Category Archives: Kristina

Much needed advice

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Though spring break was meant to be a relaxing and peaceful, I instead spent the whole week freaking out and having minor heart-attacks about post-grad plans. As a result, I aimed to write a couple of cover letters and a few emails to alumni/ae everyday. Though I was not as productive as I hoped to be (which usually happens) I was lucky enough to have an informational interview on the last day of break. Through one of my mum’s friends, I met up with a woman who works at a big cosmetic company and who also just moved to Hong Kong from New York City a couple of years ago. The meeting was filled with great advice and interesting stories, but in the end, she gave me a reality check with a lot of constructive recommendations. Here are some of her key points:

  1. “In an interview, you need to voice your passion.” Even if you don’t specifically know what you really want to do within the organization, proving that you love the industry and that you know a lot about it will impress your interviewers.
  2. “Really study the company that you are interviewing for.” She told me that before LinkedIn and Facebook existed, she would go to the reception of the company days before her actual interview and try to ask as many questions about the company.
  3. “Understand that internships are hard.” One of her horror stories: An intern at a fashion PR company, had to fly once a week for three months to Abu Dhabi to drop off clothing samples and fly back to New York the next day. She doesn’t know what happen to the intern in the end, but I really hope that they gave her a job afterwards.
  4. “Try and find your interviewer on the LinkedIn website.” Knowing where they have worked before can bring huge benefits. While chatting away during your interview, you might be able to bring up some connections, which may make you a more memorable candidate.
  5. “Work super hard and people will notice.” Many employers have worked from the bottom up, so they understand what it’s like to be an intern or newly employed. Most people will not hand you more responsibility or a job if you are lazy.
  6. “The more glamorous the company, the less the pay.” But if you love your job, then hopefully it won’t matter as much!

The love affair with visas

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Visas tend to be an irritating obstacle and painfully long process that one has to face when studying, visiting, or working in a different country. Luckily, as an international student, I have come to learn all about them.

Currently, I am on a student visa, which means that I get to stay in the States for 5 years starting with my first year at Scripps. Having that extra year allows me to work after graduation, but within those 12 months I need to apply for a working visa, which can be even more difficult and take a longer time to obtain. Though many students are American and do not face these challenges here, you will probably have to if you go abroad to work or study in a different country.

Whether you want to become a guide in the Mongolian Gobi desert, an English teacher in Argentina, or work at a bank in Switzerland, and you are not a passport-holder from any of those countries, you are going to have to get a visa. Lucky you!

Here are a few points that I have found helpful and useful over the years and hopefully for more to come:

  1. Organize yourself and get all the paperwork done early. In my sophomore year, I was so nervous about not being able to intern in New York that I made sure to find an internship by November and have my summer-working visa by the end of January. Of course, it is not always going to pan out this way, but it’s smart to stay on top of the whole process.
  2. Talk to someone who knows about visas or has gone through a visa experience. They tend have great advice, some of which you would never find anywhere else. If you’re an international student, I-Place is a great place to start.
  3. Research the country and its visas. One time, when I flew into the States for a connecting flight to Canada, I had no idea that I was supposed to apply for a visiting visa, which is how I ended up in the security office of the Dallas airport. Long story short, after having to talk to a couple of officers about my confusion, they let me fly to Vancouver.
  4. Immigration officers, no matter where you are (except maybe Canada) are scary. Remain calm when they ask a bunch of questions about your visa and always remember the address that you will be staying at.
  5. Visas can be expensive and there are many types as well. Make sure that you are applying for the right one and if it becomes confusing (which it usually does), ask for help!
  6. Each country is going to be different and have a different visa process.

So no matter which exciting country you are going to work at, be prepared for an adventure to obtain a visa. At the end, after the pain and frustrations, it will all be worth it.

Transitioning from dream to reality

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“So Kristina, what have you learned this time?” Whenever my dad asks me this question after I end an internship or any job-related experience, I always believe that he is hoping for some sort of unexpected (brilliant) answer. Maybe this time his daughter has found the ultimate job at a company that may even hire her? Or will she have to live back at home for years after college, become a waitress and hang around her parents?

For the past three summers, I have been lucky enough to have an internship. The summer after my first year of college was spent at a textile company – half the time in Hong Kong, and the other in Shanghai. The fun part was visiting factories and seeing how clothing was actually made. However, the rest of my days consisted of staring at a computer, hoping the Internet would work. Though this internship was far from perfect, I was still able to tell my dad a few things that I learned: sitting for 9 hours at a desk was not as painful as I thought it would be and hand gestures in a foreign country were very useful in communication.

It was the second internship that was the biggest surprise of all. After connecting with alumni through Life Connections, I interned at Teen Vogue for several months in New York City. Of course my first thoughts were: I’m going to work with famous models and celebrities, wearing heels to work is going be great, and I am going to get so much free stuff. Though none of these hopes came true and the dazzling side of the magazine was soon lost in the midst of grunge work and long hours, it was still an experience that I will never forget. I found out that hard work does matter. Be prepared to volunteer (or be asked) to do anything at any moment, and you will be remembered, despite being just one of a slew of interns.

Last summer, I interned at a small environmental company that distributes geothermal heat pumps throughout Asia. After they found out that I was not in fact a graphic designer, they let me make PowerPoints, work with the marketing team, and write up research documents about bottling companies in China. It was the first internship where I felt like I made some sort of tangible impact. I loved that I could sit in meetings and listen to the director speak, watch my colleagues present their ideas, and have my attempts at graphic designing be applauded and then ripped apart.

Though I believe that the last three internship experiences have been valuable, I think they best served at giving me a taste of the post-grad work life and its very unglamorous reality.

The one place

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In four months, it all ends – the meal plan, the fountain outside my window, the trips to the pool before lunch, and the unlimited rose-picking. For some people the next step is not a daunting task. I have many friends who have applied and been accepted to a number of fellowships and teaching programs and even jobs–and, honestly, I envy their security.

However, like the majority of students in my graduating class, I am paralyzed by indecision and the overwhelming number of possibilities before me. Fortunately, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one job market that calls to me more loudly than the others. The industry? Fashion. And the headquarters? New York City.

It’s Central Park, the soaring skyscrapers, the amazing shops, and the Frank-Sinatra atmosphere. I have loved the city for years and promised myself at an early age that it was going to be my new home following graduation. Maybe it is bit too big a promise and too big a goal. But why should I be willing to give up a dream that has lasted me since the first years of high school? Isn’t that what your middle school teachers are always telling you – anything is possible? Reach for the stars?

For the greater part of my adolescence, my pop cultural diet consisted of romantic comedies from the 1990s (a la When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail) set against the urban backdrop of New York City. I daydream of browsing through the Brooklyn market for vintage home decorations and the possibility of frequenting multiple art openings in one night. I know, it all seems so vapid. I understand that these dreams are clichéd, but at the core of these hopes is an ambitious, and entirely realistic, pursuit of happiness.

The one great thing about wanting to work in one place is that it narrows down your search tremendously. By using Life Connections, you can simply plug in the zip code of your ideal work destination and with no trouble, you have a huge list of alumni with interesting jobs, all of whom you can contact. In fact, Life Connections is the resource through which I was connected to my dream internship at Teen Vogue.

But there are also many other options – connections through Linkedin, company websites, family friends, and word of mouth.

So though I may be freaking out several times a week, believing that I will end up homeless and unemployed, I must remember that there are plenty of choices, especially in New York, and though my first job may not be perfect, it will be an experience and a stepping stone.