have realized that the hardest task for me is to find an internship in the United States as an international student. Thus, I would like to help other international students to land those job opportunities.

2. Who: International students who are currently enrolled in college/university in the US
         Testing it: this only affects international students and it affects the ones that would like to gain work experience in here. Additionally, this is for international students holding an F1 visa.
What: the problem is that international students are not allowed to apply to internships due to the company's policies
         Testing it: the boundaries might be that companies will not consider opening opportunities for international students.
Why: it is expensive for companies to hire them in the future. Even if international students are allowed to work during the summer, they are not willing to invest in them because they cannot offer a full-time offer afterward because they will have to sponsor their work visa and it is expensive.
        Testing it: it is hard because not all international students are looking for work experience, but the ones that would like to have the experience do not have many resources.

3. Hypothesis:  I would like international students by creating a platform with career advice, career coaches, job opportunities open for international students, and hopefully partner with companies that are willing to hire the top international students that are doing their maximum effort to get work experience and that are selected through an application process to become a part of this program. Furthermore, after being accepted into the program they will have access to a database that contains that contact of other international students that are already working in companies that gave them a chance.

4. Interviews:
General questions used:
Are you looking to gain work experience in your field during the summer? Have you gotten any summer internship in the US? If yes, was it hard for you to search for that opportunity? Do you know of other international students that go through the same situation?

Person 1. Jose from Guatemala, current junior.
We talked for 30 minutes about this situation and how he wished he knew that it was so hard to gain experience because he said that if he knew how hard it was he could have just stayed back home. His major is chemical engineering and because of his field, he cannot apply to so many places. He said that it is definitely a struggle.

Person 2. Marja from Bosnia, current sophomore.
We talked for 45 minutes about the topic and how she wishes that UF could provide more resources more tailored towards international students. However, she says that she does not have. "We pay thousands of dollars to study here but we cannot apply those skills anywhere". She felt very frustrated about this situation and she wishes she can find something during the summer.

Person 3. Uche from Nigeria, current junior.
It was a 20-minute conversation with him. He mentioned that he managed to land an internship in summer 2018 due to some connections that he made during winter break. He felt lucky about it and it was an amazing experience for him. However, he mentioned that he used to spend hours searching for places to apply to because career showcase was not useful to him.

Person 4. Gupta from Mozambique, current freshman.
We talked for 30 minutes and he told me that he does not too much about this situation since he is only a freshman. However, he mentioned that he has other friends that are going through the struggle and that he is very concerned to start looking up for companies that might give him a chance to apply for internships.