Your student career toolkit
International students in the USA: your career starting point
Plan your US student career with guides to campus jobs, internships, resumes, OPT job searches and employer sponsorship records. Start with free resources before you upload anything.
Public guides. Free tools. No account or resume upload needed to read.
Start with the stage you are in
Arriving or starting classes
Find your international office, career center and campus hiring portal. Prepare a clear resume and a realistic weekly schedule.
Build your first-month checklist →Looking for student work
Separate qualifying campus work from internships and off-campus work. Confirm authorization before agreeing to a start date.
Explore campus job preparation →Preparing for graduation
Choose target roles, build evidence of your skills and verify the employer’s current requirements. Keep your DSO involved in the authorization timeline.
Plan your OPT job search →CPT, OPT, STEM OPT and H-1B answer different questions
CPT and OPT are practical-training paths associated with F-1 student status; eligible students may qualify for a STEM OPT extension. H-1B is a separate employer petition process. A company’s past H-1B approvals do not establish that your particular student job is authorized.
Use the USCIS student employment overview for official guidance, and ask your DSO which process applies to your dates and program.
What Gradlume helps you do
Turn experience into readable resume evidence, compare public employer records and discover projects or events to explore. Guides connect those tools into a practical search workflow.
Moving from India?
Start with a guide to explaining Indian qualifications, internships and project experience to a US reader, plus a checklist for using your new university’s resources.
Resources for Indian students in the USA →Practical guides for your next step
3 min read
A US resume guide for Indian students: make your experience understandable
Present Indian qualifications, CGPA, internships and projects clearly on a US student resume, with original examples and a practical editing checklist.
Read the guide →3 min read
Your first month in the US: an international student's career checklist
Connect arrival preparation with your first-month career plan: find campus resources, build a resume, plan your schedule and organize an employer search.
Read the guide →3 min read
Campus jobs for international students: prepare before you apply
Find official campus hiring resources, prepare a student resume and ask the right eligibility and scheduling questions before accepting campus work.
Read the guide →3 min read
An internship search plan for international students in the USA
Build a role-focused internship shortlist, prepare project evidence and recruiter questions, and keep work authorization separate from the application process.
Read the guide →3 min read
Job scams targeting students: a checklist before you trust an offer
Check suspicious recruiter messages and job offers with a practical verification workflow, official FTC resources and questions to take to your university.
Read the guide →7 min read
The OPT job search plan that leads to recruiter conversations
The job-search rhythm is shared across roles, but the proof, contacts and questions must change. Here is a practical 14-day plan for international students on OPT.
Read the guide →6 min read
The STEM OPT employer checklist to use before accepting an offer
A practical checklist for verifying that an employer and job can support the STEM OPT extension before you accept an offer.
Read the guide →6 min read
How to answer the sponsorship question when you are on OPT
Exact, honest scripts for answering work-authorization and future-sponsorship questions on job applications and recruiter calls while on F-1 OPT.
Read the guide →
Put the plan into practice
See a sample resume review
Explore a fictional report before creating an account or uploading a resume.
Open tool →Find employers with a filing record
Compare historical H-1B records by company, state and industry. Verify the current role separately.
Open tool →Build a project with other students
Explore US hackathon dates and locations, then confirm eligibility and registration with the organizer.
Open tool →
Written by Gradlume. General planning information, not an individual immigration determination. Official guidance and your designated school official (DSO) control employment eligibility. Historical employer records do not guarantee current sponsorship.