1) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. I interviewed three international students. One from Poland, Thailand, and Nepal.
2) Begin with alternative evaluation. They all mentioned that if there would be an alternative solution then it would be to do an internship in their home country. However, all of their countries work differently when it comes to internships. For example, in Nepal most of these internships are unpaid. In Thailand, most of the internships are longer than 3 months and they are at a different time. In Poland, some of them are unpaid and if they are paid they are not well-paid making the cost of living hard. So their alternatives are pretty limited, they mentioned.
3) How/where do they buy? They use different websites to search for jobs, but not of them actually helps them out because it is such a waste of time for them to see all the time if they are allowed to apply for the position or not.
4) Post-purchase evaluation. None of them has managed to land an internship in the United States so they cannot say anything.
5) Report the findings. Based on these interviews, I see how international students are frustrated when it comes to work experience. They are searching for places to apply their skills, but they cannot find them.
6) Draw conclusions. I learned that I am not alone in this process and it encourages me to make a change. If I could be able to help these people, I would do so.
Hi Gerardo, I can only imagine how hard it must be to get an internship while being an international student. Maybe you can consider interviewing people who are international students that have internships already. This could potential give you an idea of what is needed to land an internship and you can compare and contrast those international students who have an internship to those who don’t. This could help you structure your service to better help those in need. Great post!
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