International students usually get asked a lot of questions about their countries and sometimes that requires them to go back to their country with a different perspective to learn more.
When finance sophomore Jiayi Shang came to the United States, she always thought she had to stay in the country after graduation to find a job. She didn’t start thinking differently until she went on an MSU-organized trip to her home country, China.
Shang was one of eight students who went on the first International Corporate Tour to China organized by the MSU Career Services Network during summer 2014.
After hearing about the tour, Shang realized it would be a good opportunity for her to better understand her major and learn more about what she would do as a financier upon entering the work force.
“I was just a freshman, didn’t have much experience, didn’t know much about my major,” she said.
That was the first year the network sent students to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Corporate tours have been offered to students for the past eight years, but were mostly open for engineering and business students, Associate Director of Employer Relations at the Career Services Network Eric Doerr said.
This year Career Services Network decided to create a similar experience for undergraduate students from different disciplines and especially international backgrounds to go on such a tour within Michigan.
Doerr said one of the purposes of the visit is to introduce students to global corporations in Michigan, so the services network will try and match companies here with businesses based in China.
In addition, the tour is meant to connect both international and domestic students while providing them with the opportunity to learn about different work opportunities in Michigan and network with employers.
Doerr said students would definitely visit corporations in Detroit and Grand Rapids.
Other possible locations would include Kalamazoo, Midland, Lansing and East Lansing, said Career Services Network Events Manager Maya Craft.
Students would commute together each day from East Lansing to these locations and come back on the same day.
Craft said the corporate tour mainly targets freshmen and sophomores.
“To get professional-ready, you need to start early,” Craft said.
Shang said going on such trips allows students to understand the culture of the work place and how people collaborate.
Other corporate tours include an international tour in Europe and a domestic tour during spring break to Chicago and Milwaukee. These tours are mostly open for business and engineering students.
